Film Reviews 24 Sep 2007 12:53 pm
Jolly Ranchers
Long live the Western.
Historically regarded as one of the purest forms of cinema, the American Western has gathered dust on the shelves of Hollywood recently, occasionally reimagined (as present-day treatment in Deadwood and futuristically as Star Trek and Firefly, for example) but rarely retold with any great fidelity. In James Mangold’s recreation of the 1957 film 3:10 to Yuma, fans of the genre get a faithful story framed in the honest-to-goodness Old West with the aesthetic benefit of modern filmmaking.
In 3:10 to Yuma, struggling Arizona family man Dan Evans (Christian Bale) stumbles across a robbery executed by the cunning and legendary Ben Wade (Russell Crowe). When he helps capture Wade after the robber spends too much time shacked up with a barmaid, Evans offers to help shepherd him to a prison train in exchange for enough cash to save his land from the underhanded railroad entrepreneurs who want to raze it.
The film rests on the interaction between the two men as Evans tries to earn respect and honor to validate his life as a simple man in the eyes of his family (who come to be in awe of Wade) and Wade tries to duck away from his captors at every opportunity, and the leading actors deliver the goods in bulk. Bale, his face weathered by actual time spent in the desert, is stoic and stubborn and Crowe is a charismatic and likeable bad guy but still commands fear. Fantastic performances are turned in by Peter Fonda as a morally questionable bounty hunter and Ben Foster as Wade’s fiercely loyal second in command.
Combining action that closely walks the line of being over the top and deep character study despite characters that mark their emotions, Mangold presents a nicely balanced film. The camerawork is often remarkable in its simplicity, and majority of the film is paced economically. It’s strange to see, then, that Mangold’s ending is improbably gory and inappropriately compact. I’d hardly say that it ruins the movie, but it’s an uncomfortable note to walk away with. Nevertheless, 3:10 to Yuma is a great modern representation of the genre and fabulous transition from the summer movie season to the more sedate autumn slate of films.
Rating: * * * * of 5
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on 28 Sep 2007 at 2:38 am 1.a. said …
I’m so happy to see that you appreciated this film. Over the past few years, I’ve come to realize how stirring westerns can be - “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” and “Unforgiven” pretty much rock world. I found this film to be very much in keeping with the artistic spirit of the best westerns (films, not fleatraps) - that being the Western Frontier and its denizens as miniature characters in a larger morality play.
Russel Crowe, as much as I loathe him, does a wonderful job in this film… and plays the Nietzschean bad boy better than pretty much anyone I could ever think of.
Christian Bale was spectacular as I’ve come to expect.
Ben Foster was fabulous, and I use that word intentionally. I first noticed him in “Six Feet Under,” and his wormy character has come to be my standard image of him as a human being, not fair I’ll admit… but still. He was so deliciously unhinged in this movie, cruel and dapper and glazed with the vaguest hint of latent homosexuality. That white, leather tunic… my GOD I want to own that thing.
SPOILER
I do disagree with your view of the end of the film though. I don’t think the movie pulled any punches violence-wise at any point - the fork incident, the Pinkerton’s rather rough tumble… the violence was stitched into the reality the film tried to portray… so that when that one ribbon of blood streamed out of Charlie’s chest at the end… effectively breaking his heart… I was downright gleeful, if a bit grossed out.
Hiya, by the way.