Movies

Infamous outlaw Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) and his vicious gang of thieves and murderers have plagued the Southern Railroad. When Wade is captured, Civil War veteran Dan Evans (Christian Bale) volunteers to deliver him alive to the "3:10 to Yuma," a train that will take the killer to trial but with Wade's outfit on their trail - and dangers at every turn - the mission soon becomes a violent, impossible journey toward each man's destiny.

Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) robs banks and trains and he will not hesitate to kill anyone who stands in his way of the money. By contrast, he is also an intelligent, charismatic, religious man who loves his mother. He is supremely confident in his ability to outwit and outshoot "the law," so it is no concern for him to get caught one day when he is separated from his gang. The concern belongs to the people who need to bring him to justice. The group of volunteers includes a desperate, but honorable man (Christian Bale) who is willing to take on the risk of getting Wade to the train in Yuma that will take him to jail.

I have frequently and even recently said that I do not like Russell Crowe, but he was very good in this role. It was impressive to see him pull off a character who can seem so innocent and trustworthy but is capable of horrible things if you cross him. He was not the star, however.

Ben Foster. I wish I could say that we will see more of this guy in roles like this, but unfortunately I don't see it. (I won't call this a fluke, because he definitely has talent, but I really believe this was the kind of role that comes along once in a lifetime.) He was the consumate outlaw. His fierce loyalty to Wade made him a very bad man, which translated into one of my favorite on-screen villains.

The DVD synopsis makes it sound like 3:10 to Yuma is edge-of-your-seat excitement. This was not the case, and most of the movie was pretty slow. It came to a boil at the end, which made up for a majority of the slow feeling, but please don't expect high energy when you watch it. The movie was long and it felt long, but Crowe and Foster were two great bad guys. Overall, I feel like this is a movie worth watching if you like Westerns and/or shoot-'em-up action flicks -- even though a movie about a pre-capture Ben Wade would have been much more entertaining.

| Amazon | Discuss it |