3:10 to Yuma: Movie Review (2007)

(Originally published 2007)

Directed by James Mangold, written by Halsted Welles, Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, 117 minutes, rated R.

The new James Mangold movie, "3:10 to Yuma," follows Kevin Costner's "Open Range" and Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" in that it comes to the genre having learned plenty from all that came before it. In Mangold's case, that also meant studying the 1957 original on which his film is based, which happens to be a plus since the movie is a classic.

This beautifully acted, expertly staged film is infused with the sense that there still is more to be discovered in the Old West.

Given the enthusiasm with which he directs, it's clear that Mangold (“Walk the Line”) came to the material charged with the sense that he could manipulate familiar stock Western conventions and make them appear fresh again so long as he had the story, the characters and the cast to back up his bravado.

That he does is an understatement. "3:10 to Yuma" is one of the more exciting, engrossing movies to come along in awhile.

Based on Elmore Leonard's short story, itself inspired by the 1952 movie "High Noon," the film’s plot is as lean and as simple as you’d expect from Leonard, but none of that simplicity translates to the characters, who are complex and human in ways that make for a satisfying, emotionally rich narrative.

Christian Bale is Dan Evans, a down-on-his-luck rancher with a bum leg and a bum life who is trying to keep it together in Bisbee, Ariz., in the late 1800s. Thanks to a drought, his cattle are dying off, which is fueling an already tense situation at home.

Though his youngest boy adores him, his eldest son, Will (Logan Lerman), and Dan's wife, Alice (Gretchen Mol), have lost faith in him--Will looks at him in disgust, Alice with pity, neither of which exactly makes Dan feel like the man he longs to be.

When into his life comes Russell Crowe's Ben Wade, an infamous outlaw with a string of robberies and murders behind him, Dan is faced with an opportunity to regain the respect he has lost when Wade is captured. A railroad official (Dallas Roberts) offers him $200 to help bring Wade to justice.

Given the viciousness of Wade's posse, which is led by the chilling Charlie Prince (Ben Foster in an Academy Award-worthy supporting performance), it's a risky proposition, but Dan’s desperation to turn his life around is so great, he nevertheless accepts it. Against his wife's wishes, he joins the railroad official and his men (including Peter Fonda and Alan Tudyk) on a 2-day trip to Contention City, where Wade will be placed on the 3:10 train to Yuma and meet his maker when he arrives there at the prison.

What ensues is just as action-packed and as disastrous as you'd expect--Wade's men want their leader back and they're skilled enough to do it--but what you might not expect is the odd bond that grows between Dan and Ben. With Dan choosing a life of good and Ben a life of evil, each becomes fascinated by the other, which allows Mangold to mine unexpected depths from a movie that, in the wrong hands, could have relied solely on action and thus wouldn’t have allowed for the terrific performances Mangold pulls from Crowe and Bale.

In the end, if "3:10 to Yuma" doesn't find itself on the short list of Academy Award contenders, this film itself has been robbed.

Grade: A

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