hard to like and harder to watch

Rating: 1/10 (15 October 2008)

When a sixgun fires a hundred bullets -- instead of only six -- it should be grounds for firing the director because it proves he doesn't know what he's doing.
The original 3:10 to Yuma is an eloquent drama about persevering through hardship, being a good role model to your boys and a hero to your wife, and doing the right thing in the face of life-threatening danger while not giving into the temptation to take the easy way out. It's an American classic and one of the great westerns of the 1950s.
I was hoping this remake would make a few adjustments to the original script and stage the story in an artful way, taking advantage of color, authentic costumes and props that are available now, and the beautiful New Mexico scenery. With everything going for it, including big stars and a big budget, this remake is a blown opportunity because the film makers have no idea what a western is supposed to be or do. Instead of telling a simple story we can relate to, this remake is an exercise in misandry (yes, that's a word, coined in the 1970s) that plays out like a spaghetti western made three decades to late, with ridiculous over-the-top action, sadistic violence, bombastic dialog, and vicious, whining, undignified characters who behave in unbelievable ways. It's a cartoon with people. There is not one single realistic or believable moment. There is not one moment that wasn't done better in the original. The new material, consisting mostly of an electrocution, an Indian attack, and various forms of carnage is no improvement. Even New Mexico, still the most pictorial location for westerns, looks better in other movies.
Compared to other recent westerns like Appaloosa, The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford, Open Range, and There Will Be Blood, this remake of 3:10 to Yuma simply doesn't measure up. Skip it. Watch one of those or the original if you want to see a quality western.