A New Retelling of the 1957 Version

Rating: 8/10 (11 January 2008)

Westerns are a tough sale to many movie buffs. They tend to be overdone, cliché, and ho-hum on action. And although 3:10 TO YUMA has a few of those strikes against it, it does stand out as a good film for a couple of reasons.
First is the acting. Russell Crowe (CINDERELLA MAN) as the bad-ass Ben Wade was a great choice. He's a ruggedly good-lookin' fella with a heart of stone that melts just a tad when faced with a good man trying to raise a good family. The good man is Christian Bale (THE PRESTIGE) who plays Dan Evans, a one-legged rancher who decides to help out the local constabulary by hauling the murderous and thieving Wade to the 3:10 train destined for the Yuma federal prison. But the biggest surprise wasn't from Crowe or Bale but instead from Ben Foster (30 DAYS OF NIGHT) as the gruff and deadly Charlie Prince, lead member of Ben Wade's outlaw gang. His creepy and maligned gunslinging attitude was well-honed and goes beyond anything you've seen of bad guys in past western films. A surprisingly decent addition in the form of Peter Fonda (WILD HOGS) as a roughshod Pinkerton also adds a bit to the acting caliber throughout the movie.
Secondly, although 3:10 To Yuma is basically a remake of the 1957 film by the same name (starring Glen Ford and Van Heflin), the script of this re-envisioned version weaves a new ending that goes a long way to helping it define itself as something more than just a remake. Keeping us guessing about the strengths and flaws of each of the main characters added a fresh element to what could have been a stale retelling.
And finally, the action. There's plenty of old-style sequences that many will be familiar with (blowing up a tunnel by shooting a wad of dynamite in midair, a stagecoach shoot-out, etc.), but there's also some great chase-and-shoot scenes in the beginning and end of the film.
I do have to mention that Hollywood has seen fit lately to remake just about anything some movie studio still holds rights to, and this trend appears to be gaining steam rather than diminishing. 3:10 To Yuma is no different in that respect, but it doesn't simply follow the same script of the 1957 version, which makes it an unusual hybrid: a film that treads over old terrain but leaves a new imprint via its ending.