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Three Readers Offer Differing Opinions About Their Ride On The 3:10 TO YUMA!!
Merrick again...
Readers Talkback
3 :10 to Yuma is a remake of the 1957 film of the same title which starred Glenn Ford and Van Heflin and arguably stands as one of the best western films that still holds up today. With the string of bad remakes Hollywood has under it's track record there stands room for concern that this remake is just another attempt to cash in on a familiar name. But the film is directed by the careful hands of James Mangold who also directed the award winning film Walk the Line with Joaquin Phoenix. Thankfully 3 :10 to Yuma delivers the goods and just in time after a long batch of bad movies. Christian Bale plays Dan Evans, a family man who is struggling to survive in his ranch who witnesses a stage coach robbery led by deadly outlaw Ben Wade (played by Russell Crowe) and his Gang of murderers. After seeing Evans wants no conflict and just wants to farm with his family Wade allows him to leave with his 2 sons. While separated from his gang Wade is captured and issued to be sent to Yuma where he will be hanged for his crimes. In debt and desperate for money, Evans takes the job of escorting Wade to the 3 :10 train to Yuma. Wades gang now led by the insane Charlie Prince played by Ben Foster is on their trail intent of getting their leader back and will kill anybody in their way. The biggest concern when seeing a remake is that it might miss the mark on whatever made the original film so special .3:10 to Yuma isn't a re-imagining of the story by Elmore Leonard. It stays true to what made the original a classic but It's also one of the few times you will ever see a remake stand on it's own as a great film. There is enough that’s different here to appease today’s modern filmgoers and those who love the western genre. Even if one thinks Western films are just too cliché these days any clichés here are only the ones self imposed by the viewer. 3:10 to Yuma doesn’t rely on overacting or dramatic stare downs. It’s not only a great western but also a great film with some genuine powerful moments that bring the story down to earth instead wallowing in bravado. Christian Bale does his best performance since The Machinist as a man trying to provide for his family while maintaining that sense of nobility he’s trying to instill to his sons. He’s a torn character doing what he has to do to define what makes him a man. Russell Crowe who easily could have slept through this role has HIS best performance in a while playing the impressionable Ben Wade. His character is not your cookie cut bad guy and Crowe pulls off a villain you just want to see more of. Bale and Crowe are both amazing actors and share an on screen chemistry that is rarely seen when two main actors need to share screen time. A fact that’s vital considering the main appeal of the film is the relationship that is built between Dan Evans and Ben Wade. It’s a relationship that would never have worked if the movie didn’t do such a good job with the characters. You feel for Evans in his dream to be respected and admired by his sons and wife. You get the sense of his desperation as he tries to not only cling on to his goals but his morals and decency. As their relationship forms you see how deep Wade is and get a sense that inside in that murderous madman there’s a good person who just had the rotten luck of having to do what he had to do to survive. Every other character in this film is treated with the same respect as they all play a role in the overall story. Something that is missed by so many movies intent on putting Caricatures on screen instead of devoting 1 or 2 extra minutes of dialogue to make them actual characters instead. One character that deserves honorable mention is Charlie Prince played by Ben Foster who has totally redeemed himself with me after what he did to Angel in X-men 3. All the care they put in these characters bring this movie to life and you actually feel this is a real situation and the danger is very real. Any time I thought the movie dragged too long something happened. Any time I questioned the characters actions, it was explained. I haven’t seen a movie focus that much attention to detail in a long time. This is easily one of my favorite films of the year and there were no digital effects with a thousand moving parts or slow motion bullet time effects , Just solid story telling and great film making. This film gets a Golden Ruben award and a personal thanks for ending a long streak of bad movies. It’s movies like this that remind me why I love going to the movies. Rubens Reviews
I know you guys have spread serious love for this film on aintitcool, but as its not officially released yet and I've just seen a sneak preview in Gateshead, ERngland, I thought I'd throw in my opinion. The 2 main film mags in England (Empire & Total Film) have given this film 3 out of 5 stars and I'd have to agree. I haven't seen the original, I purposely didn't watch it before seeing the remake to avoid distraction (though I think Glenn-superman's dad-Ford is frickin' amazin'). I think the film had some great moments, and was full of great characters, but in the end it left me cursing Hollywood. For example, Ben Forster. he creeped the fuck out of me, but all he had was dedication & loyalty to go with his severe spare-changing by his complex character'd boss. his 'i don't like posse's' line was pretty shit, but when he burned the guy to death in the carriage he was awesome. same with the two main characters, lots of awesome scenes/moments (especially Crowe's one-liners) were immense, but i didn't get a feel for their characters, as if their Hollywood back-story was meant to compensate for lack of film back-story (i.e. bad boy Russell Crowe the big charmer, intense good guy Christian bale [okay maybe the good guy bit sounds bad for Patrick Bateman, but he was the protagonist in empire of the sun] & mental teenager Ben Forster). It sounds wrong as a huge fan of once upon a time in the west, but this was quite a slow boring western too, as if it was only livened by its great moments. To counter the great bits, the end was covered in Hollywood schmaltz, like Mr. Crowe's getting on the train (if he was Lee Van Cleef he would still have killed his henchmen, but instead rode off on his horse & told the kid his dad was a great man). And what the f**k was the whistle about- "Yeah kid, I've honoured your dad's wishes by getting on the train but I'm going to escape as if I'm in Blazing Saddles!" If this seems a bit rambely its cos I've been drinking (I'm 26 today, hooray!). If you use it, call me Knight In Shining Armour. Please
Heya guys, long time reader first time contributor, I just felt it a necessary benefit to give an insight into the new western remake 3:10 To Yuma, which I'm sure a lot of people must be interested in just because of Russel Crowe and Christian Bale side by side alone. I managed to grab a free ticket for this a few weeks ago and got myself revved up, when i found out it was an R rated western i just thought "Score, finally some balls-out bad ass Shoot 'Em Up in the olden times films are coming" and it pains me to say they missed every opportunity. Now, I don't deny some of the acting was amazing, Logan Lerman and Ben Foster were perfectly cast as the parallel characters, one trying, and succeeding, to be a complete and utter bad ass, and the other being taken from the coolness of being a bad guy to being the respectable citizen, and Alan Tudyk was well relied on again to bring the funny, and some of the drama, but unfortunately, even in the brilliant wave of these guys, the two leads were relied on too much, and as much as Crowe wants to deliver, he never feels bad enough, always that glint of compassion in his eyes. Sadly Bale isn't helped out either, muttering a terrible selection of dialogs perfect for trailers, but never get any deeper than "I lost ma leg in the war" and "Them boys help me out, now the money's all dried up", and that's just an attempt from me to transcribe it through the terribly muttered Bale, which i was realy upset about, having my fingers crossed that this could be his Oscar role, he deserves one by now, we've all seen enough of brilliant actors overlooked for these things, look at Paul Giamatti, Edward Norton and Peter O Toole. The trailer somehow managed to be more exciting than the film, and that was the one thing i was praying wouldn't be true, the trailer just was boring and desperate to fit in drama and action, like the film itself, and if this is the start of more westerns in the same vein, that's if it proves to be a hit, then we can say goodbye to quality movies for a while, not like we don't do that enough at this present moment. Rather than something interesting, new and edgy, the makers have just done the "One man will take the guy in a black hat and black suit to justice, and win his family's respect" kind of style, and even with an R rating, the violence is amazingly tame. Where was the gritty explosion of beautiful blood sweeping through the town during the end, where was the gritty looking shootings as Crowe was supposed to be presented as the ultimate bad guy? The film feels so Hollywood, the aesthetic is just straight from the good old westerns, with modern day extras, but it just doesn't hit any of the marks, some get close, but in the end it feels like dribble that anyone could have made, a shame from someone like James Mangold, Walk the Line upped the standard a little too much it seems. If I were you, I'd wait until DVD and rent it; it's sadly just not big enough for the big screen, and the subtitles will really help you guys too. EthanRunt
