"You know, squeezin' that watch won't stop time."

Rating: 7/10 (5 February 2008)

If there's one good thing to be said about remakes, it's that they raise awareness for the original films on which they were based. Before I heard about the upcoming Western to star Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, I would probably have never made the effort to track down Delmer Dave's 1957 film, which proved to be a suspenseful and entertaining gem. '3:10 to Yuma (2007)' was directed by James Mangold, and was part of the Western "revival" that took place last year {along with the much-awaited 'Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)' and 'No Country for Old Men (2007),' which had significant traits of the genre}. Of course, whenever a picture is remade, it is inevitable that comparisons be made between the two films, and, because I saw them just one day apart, I gathered an good understanding of the strengths and weakness of each. Is James Mangold's film, with the monumentally bigger budget, a better film than its predecessor? The answer is yes and no.
The plot for '3:10 to Yuma' is basically the same as the original film, though a few additional plot elements have been included, most importantly the added participation of Evan's son, William (Logan Lerman). Following a successful gold robbery that left many dead, notorious bandit Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) is captured in the small town of Bisbee. A poverty-stricken rancher, Dan Evans (Christian Bale), desperate to prove himself to his family, and especially his oldest son, volunteers to escort Wade to the town of Contention, where he is to be placed on the 3:10 train to Yuma prison. Meanwhile, Wade's ruthless gang, led by loathsome second-in-command Charlie Prince (Ben Foster), prepare to rescue their leader, and to murder anybody who gets in their way. As the minutes tick closer to 3:10 PM, the other volunteers either retreat or are murdered, and it is left to one man to fulfill his duty and load the wanted criminal onto the locomotive.
In adapting Halsted Welles' 1957 screenplay, which was based on a short story by Elmore Leonard, screenwriters Michael Brandt and Derek Haas do a decent job of "fleshing out" the straightforward story of the original film. The journey with Ben Wade to Contention is considerably more eventful than it was before, and the wellbeing of any one character is never assured. Additionally, Wade and Evans are given more opportunities to interact, making their respective actions in the film's final act more believable. Of course, given their previous participation in such "dumb" flicks as '2 Fast 2 Furious (2003),' the screenwriters evidently couldn't resist a few action-packed flourishes, and the characters' fondness for murdering every human being in sight demands that a considerable amount of disbelief be suspended. Some killing here and there is certainly important to show that the bad guys mean business, but, with the biggest body count I've seen in a long time, I wonder if it was all necessary. No self-thinking bandit, however angry and determined, would ever pointlessly shoot a town Marshall after his surrender, lest an entire cavalry be unleashed on his tail.
Where Mangold's film decisively matches its predecessor is in the primary casting decisions, with both Russell Crowe and Christian Bale delivering intense and compelling performances. Bale, as Dan Evans, is a unique Western hero, in that he's not very heroic at all, and might easily be dismissed as a coward. However, his resolution in delivering Wade to the authorities reveals a streak of gallantry that his prisoner comes to admire, and, in recognising his captor's heroism, Wade himself uncovers a sense of nobility within himself. Throughout the film, in the quiet moments dispersed within his chaotic lifestyle, Wade finds himself sketching the images he admires: an auger buzzard perched on a tree limb, the beautiful bar-maid naked in bed, and, finally, Dan Evans watching vigilantly from his rocking chair, shotgun cradled over his knee. Despite insisting that he is "as rotten as hell," we are shown a righteous side to Wade's personality, one that clearly detests the actions performed by himself and his gang members, despite the knowledge that, whoever these bandits killed, they killed them out of respect for him.