Drama or comedy?

Rating: 5/10 (20 April 2008)

Oh dear, what a disappointment! Many great films -- not least Westerns -- require the suspension of disbelief. But on this scale? How did this film attract so much enthusiasm when it was overwhelmed by visual and spoken clichés? And you certainly didn't have to be a soothsayer to predict what was going to happen next, scene by scene. How nice it would have been to be surprised, just once.
The film repeatedly pushed the boundaries of disbelief to breaking point. I mean, how did that guy manage to survive a stomach wound big enough to send a bull elephant to that great zoo in the sky? At this point, my wife turned to me and asked "Is this supposed to be a comedy?". Sadly, not -- at least not intentionally -- so she went off to do something more useful, muttering to herself "it must be a boy's thing".
For those exhilarated or disappointed by 3:10 to Yuma, I urge you to see the outstanding Aussie contribution to the western genre, "The Proposition". Now! There's a film for grown-ups and one that won't have you shouting "you must be joking!" at the screen.