I Realize Very Late the Raw and Real Force of Genius Russell Crowe Is As an Actor

Rating: 8/10 (12 October 2007)

3:10 To Yuma thrives on the fascinating human chemistry of the two main characters, Christian Bale's unlikely hero and Russell Crowe's intimidatingly self-aware villain. The dynamic between them is so brilliantly indescribable and ambiguous in its portrayal of personality. When you leave this film, a bloody, fast-paced western, you're going to be pondering the subtextual motives of these two characters as a reaction to the unmatchably entertaining and fascinating climax. What you should remember is that we ourselves rarely know the reasons for things we do. Russell Crowe's character is such a richly drawn villain, especially for a western, because amongst all of his ruthless murder, ability to take charge of a vicious, rotten gang, and shark-like expressions is a man with a mind that's aware and open enough that he is capable of surprising himself. The expansive outreach of his character to his opposing company throughout the film just consumes you.
The root of the film's expert delivery is the depth and intricacy of the script, which claims solid development to the point where it can be free to to take thematic liberties and create an unpredictable hot-cold-and-lost-in-inconclusiveness relationship between everybody.
I was at first turned very much off by the frustrating animal violence early in the film, but I was progressively turned back on. Russell Crowe completely embodies a rugged manliness that suggests that he was born in the wrong era, as if he were a walking museum exhibit. It's almost alarmingly lifelike to see how genuinely he wears his scopically perfect character. The expansive intellect, not to mention the artistic and romantic sensibilities that are filled in around the edges, are not unequal in realism in Crowe's performance. He is making me realize very late the raw and real force of genius he is as an actor and a movie star. Alongside him, there is just no real way Christian Bale can match him. No matter how affecting Bale is, Crowe's villain is the sort that steals the show and pinches for every penny of it. However, the unlikeliness I speak of in Bale's hero is personified unreservedly as a farmer with such a good-hearted nature that he doesn't even recognize his own breaking point, which comes when he volunteers to assist the transportation of Crowe's notorious character to the gritty town of Contention. Bale shows us a tough everyman with a rifle who can carry himself just as well as anyone else despite his bum foot, but traces over him with the sad, innocent scavenging of a lost ego. Crowe and Bale are doubtlessly the best hero- villain coupling I've ever seen in a western.
This western is doubtlessly the best American western I've seen in a life. If only they hadn't bothered with the stupid animal violence early on.