By By Taylor V A Nars Dale Newreleases
I needed a testosterone injection this weekend and went looking for a raucous, wild, shoot ‘em up, instead I found, in director James Mangold’s “3:10 To Yuma” a superbly crafted morality tale with just the right amount of kick.
That “Itchy Foot Girl” was seated behind and slightly left of me, and decided to remove her shoes to better scrape and scratch the souls of her feet on the chair adjacent, and that I still was able to immerse myself into the drama and enjoy the heck out of this flick is a testament to the fine cast performances, especially Christian Bale whose engaging, brilliant intensity will have you riveted to every frame.
The story opens on struggling rancher Dan Evans (Bale), affected by a terrible drought, now in danger of losing his land to the railroad company eagerly waiting to foreclose. Enter Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) a notorious outlaw, responsible for more than 18 robberies, whose recent capture inspires a local banker to offer $200 to any man willing to transport Wade to the train (the 3:10 to Yuma) which will take him to federal prison.
Evans willingness to step up to the task is not driven so much by temerity as it is by necessity — Evans needs the money, but more importantly he needs to prove himself a worthy role model for his son (Logan Lerman).
Wade is not your typical western adversary; he’s eloquent in his speech and manner and he even sketches people and birds in a notebook he carries — he’s more like a misunderstood artist, involved with the wrong crowd, who just happens to mercilessly kill people.
Both men gain mutual insight from their time together, each seeing in the other a piece of the man they’d aspire to be. When Wade tells Evans, “Your conscience is sensitive. I don’t think it’s my favorite part of you.” We know it is precisely the part Wade wishes he could cultivate.
During the journey Wade’s band of lawless desperadoes come to aid his escape. Best western villain award goes to Charlie Prince (Ben Foster) who, with his piercing eyes, behaves like a demented, meth-injected miscreant, pretty much stealing every scene from Bale and Crowe — which is no easy feat. Performances all around are superb.
Luke Wilson (in an all-too-brief cameo) sports a nice set of yellow-stained dentures, Peter Fonda is terrific as the unstoppable (keep shooting him, he just won’t die) bounty hunter, and Sci-Fi fans will be happy to see Alan Tudyk (”Firefly” and “Serenity”) as the affable doctor.
While it’s no galloping adventure “Yuma” trots along at a steady clip. See it with your shoes on.
TAYLOR VAN ARSDALE is a writer/producer and movie reviewer for the Daily Press. She
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 13, 2007. Read the original PDF.