A good, honest western

Rating: 8/10 (28 September 2007)

This is not a film that exceeds its Western genre, but it sits so nice and firmly in the saddle of that genre that I give it a solid 8.
The script is really pared down and careful. It's written like a 1950s/60s Western - with honesty and a nice lack of fussiness. Russell Crowe's outlaw is the more seductive of the two leads but Christain Bale's scrawny, uncertain wannabe hero is the more interesting.
The film almost careens over a cliff of Shane-style cliché surrounding Bale's rebellious son, but does just manage to avoid that fall with good casting of the boy and the downbeat ending, which is nonetheless satisfying.
It's a pleasure to watch a Western that doesn't cave in to postmodern winks at itself, inappropriate humour or over-staged violence. Instead, 3.10 to Yuma rides quietly and unpretentiously into town, does its job with honour, and disappears into a well-deserved sunset.