One of the best American westerns since "Unforgiven"; Crowe & Bale are dynamite

Rating: 9/10 (24 September 2007)

3:10 TO YUMA (2007) ***1/2 Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Logan Lerman, Dallas Roberts, Ben Foster, Peter Fonda, Vinessa Shaw, Alan Tudyk, Gretchen Mol, Benjamin Petry, (cameo: Luke Wilson). Rip-roaring throwback oater remake of the 1957 western with Crowe perfectly cast as dastardly villain Ben Wade whose nefarious deeds have finally caught up with him when he's captured and a small group of men led by gimpy Civil War vet c um gentleman farmer Dan Evans (Bale giving a splendid performance) are determined to bring him to the titular train departure for his justifiable hanging. Filmmaker James Mangold does a bang up job keeping the action lively and somewhat unpredictable from such a familiar storyline (kudos to the smart screenplay by Halsted Welles, Michael Brandt and Derek Haas based on the original Elmore Leonard short story) and making his two leads an unlikely source of anti- heroism at its finest. Foster is memorable as the sociopathic right-hand man of Crowe's murderous band of bandits. One of the best American westerns since "Unforgiven."