Solid piece of work which lets itself down a bit

Rating: 7/10 (1 August 2008)

The recent revival of the western has been notable, but many of them have been neo-westerns or revisionists. Films such as "No Country for Old Men" and "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" have begun to drastically re-define the genre for the modern day, but "3:10 to Yuma" has not attempted to do so.
An adaptation of an Elmore Leonard short story, which was made into a film in the fifties, "3:10 to Yuma" concerns a penniless and injured rancher, Dan Evans (Christian Bale), struggling to survive in the drought-ridden Arizona of the late 1800s. In an attempt to raise some much needed money for his family, he agrees to escort the prolific criminal Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) to the eponymous train which will take him to his trial and execution. Evans' motives, however, may not be as simple as they seem, as he is haunted by secrets and lies from his past and is quite desperate to gain the respect of his oldest son. As they travel through the wilderness, the honourable Evans and the unscrupulous Wade begin to connect as the small group struggle toward the train, all the while being chased by Wade's gang, led by the vicious Charlie Prince (Ben Foster).
This film is not a special western. It is purely a character piece, with no great ideas on the table. However, it is a gripping piece and merits its near two-hour running time completely. It opens with a visually impressive scene and an exciting stagecoach robbery which get the audience's attention, and this high-tempo pace and tone is maintained throughout the film.
It is also well acted, and merited its SAG nomination for Best Ensemble. Bale and Crowe are excellent. Bale has the more interesting part and deals with it well, facing up to issues of inadequacy and dissatisfaction that are central to his character with his trademark intensity and complexity. Crowe pulls his part off with his usual charm and charisma but, even in the early scenes, it is clear that the standout turn is from Ben Foster as the sadistic and committed Charlie Prince. But the strong cast, despite their brilliant work, cannot cover up the film's major weaknesses.
Director James Mangold does a perfectly solid job here, but he doesn't display any of the flair that he showed in "Walk the Line". The film is put together well enough. It is pretty well shot by Phedon Papamichael and the film is supported by an excellent score from Marco Beltrami, but it doesn't strike you as particularly special in any way.
The real weakness, however, is the script. It starts well and develops nicely, but for all of its good dialogue and moments of interest, the climax is baffling. One piece of character development is just incomprehensible and makes no sense, perhaps suggesting that the writers felt that they had fleshed out their central characters and their relationship with each other a bit more than they actually had. It is a shame, because this makes the ending a thundering disappointment and after two hours of solid and entertaining film-making you can't help but feel a little let down.
Despite the late missteps, this was never going to be an exceptional film. It is however a solid and entertaining film, which makes decent if not necessarily highly recommended viewing.
3 Stars out of 5