RUNNING TIME:
1 hr. 57 min.
RATING: R - violence and some language
CAST: Russell
Crowe, Christian Bale, Peter Fonda, Gretchen Mol, Ben Foster
DIRECTOR:
James Mangold
GENRE:
Western, Outlaw (Gunfighter) Film, Psychological Western
So who wins Batman or Gladiator!?!
I can’t tell you that. That would be spoiling. Ha.
Yes I just sat through 3:10 To Yuma.
This is a remake of a 1950-something Glenn Ford actioneer. Batman, I mean Christian Bale, takes on the Ford role of Arizona rancher, Dan Evans, facing eviction from his land by an unscrupulous land owner...who happens to be more interested in taking back the land so he can sell it to the railroad.
Gladiator, I mean Russell Crowe, plays bank robber Ben Wade, who has taken at least $400,000 from the Southern Pacific (owned by Chicago; inside joke) over 22 robberies of stagecoaches.
Ben is the head of a gang of some of the most ruthless thugs to grace the west.
Dan is the head of a family straight out of Little House on the Prairie. Besides holding onto his land, Dan has to deal with having only one leg (lost during the Civil War) and a son, ROBIN (no not his real name but every Batman needs one), actually his son played by Logan Lerman (who looks like a young Josh Hartnett), who thinks his dad is well, a loser. And at 14 who of us didn’t think that – dad’s making sacrifices for the family.
All is going pretty shitty for Dan and his family, until one day things, get well, shittier. Dan’s barn is set on fire, his cattle are stolen and he runs into Ben Wade and company in the middle of robbing a stagecoach.
Might be time to go back to bed.
But Dan having been a soldier in the Civil War doesn’t back down from Ben. He wants his cattle back. Ben takes a liking to Dan and gives them back. Plus dude has just robbed a stagecoach. As Ben rides off into the sunset, Dan discovers a grizzly bounty hunter, played by Peter Fonda, who was injured during the robbery.
So Dan drags him to town. Now that is a man. I mean Batman.
Peter Fonda actually has one of the films’ great lines while he lies on the operating table.
While in town, Dan decided to confront the evil landowner, who just brushes him off. Desperate – he’s going to lose his land in a week – Dan sees another opportunity – Ben is banging a hot barmaid.
God I love western whores! Who doesn’t?
Dan has a showdown with Ben in the bar. Ben, again, takes a liking to Dan. But this time Dan won’t be charmed. He waits there until Ben is arrested.
It’s determined that Ben is going to Yuma Prison to be hanged. Now who would be crazy enough – with Ben’s gang still out and about – to escort him to the train?
Batman!
3:10 To Yuma becomes an exciting journey, in the old fashioned western sense as Dan, his son, Peter Fonda and a couple other guys you know are going to die escort Ben to the train.
This is a movie about desperation. How far will a father go to save his family? Perhaps even risk his life. How many dads actually do that everyday? It really makes you think about the job description of fatherhood. Ben is also father to his gang. His son, figuratively, is played by Ben Foster. He does a great turn as a vicious, well-dressed and very gay killer, Charlie Prince. In both cases, Dan and Charlie are actually trying to keep their families together. However one is going to gain respect from the son as a father, one is going to lose it.
One gripe, besides the lack of boobage from the western whore, I didn’t like the bonding moment between Crowe and Bale. But that’s minor. There is so much to like in 3:10 to Yuma. Bale is such a good actor. He really becomes the character he’s playing. After watching him in this, Batman, The Machinist and The Prestige, I have so much respect for him as an actor. And of course, Crowe is just an old pro. He is Hollywood. Although it’s even hard to hate him as a villain. He is really likable on screen.
And director, James Mangold has figured out how to use Luke Wilson properly. In three minute bits on screen.
The cinematography is phenomenal. The music is insane and the screenplay by Michael Brandt, Derek Haas, and Halsted Welles is tight.
Why couldn’t they have just written in some boobage from the western whore!?!
FOUR BALL POINT PENS.