Rehash of old tropes

Rating: Null/10 (29 June 2017)

A remake of the 1957 film of the same name. A poor and struggling rancher (Christian Bale) agrees to join the escort for a big time robber king (Russell Crowe) that is being taken to a prison train in Yuma. While at the same time the robber's gang plot his escape.
3:10 to Yuma can be seen as a love letter to old time westerns. Being a remake it of course uses pretty much the same conventions, story lines and characters as those films, but it gives it a new look, a new coat of paint if you will. Higher budget means fancier clothes, more detailed sets and a larger pixel count. Which is of course appreciated.
Russell Crowe is also at the top of his game. A fine character and fitting Crowe's usual mannerisms perfectly. Unfortunately the same cannot be said about Bale. I'm usually a fan of his, but he also has certain mannerisms he cannot escape. And here they didn't serve to make the character more interesting. Quite the opposite.
There's also the problem that they tried to modernize the values of the story a bit too much. I haven't seen the original, but from what I can surmise, it was pretty typical as far as westerns go. Tough as hide heroes, nefarious villains, strong pioneer women. Whereas this film tries to throw in rebellious teenagers, racial commentary, evil land barons, Native Americans, hidden hearts of gold and a twist ending meant to tug at your heartstrings. Making the whole film feel bloated and disjointed as far as values and themes go.
Still, for a remake this ain't half bad and for a modern western it's surprisingly good. Plus I freely admit that the film was mostly ruined for me because I found Bale's character and his son so annoying. That will probably not be the case for most viewers.