One of the better westerns made in the past 30 years

Rating: 6/10 (5 January 2010)

A bad outlaw is caught and his captors must get him on a train leaving at 3:10 to Yuma prison, but it's not easy with his band of outlaws trying to rescue him, not to mention Apaches and other setbacks.
Westerns were great back decades ago in America and then they just got wore out, Spaghetti westerns then came to be the popular thing and they were just absolutely amazing movies to watch, they brought so much to the big screen and made nobodies superstars and made violence popular in cowboy films. The American westerns suffered and few decent ones have came out in my opinion in 30 years. The Unforgiven, Purgatory, Young Guns to name a few and then there was this movie, but it's a remake so I can't give it as much credit as I'd like to.
An American western with an English actor as the hero and an Australian actor as the bad guy seems like a bad casting call to me, but it turns out it could've been worse. Christian Bale is a little too intense in all of his films and I think he has did some amazing films like American Psycho and The Machinist, but when he does action he goes a little over the top with it and I don't like him in these kind of roles. If I had to pick the worst actor on Earth it would be Russell Crowe, I hate him and usually will not watch a film he is in, but he surprised me by doing a great job in this film.
Logan Lerman played Bales son in this film and although he is a Beverly Hills, California boy he did really great as a kid in a western, he looked and acted the part. I would have to give the best acting nod to Ben Foster on this one, he was superb. He has played many types of roles and this movie and his next movie after this one, 30 Days Of Night really showed he can do a bad guy really well.
I wont talk about the comparisons with the original 3:10 to Yuma here, cause I think it has been one of those movies that have been forgotten by most people, and had never been heard of by the rest, so a remake was a fine idea. I will say the direction in this movie was so-so, I would've liked to have seen more excitement and just to have been taken away by the direction, but it was dull and basic. My other huge complaint is music, To me the single greatest thing that makes a western flow and makes the action jump off the screen is the score.....none of that here, I don't even recall hearing any music other than a cheap wanna-be Ennio Morricone ending credit tune.
This is my second time watching it and it lost its feel big time the second time around, my vote might've been a higher number the first time I watched it. If you like westerns and have seen all the classics, you need to watch this. If you don't like westerns at all, but like action or perhaps even drama you might give this one a chance.