Movie Review: 3:10 To Yuma

I don't usually like westerns. However, I make an exception for 3:10 to Yuma. If it weren't for friends and family members suggesting movies to me, I'd probably never see anything but lame (yet still enjoyable) comedies.

Anyway, 3:10 to Yuma is more than a western. It's also a compelling drama with emotional depth. It is true that in the beginning I had a little trouble following it. Maybe it says something about my powers of observation, but there were several gunfights in the beginning, and everyone looked alike to me. But once we got further into the story, I became much more engaged.

Dan, an Arizona rancher (Christian Bale) struggles to support himself, his wife, and two sons during a long drought. He of course feels that he has let them all down. In addition, his younger son is ill, which means paying for medicine. The family is in danger of losing their land, as the railroad is coming through that area. Desperate, Dan takes a job as part of a posse paid to transport a dangerous and notorious criminal (Ben Wade, played by Russell Crowe) to the town of Contention. There Ben will be loaded into a cell on the 3:10 train to the prison in Yuma, where he will almost certainly be hanged.

Dan's son, Will (Logan Lerman), whom Dan left behind at the ranch, manages to catch up to the posse. He may be disappointed in his dad, who tends to avoid risk, but he worships Ben Wade, an outlaw who, along with his gang, has held up stagecoaches, robbed banks, and murdered people.

It becomes a race against time to get Ben to the train station on time. Dan is determined to deliver him, no matter what happens. Ben tries to gain his freedom by tempting Dan with an offer of much more money than Dan would get for completing the job.

Crowe is wonderful as Ben Wade, a bad guy with depth. He draws, writes, and philosophizes. Occasionally he has some really funny lines. Though obviously at cross-purposes, he and Dan form a bond. Ben is probably glad to get a chance to talk to someone who is his intellectual equal, something that cannot be said for the members of his gang. Christian Bale does a great job of portraying the struggling rancher. The movie is a morality tale of sorts, the way westerns used to be. I haven't seen the original so can't make comparisons, but the remake was very well-done and enjoyable.