Completely illogical,irrational Western

Rating: 5/10 (29 March 2008)

Folks,if you are going to watch this movie, do not theorize. Just watch and enjoy.There are too many loopholes to talk about and a completely irrational yet thrilling climax,so leave your brains at home. The story is ultimately about heroism and courage(both misdirected, with some ego and stubbornness to spice things up).Small time rancher Dan Evans who is apparently trying to make ends meet for his family, is thrown into a perilous situation of escorting notorious criminal Ben Wade to a prison train heading to a place called Yuma where Ben Wade is supposed to be tried for 23 cases of felony of all sorts,barring rape which is not mentioned anywhere in this movie.Ben is by the way a charming womanizer who can rattle off any portion from the Bible, because his mother made him sit in a railway station when he was small and gave him a bible.For three days he waited for his mom and read the bible from cover to cover but mom never returned.Even for a mom like that Ben can kill a tough Pinkerton agent even though Ben is handcuffed.He just can fly off his horse and push the brat off a cliff because that brat made a nasty remark about mom and even bad boys love their moms.One can imagine what an arduous task this is to escort a criminal like Ben to a station and pack him on a train when his absolutely kick-ass sidekicks are in hot pursuit to free him under the leadership of second-in-command,a faithful psycho called Charlie Prince. For a character like Ben who can even kill 3 gun-toting apache Indians (this time too he was handcuffed)in the Apache territory, how he could remain captured till the end of the movie is a big question.When all of his captors die in one way or the other or flee the scene to save own life,it is up to the honest farmer,former civil war veteran soldier Evans to escort this rogue to the train.He gets assistance from his elder son,who becomes aware through the course of the movie that his father is not actually a wobbly coward but a hero who is preferring a glorious death rather than becoming labelled a coward.Please do not try to make sense of this ego/morality factor because Ben could have killed Dan anytime he liked but just plays along.I got the feeling that Ben was kind of having fun in getting guided to a prison train when all the time he was aware that either he himself or his band of mercenaries were absolutely capable of freeing him.In a town where gunshots are daily fare for the townsfolk,a final fight ensues where amidst the frenzied gunshots life goes on like normal.This is crazy by whatever standards.Just look at the scene during the last 6-7 mins where the Station porters are busy attending the train amidst a complete skirmish.Was this normal?Very hard to digest.As if to salute the moral courage of Dan,Ben gets on the train to prove to Dan that Dan is actually a hero who did his job, then gets off the train and kills all his fellow mates including Charlie Prince who bet his life to free him !!How more crazy can this be!!Then again he gets on the train and as the train pushes off, he whistles softly and his dark horse listens this whistle from quite some distance(wow!!) up and above all the noise a steam engine driven train can make and starts running beside the train until both disappear from the screen.Too much talent wasted for a film that is too irrational.Guys,do not apply logic.