"3:10 to Yuma"

Over the labor day weekend, I was wanting to go see a new movie, but nothing was out there I really had any interest in seeing, however my brother had mentioned that the local theaters were doing a sneak peek showing of the new Christian Bale / Russell Crowe Movie 3:10 to Yuma, so we rushed down to the theater and checked it out.

Hollywood has not produced a decent western in quite a while, and with the cast of this remake of the 1957 movie, it sounded intriguing. I’m a pretty big fan of both Christian, and Russell so I went into this with eyes wide open having pretty high expectations. While I did not buy into the previews predictions of “Best picture of the year,” I will say that director James Mangold did a fairly good job trying to breathe life into this old story, but it is no where near as good as his last major project “Walk the Line.”

The plot revolves around Dan Evans, (played by Christian Bale) and his family during desperate times. They are close to losing their land due to repossession, and Dan is struggling to find a way to keep his land and family safe. On the way to town to sell, or pawn a family heirloom he runs into a stage coach robbery by the famous outlaw Ben Wade, (played by Russell Crowe) and his band of fellow outlaws. Eventually Wade is caught and is suppose to be taken to a prison train that will take him to Yuma, where he will be tried, and hung. Dan Evans, a civil war vet who lost one of his legs, signs on as part of the posse that will escort Wade to the train and is promised $200.00 which will save his land. The main problem lay with Wade’s gang who is hot on the posse’s trail, and are hell bent on helping Wade escape no matter how many people must die in the process.

The overall acting of the main characters in this film is very good, but there is just something about this film that is lacking. I can’t really put my finger on the problem. I think it is a combination of an old story which was mediocre to begin with, and no real true feeling or look to the movie. The costumes, film locations, props and all are great do not get me wrong with this. They do this time period justice in almost every way, but some how there is just something lost between the story, and the pageantry.

One thing that has always driven me crazy with westerns is the firearms. While all the prop guns look authentic, when fired they just have the billow of smoke come from the muzzle, and no kick back at all. I’ve fired just about every weapon out there, and these old fashion hand cannons they used back in the day, kick like a stubborn mule. Most can barely be fired with one hand! The actors from this movie, and all the way back to the movies in the 50’s shoot these guns as if they are toys, but hey I guess I can’t have everything.

3:10 to Yuma is an action packed movie, and runs the whole gambit of emotions, action, and drama of the old west including a pretty good ending. If you are fan of old western movies you will probably enjoy this. It opens this coming Friday 9/7/07 in theaters everywhere, and I expect the first couple of weeks to produce some pretty good numbers in the box office.

My rating for this movie is 7.50 out of 10:00

Here is a link to the official web site http://www.310toyumathefilm.com/