3:10 to Yuma from a Russell Crowe fan's perspective

Rating: 8/10 (7 June 2014)

3:10 Yuma is one of my favorite movies, and that's pretty cool considering that I'm not a big fan of Westerns. However, with this movie, it seems impossible to be disappointed –from the cast to the director, from the plot to costumes and music, it's altogether a fruit of quality work. Apart from the motion picture itself, I'd been pretty surprised and further impressed with the behind the scenes features and interviews, as the making of the movie turns out to be just as impressive as what we see on big screen. Especially the 'town' that was built and the train brought to the area were really cool, and it's amazing how the crew managed to give us a dusty, dry Arizona scenery out of what was actually covered in snow. In terms of acting, I think the whole cast was simply good, each and every character was portrayed properly, fitting their role and the overall story -as expected from a team led by the Christian Bale-Russell Crowe duo. The two, in my opinion, had excellent chemistry, in a way that it makes you like both characters equally and understand where they come from, what they do and why. Then again, if I were to choose, I'd go for Ben Wade in a heart-beat, owing to the magnificent portrayal by the talented Russell Crowe. For starters, Crowe once again gives us a brilliant accent, adds a dose of "Russell" to his role, and adds Ben Wade to the long list of "unforgettable characters Russell Crowe played". Ben is not just some outlaw with a fast trigger, nor your usual villain. He's smart, extremely charismatic, and a damn good leader –wait for it– with conscience! He's not purely bad (as Pearly Soames was in Winter's Tale), but is the kind of bad guy that the young look up to (as Dan's son, William does), ladies admire and ordinary men envy. In other words, he's probably "made bad", as hinted by the scene where he tells Dan the story of his mum leaving him at the station with a Bible (speaking of mum, just gotta love the scene "even bad men love their mamas"). All in all, whatever life's done to him, it seems to have made Ben Wade a brilliant leader who earned absolute loyalty of his gang (his words as they drink for Tommy at the bar shows what a determined and focused leader he is, one of the many cool quotes of the movie: "Tommy was weak. Tommy was stupid. Tommy is dead.") Furthermore, I simply loved Ben's wittiness and was a pleasure to see a good many excellent Russell Crowe smirks on screen (e.g. the scene where Wade is detained and told that he's going to end up hanged; the part in the hotel room when he asks Dan "You mean we're still not friends?" and the whole dinner scene at Dan's place). The only two scenes I am not a big fan of are –as expected– where Byron gives Ben a rough time after we say goodbye to Tucker (Kevin Durand's part is small but brilliant nonetheless, by the way!) and the scene when the Dan and the rest catch up with Ben in the tunnel, in the hands of some old enemies, if I may say so (ouch! do not hurt Ben Wade or you'll regret it, peeps!). And only one thing in the entire movie I don't really understand, why and how, seriously, does the girl (Emma) not runaway with someone so absolutely hot and amazing and breath-taking as Rus.. I mean, Ben Wade?! :) Taken altogether, Russell Crowe fan or not, I see no reason why one wouldn't like this movie. Do give it a shot if you haven't already – you're not gonna regret. **walks away singing "they'll hang me in the morning, and I'll never see the sun "**