Directed by: James Mangold
Starring: Christian Bale, Russell Crowe, Peter Fonda, Alan Tudyk, Logan Lerman, Dallas Roberts
Classification: 15
Hollywood is like your average bus service - you wait for a genre piece for ages, and two turn up at once. While last time out it was stage magicians battling it out between The Prestige and The Illusionist, now it's the turn of the Western to stride back out of the sunset and into the multiplex - Brad Pitt's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is soon to be released, but in the meantime, we'll have 3:10 to Yuma to keep us occupied.
Batman's Christian Bale plays Dan Evans, a rancher struggling to hold his life together in the Arizona desert. Having lost his leg during the Civil War, the hapless Evans will do anything to stop his land being sold to the burgeoning railroad empire - we can only watch in pity as he desperately tries to pawn off his wife's jewellery to pay for medicine for their sick son, Mark. Evans is one of life's losers - uncharismatic, unsuccessful and just general unappealing.
Russell Crowe, on the other hand, is superb as Ben Wade, the outlaw who robs the railroad with his assorted band of misfits. Rough around the edges, Wade is everything Evans is not. He's charming, mischevious and honest about his dishonest way to earn a living. The back stories of both men are barely sketched in yet it's Wade that demands more attention as he appears to spend most of the film trying to hold back a grin.
The two men are thrust together when Evans and his sons come across Wade robbing the Bisby stage. Wade succeeds, but somewhat stupidly heads back into town. When the law catches up with him, it's decided that he'll be taken to the town of Contention, where he'll be put on the 3:10 train to Yuma prison. Not having enough men to spare, the marshall assembles a makeshift posse, including Evans, who volunteers his services in exchange for $200, payable once Wade is on the train. From this point, the movie branches out slightly, and becomes more of a road-movie/Western, as our group heads off into the Arizona wilderness.
Some of them seek revenge, others seek justice - and Evans seeks absolution, as he believes his success in his endeavours may finally earn him the respect of his family. Naturally things don't run smoothly, as they encounter hostile Apaches, former enemies of Wade (leading to a breathless chase through the tunnels that will house the new railroad), and even Wade's own gang. There are shoot-outs and chases aplenty, and Wade has no problem putting moral issues to one side to further his own ends.
Some talk has been made of this being another Brokeback Mountain, but the relationship between these two men thrust together by circumstance is perfectly heterosexual. They may despise each other, but by the end of the film, they've developed a mutual respect for each other - in part, no doubt, to the performances of both Crowe and Bale. I've always been convinced that Bale is one of the finest actors of his generation, and his portrayal of Evans as a desperate man wracked with guilt over his own inadequacy is as fine as you'd expect. However, Crowe is on absolutely blistering form, as he lends his bandit an air of rogueish charm and devilish fun - flippant to the point of apparent carelessness, this is one cool cat who one suspects will always fall on his feet.
The film may be a tiny bit slow to begin with, and its ending is wrapped up far too neatly to be entirely plausible, (some changes of heart just make no sense, even in Hollywood), but it's ultimately enjoyable escapism that seeks to push no particular agenda. Family may be important, but essentially we can only be happy if we are first happy with our own perception of self. As messages go, it may not be the most original ever splashed onscreen, but then 3:10 to Yuma isn't a groundbreaking piece of innovative cinema. It's simply an extremely enjoyable way to pass an evening.
Rating 4/5