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Review #521 of 365
Movie Review of 3:10 to Yuma (2007) [R] 117 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $14.50
Where Viewed: United Artists Denver Pavilions Stadium 15, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 7 September 2007
Time: 2:45 pm
DVD Release Date: 8 January 2008 (click date to purchase or pre-order)
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Directed by: James Mangold (Walk the Line)
Screenplay by: Halsted Welles (The Hell with Heroes) • Michael Brandt (Catch That Kid) • Derek Haas (Catch That Kid) based on the short story by Elmore Leonard
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Russell Crowe (A Good Year) • Christian Bale (Rescue Dawn) • Logan Lerman (The Number 23) • Dallas Roberts (Joshua) • Ben Foster (Alpha Dog) • Peter Fonda (Wild Hogs) • Vinessa Shaw (The Hills Have Eyes) • Alan Tudyk (Death at a Funeral) • Luce Rains ("The Lost Room") • Gretchen Mol (The Ten) • Lennie Loftin (Reno 911!: Miami)
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Click to read the spoiler points for 3:10 to Yuma
Director James Mangold delivers not just a remake of the 3:10 to Yuma, based on Elmore Leonard's short story, but a powerful update that enhances and deepens the potency and story of the original. Starring Christian Bale and Russell Crowe, there's irony that two non-USAers by birth (a Brit and a Kiwi to be exact) would take up the roles and arms in these diametrically opposing cowboy characters. It must have been great, great fun for both. At the core of this altered story is a triad of characters representing a complex character triangle.
"…an early front-runner in the pursuit of Academy Award® hardware and the odds on favorite, to date, for Best Picture of the Year."
Dan Evans (Bale) represents Point A: a hard-working rancher with wife, Alice (Gretchen Mol) and two sons, William (Logan Lerman) and Mark (Benjamin Petry), whose struggling ranch land has been deprived of water by a wicked land baron hell bent on squeezing the Evans out of their land so he can sell it to the Railroad soon to come through the area. Dan adores his sons and wife, but the leg war injury he suffered back East handicaps him from his full physical potential on the ranch, though it seems to have little impact on his sharp shooting skills, clever mind, nor will to protect his family. Ben Wade sits on Point B: a smooth-talking, notorious outlaw wanted all the way from San Francisco to Dodge City for the murder of dozens of people he did kill and dozens more he's thought to have killed. While he can quote the Bible better than most truly God-fearing persons, he's has no regard for the lives of others, and he will shoot a man as calmly as one breathes the cool air on star-filled eve. He devotes his days to running and rewarding his loyalists, a gang of misfits who fall under his charge, with the spoils of train and stagecoach robberies. His pistol, adorned with a crucifix on the handle, is known as the Hand of God. William Evans, son of Dan, fills out the triangle at Point C. Convinced that his literally lame father has lost his will to really protect the family, William sees himself as the only one capable of really sticking up for their land. At the ripe old age of 14, he's a junior gunslinger himself despite his father still treating him a bit like a boy. On the one hand, he idolizes the outlaws of the west who take no guff from anyone, but on the other, he's developed his father's intensely honest, unrelenting character. A series of events puts these three together on a mission to escort the recently captured Ben Wade (see the
spoiler points for more plot details to Contention City where he will meet his destiny, the 3:10 train to Yuma, Arizona (hence the title).
"Christian Bale adds another A+ performance to his résumé…Russell Crowe's the heir apparent to the Sean Connery mantle, the Alec Guinness mantle, the Cary Grant mantle, all rolled into one…"
What ensues, however, transcends the obvious as the colliding forces of the nature of these three men (two and an adolescent to be entirely accurate) butt heads. Along the way, William must face the cruel and brutal reality of the man he secretly admires from afar seeing him as stronger than his father, while witnessing first-hand the integrity and tenacity of the dad of whom he had grown ashamed. Perhaps he's had it all wrong. Likewise, for this triad, Dan must begin to accept that his son is not a little boy, and that his adoration for the boy, his will to protect him from the world, may have sent him the wrong message. He does not see his son as weak, rather he sees a man emerging with all of his best qualities. His picture of Ben Wade, too, must evolve as the landscape painted by events eventually foretell his circumstances capable of carving the most gentle man into a vicious dog. As for Ben Wade, the loner who failed to corral his one true love, will witness and be irreparably impacted by the true bond between a father and son, a relationship he's never destined to possess, amplified by a man's will to safeguard his family that's as impossible to tame as a the spirit of a wild mustang.
The screenplay written by Halsted Welles and writing partners Michael Brandt and Derek Hass deftly develops these remarkable characters deviating quite a bit from the screenplay of the original to expand upon the father-son relationship in a way that starts off a bit trite (though certainly authentic) and morphs into something truly admirable and incredibly special. The character triangle provides an incredibly powerful series of interactions and growth potential for all three that elevates this from a good-guy vs. bad guy story into one where the true complexities of the grays between good and bad manifest in thought-provoking ways.
Christian Bale adds another A+ performance to his résumé taking on a character that is as emotionally complex but not as physically complex as some of his more recent portrayals with stride. His exquisite mastery of accents (he claims never to have used the same accent twice) and precise facial expressions, reasserts the folly that is the voting pool for the Academy Awards®. If they fail to nominate and award him this year after his stunning role in Rescue Dawn and now this courageous performance in 3:10 to Yuma, they too should face the wrath of Ben Wade. As for Russell Crowe, say what one will about his personal life, when it comes to onscreen presence he's the heir apparent to the Sean Connery mantle, the Alec Guinness mantle, the Cary Grant mantle, all rolled into one--he's truly in a league of his own. Has anyone ever played a really bad guy this smoothly before? It's difficult to imagine any other actor alive today being able to get this character just this right.
"Borrowing one or two degrees from Johnny Depp's Cap'n Jack Sparrow, Ben Foster presents the most mildly flamboyant Prince with a one-sided bromance with Wade and pushing the envelope between a ruthless, cavalier, outlaw compadre and a Roy Rogers meets Liberace, best-vested, smarmy saloon snake in the grass."
Meanwhile, little Logan Lerman, shortly of the absolutely terrific yet sadly underappreciated, short-lived television drama, "Jack and Bobby" is emerging under the tutelage of great actors a fine young thespian himself. Watch closely, his eyes, and note you can see his heart beating and his soul repenting. Not many actors of his age can muster his emotional stage grace with such believability. For comic relief, the story adds Ben Foster as Charlie Prince, Wade's sidekick in crime and the leader in abstention of his gang. Borrowing one or two degrees from Johnny Depp's Cap'n Jack Sparrow, Ben Foster presents the most mildly flamboyant Prince with a one-sided bromance with Wade and pushing the envelope between a ruthless, cavalier, outlaw compadre and a Roy Rogers meets Liberace, best-vested, smarmy saloon snake in the grass. The result is awesome and elevates Ben Foster to completely viable movie star. Peter Fonda, enjoying a renaissance of sorts this year, and Dallas Roberts were equally indispensable. The one drawback to most westerns when it comes to casting and roles, and this remake is no exception, is the lack of depth for women who end up so often confined to the back drops as is Gretchen Mol despite the elegance of what little she has to do here.
When it comes to James Mangold's directing of the film, well, despite an extra-half hour of thought, nothing comes to mind that could have made this film any better. Casting, scenery, gorgeous wild west settings (apparently New Mexico, not Arizona), outstanding to superstar performances, great gun fights, and a final suspense-filled fifteen minutes from 3 o'clock to fifteen after that will rivet even the most jaded to his or her seat. The ending play a morality twist a whole herd of people are going to find hard to believe. To get it, to accept it, to own it, they may have to see the film at least a second time paying ever so close attention again to this character triangle and the way in which the three impact each other.
"…a final suspense-filled fifteen minutes from 3 o'clock to fifteen after that will rivet even the most jaded to his or her seat. "
Most people tend to believe that people can change for the better when inspired by the right recipe of circumstances. Hollywood provides so few stories where the black and white of the souls of men are not as obvious as the colors of their Stetsons and the culmination of the film's efforts are the good guy plunging the bad guy off the 30th story balcony with his body ending up impaled on some sharp object. 3:10 to Yuma puts forth a different proposition; and, in so doing, elevates itself out of the cliché and into a realm where the improbable become possible. All of this makes 3:10 to Yuma an early front-runner in the pursuit of Academy Award® hardware and the odds on favorite, to date, for Best Picture of the Year.
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Cast Members
Russell Crowe • Christian Bale • Logan Lerman
Dallas Roberts • Ben Foster • Peter Fonda
Vinessa Shaw • Alan Tudyk • Luce Rains
Gretchen Mol
Director
James Mangold
Writers
Halsted Welles • Michael Brandt • Derek HaasVHS
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Original DVD
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Review-lite
3:10 to Yuma (2007) [max of 150 words]
James Mangold's directs Christian Bale and Russell Crowe in this tour-de-force remake. Casting, scenery, gorgeous wild west settings outstanding to superstar performances, great gun fights, and a final suspense-filled fifteen minutes from 3 o'clock to fifteen after that will rivet even the most jaded to his or her seat. The ending plays a morality twist a whole herd of people are going to find hard to believe. To get it, to accept it, to own it, they may have to see the film at least a second time paying ever so close attention again to this character triangle between a father, a son, and an admired outlaw and the way in which the three impact each other's lives. 3:10 to Yuma stands out as an early front-runner in the pursuit of Academy Award® hardware and the odds on favorite, to date, for Best Picture of the Year.
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1 comment:
You have inspired me. A movie in a theater a day for a year, exceptional.
As for 3:10 to Yuma (2007), I found this to be one of the great modern takes on the western, with serious touches of film noir. The duet performances of Bale and Crowe were clearly worth the price of admission and should cement their reputations as the finest actors in film currently at work. As for the lack of parts for women, well I was a twinge annoyed at the attempt at political correctness embodied in a comment by the uncredited Luke Wilson. Whatever. 3:10 to Yuma gets my vote for Best Picture contender. My father would have loved this movie. I would have enjoyed watching it over his shoulder at the drive-in. Just one thing, if its still feels as powerful on the small screen or broadcast in "black and white" then it will deserve to be in the same league with The Searchers, Unforgiven and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and yes Shane.
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