3:10 to Yuma

Posted by Nathan Deen (nathan@filmschoolrejects.com) on September 9, 2007

A little while back I asked the question how can a movie starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale be bad. After one screening of 3:10 to Yuma, now I know. This is one movie that completely derails after it gets going. A masterpiece this is not. An Oscar contender this should not be. A good movie this is not.

The completely wasted cast is headlined by the above mentioned actors. Bale plays Dan Evans, a rancher so far in debt he’s at risk to losing his land to the owners, who want to put a railroad through it. He and his two sons cross paths with Ben Wade (Crowe) and his gang of outlaws as they are robbing a coach full of cash. Wade lets the family live and he and his gang separate. Evans and Wade meet again after Wade has been captured after having a little fun in the town of Bisby.

So Grayson Buttterfield (Dallas Roberts), who has some sort of law connection, wants Wade marched to the town of Contention and put on a 3:10 train to Yuma Prison. Evans volunteers to be one of the men to escort him with a reward of $200 dollars, enough for Evans to save his land. Now it’s a race to Contention between Evans and his companions, a local doctor (Alan Tudyk), two bounty hunters (Peter Fonda and Kevin Durand) and Mr. Butterfield, and Wade’s gang who are hot on their trail.

Sure, this idea along with two great actors and a well known director in James Mangold may look good on paper, but this film turns out to be one major disappointment. It is completely preposterous and unbelievable. I haven’t seen the original 1957 3:10 to Yuma and I can only wonder how close the two films are to each other. If the new and the old are virtually the same then perhaps it would have been wise to incorporate some new ideas.

Russell Crowe is a great actor and he gives a fine performance here, but his poorly written character is where all the problems lie. Unfortunately, I can’t reveal all that I want to due to risk of spoiling the ending but I’ll try to weave my way around it. Ben Wade has several opportunities to escape but ultimately he always ends up helping the needs of our group of heros, and it seems like this is done only to advance the plot forward and hope the audience doesn’t notice.

Okay, fine, I’ll let that slide once but then not only does it do it again to draw a conclusion, it throws reality and believability right out the window. I believe a similar thing happened earlier this year with Seraphim Falls which starred Liam Neeson and Pierce Prosnan. There’s a scene at the movie’s climax in which Evans and a few marshals of the town of Contention have Wade held up in a hotel room with Wade’s gang waiting outside. The sheriff says something like “In Contention, we have law enforcement just like everyone else.” Then to contradict that statement, Wade’s right hand man Charlie (Ben Foster) offers the townsmen $200 for who ever shoots Wade’s captors and everyone jumps in with excitement. Then the last scene is just the final nail in the coffin, making the movie a mess. It seems like Wade wanted to be captured and hanged. He could of just put a bullet in his head midway through and saved me the effort of trying to watch this movie.

There is some good acting on display, but ultimately wasted performances. I don’t think Christian Bale’s resume will be hurt here as his Dan Evans is a solid character and a believable one, but the circumstances he’s in are not. It’s really Crowe who suffers here because his character is the main flaw and however good his performance is can’t possibly suffice. Not a fine display of acting is Ben Foster as Wade’s No. 1. Foster is every bit as ludicrous as he was in the early January stinker Alpha Dog. He doesn’t really give his character that “I’m the quickest draw in the West” feeling but rather his performance just makes Charlie seem psychotic, which he is.

Director James Mangold has taken a giant step down after his success with Walk the Line, a much better directorial effort about the life of Johnny Cash. Mangold’s 3:10 to Yuma seems to care more about being a popcorn pleasure than a great movie and perhaps that is the reason for Evans being placed in an impossible and unrealistic situation at the end.

3:10 to Yuma earns a few points for Phedon Papamichael’s gorgeous cinematography and music composer Marco Beltrami nails the music score. Excellent costume design as well by Arianne Phillips. Mangold annoyed me a little with Wade’s hat which is given the same attention that the hat Indiana Jones wore. The sound effects are staggering with a couple of explosions but that just supports my point that the movie tries to be a popcorn pleasure.

3:10 to Yuma starts out very promising and ends up arguably as the year’s biggest disappointment. It has a lot things going for it in its set up but that slate is wiped clean by its cockamamie middle and final act. There’s no way this could be a good movie without a tighter script. Mangold has not only failed to resurrect the Western but digs it into a deeper hole than it’s already in.

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