CHICAGO – Had you asked me to tag “3:10 to Yuma” before I screened it, you’d think me a bumbling idiot because I had absolutely no clue what to expect.
I was scratching my head not because of lice but because I knew shooting a western in this day and age was either brilliant because it hasn’t been done in so long or Hollywood suicide. It turned out to be bit of both.
Crowe plays the deadly-quick desperado Ben Wade who has no remorse for the men, women and children he kills, all the money he pilfers and all the families he destroys. Or does he?
Bale’s family man character, Dan Evans, grows on Wade and forces him to have a conscience.
Give the film its full 117 minutes, though, as you’ll see Bale indeed has stirring qualities of sound character up his sleeve.
Crowe, by the way, was Mangold’s first selection for the Wade role. After Tom Cruise considered the project but then declined, casting Crowe gave the production new life. Early on, there was talk of Eric Bana starring opposite Cruise.
This day and age, the film packs the music, sights and sound you’d expect in a classic western with quality acting and a story that’s just comme çi, comme ça (ahem: so-so).
Actors are prisoners to their scripts. While jailing Crowe turns out to be anything but a picnic in the park, this simple feature-length film story leaves me unsatiated and wanting much more plot oomph.
[17] | By ADAM FENDELMAN [18] |
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