Mostly Enjoyable Remake, A Few Flaws

Rating: 8/10 (1 January 2010)

While the original 1957 version of 3:10 To Yuma was a suspense western with qualities, this is more of a straight out action picture, albeit with some psychological depth, with both the story and the main characters a bit more elaborate this time around.
Russell Crowe and Christian Bale are perhaps the only modern A-list actors I really enjoy watching and it's great to see them in the same movie. Both give great three-dimensional performances that add a lot of nuance to their characters. Peter Fonda was interesting too.
However, the part where this goes off the rails (so to speak) is the climax where Bale and Crowe face the gang to catch the train. The whole movie Crowe is viciously homicidal and dead set against getting on the train. Suddenly, he appears to turn good and seems a bit too eager to walk himself to the gallows.
If you watch the 1957 version, it's a bit incredible too. However, Glenn Ford does make the entire walk under the barrel of a shotgun and really doesn't do Van Heflin any favors.
Couple that with the death of Bale and the result is a fairly unsatisfying ending, that is unless you're one of those post-modern nihilists that think the death of the hero always makes an ending better!