Christian Bale stars as Dan
Evans – a down on his luck rancher and Civil War vet trying
to do everything he
can to save the family farm. He
gets an
opportunity when the infamous outlaw and meanest hombre in Arizona,
Ben Wade (Russell Crowe), brings
his gang to town after a stagecoach robbery.
Instead of celebrating his ill gotten booty
throughout the night, Wade
gets arrested. Now,
Evans has
volunteered to be part of the rag tag posse taking the villain to the
3:10
train to Yuma,
where the crook will be sentenced and hanged for his many crimes. If they get Wade on the
train, Evans will get
the money he needs to pay off his debts.
Will Wade escape? Be sprung by his gang of
thieves?
3:10 To Yuma
is
a
solid, tense drama with two of the
best actors you will ever see. Crowe
is
a perfect rogue showing us Wade’s mean and nasty side, along
with some charm
and intelligence, which makes him much more interesting and compelling. Then, Bale makes us feel
Evans’ desperation,
even though he always has the look of a happy homeless man with his
painfully
intense smile and wild eyes. It’s
not
just his desire to save the family farm.
We also can taste his craving to be a hero in the
eyes of his own family
and himself. Because
of Crowe and Bale,
we get a deeper understanding of each character that goes beyond the
usual and
typical hero vs. villain scenario.
Then, you have to love the
writing
by Halsted Welles, Michael Brandt and Derek Haas.
Their screenplay is not made up of long
speeches. It’s just these two guys trying to defeat each
other in a battle of
wills. They
give Crowe some of the best
material as we sense how this mastermind is trying to play head games
with the
simple farmer, while he rips off some interesting and funny one-liners
along
the way. In return,
Bale as Evans
reminds Wade of the moral high ground upon which the poor rancher and
war vet walks,
even though it is not as profitable as the criminal’s
lifestyle.
3:10 To Yuma has a muddled
ending that is not quite as true to the rest of the story as I would
like, but
still delivers a very good, exciting final 30 minutes.
3
½
Waffles (Out of 4)
3:10 To
Yuma is
rated R for violence and some language.
Copyright
2007 - WaffleMovies.com
