disappointing

Rating: 5/10 (30 November 2008)

The original "3:10 to Yuma" was stagy and turgid at times, but it held its own as a parable for the '50s' effort to find the relationship between what we say we believe and what we are actually willing to live with.
This version just doesn't come close. It has no sense of humor and the tone is unremittingly grim. The characters are unlikeable, so the actors are left with a thankless job, trying to keep us interested in people we'd rather not ever meet again. Mangold tries to put bite in the script by resorting to larger-than-life Western clichés, like the two-gun killer in the grey coat, and the young boy's "surprising" (not) acts of heroism, but these only look anachronistic and out of touch with the film's excessive realism in design. Finally, the camera work is just dull, and the editing is a hatchet job, especially in the action sequences.
This was touted as a resurrection of the Western genre, but I have no idea why. But the general feel of the film did remind me a little of the old "Gunsmoke" TV show, which tended to get talky and dull; but "Gunsmoke" did have a solid rock to stand on in the character of Sheriff Matt Dillon. That's who this movie needed, desperately. Unfortunately, he never arrived.