When I first learned of this movie I was very excited. I am not that into old westerns, though I am sure I am missing out, but the more modern day westerns that have been made lately (re: American Outlaws, Young Guns, Tombstone) have been really fun to watch and get into. Maybe it’s the actors that I don’t know that keeps me from getting into the older westerns…I’m not sure, but nevertheless, the first sight of this movie’s trailer totally piqued my interest.
It can be said of me that I do love a good blockbuster, that I would at first glance choose an action packed “guy movie” over, let’s say, a period film, an introspective film, a romantic comedy, a sweeping epic, etc., but in this case, you would be wrong. This movie was more about character development and relationships than it was about action or gun fights (though it had plenty of both). I was blown away by the interaction and tension between the main characters who at first seemed polar opposites (good guy vs. bad guy) of each other yet as the movie progressed looked more and more alike.
Christian Bale turns in another epic performance as he continues to impress me with his range of characters that he’s able to play wonderfully. He plays a beleaguered Civil War vet who is trying to maintain and run a mediocre farm, while raising 2 boys and caring for his wife. I love watching the inner struggles that he faces, struggles that all men face, like how to raise your boys to do what’s right and to be brave yet wise, and how to show them you are the MAN that you are while still maintaining your emotional core…put all of that into a western environment and time period and it results in some beautiful yet hard-to-watch emotional scenes.
Russell Crowe delivers a very solid and charming rendition of the villainous “Ben Wade.” I love how the director didn’t go over-the-top with Crowe’s adaptation of our “bad guy.” He had such an understated quality about him that amazingly added to his mystique as the evil doer. He was philosophical, creative, deliberate, and most of all, careful with how he composed himself. Westerns tend to paint a very broad and extreme picture of what a bad guy is supposed to look like that it gets cartoony at times. Crowe’s interpretation was so much more about his inner self, how he felt, how he viewed society, how he was raised, his childhood deficiencies, his world view, everything that makes up a human being…that is what “Ben Wade” was all about.
I could devote an entire paragraph in length to so many more supporting characters from this movie, like William, the brave and maturing young son of Bale, played masterfully by Logan Lerman, to the crazy yet truly evil sidekick Charlie psychotically played by Ben Foster, all the way to the legendary Peter Fonda playing a law-driven bounty hunter. All of these characters played significant and memorable parts in this movie and were the gears that helped drive this film to the end.
One of the sweeter themes that flowed throughout this movie was the father-son relationship between Dan (Bale) and William (Lerman). Although William was the stereotypical “young-son-of-the-hero” who ignorantly disobeys his fathers’ orders and instead chooses to get in on the action; meanwhile the audience waits in horror for his ultimate accidental death that will eventually drive the hero to enacting revenge and “saving the day” all for his son…this movie didn’t just leave you with that. Beneath it all, the tension and the love between William and Dan was the soul of the movie. If it was a 4-course meal, that relationship would have been the MEAT!
My wife and I watched this movie together and we were both moved. The vast and beautiful landscapes really added to our experience and the cinematography was subtle yet direct. Throughout the movie there were purposeful moments that the director allowed us to catch a glimpse of the little things out in the desert…from sweeping plains to a piece of paper stuck on a branch. The little things in this movie kept the big sequences from overcrowding the story. It felt very natural.
I highly recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys a great epic story that doesn’t rely on its action to grab the audience, but relies on its characters to get you through it.
Content Warning: Rated R for violence and some language. It’s a western with guns, so, there’s going to be violence. The gang that Crowe leads is pretty brutal so there are a lot of close range kills and the camera likes to put you right in the action. Get ready.
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Donna
I also enjoyed this movie and I didn’t think I would as it was a “western”. But because there was so much invested in the relationships and character development, I really got into the story. I also thought the father-son relationship was a bonus to an already great movie.
April 23, 2008 at 8:05 am
Matt Algren
This is one I’m DYING to see. I want to rent it with the 1957 version (which people and Netflix tell me I’ll like too) to see how it stacks up.
April 23, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Traci
Great review Dan…you made me want to see a movie genre that I would NEVER see. Thanks for the honest and direct review!
April 29, 2008 at 1:18 pm
The Button Down Blog of Matt Algren | 3:10 To Yuma (2007)
[...] been hearing good things about 3:10 To Yuma since it came out last year, so when Dan from Truth on Cinema said last week that he was getting ready to watch a film I’d just reviewed, I decided to [...]
May 5, 2008 at 12:31 pm
johnny thunders
it’s a good flick. i enjoyed most of it. there are some serious script flaws that bothered me, and ben foster is so over the top ridiculous that it drove me nuts. since then i’ve learned that he even overacts in photographs, so i’m not sure if he can actually help it.
russell crowe and christian bale are both top notch in it, and henry fonda is doing the best john wayne impression i’ve ever seen. and the cameo that happens in it? soooooo good. it’s probably my favorite part of the movie.
if you want to see an even better western from last year, get the assassination of jesse james by the coward robert ford. it’s seriously one of my absolute favorite films of last year, probably my favorite drama. superb acting by an amazing cast, a really stellar script, and a story that is something new and different for the genre. it basically picks apart the idea of the american mythology of the outlaw and really turns it on it’s head.
May 14, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Dan
Man, I’ve SO wanted to see Assassination so bad! I have it on my Netflix queue so it’s coming pretty soon. Some people have said that it’s a slow movie, and I don’t know if they were telling me that as a negative aspect of it or not, but johnny, would you say the pace of the movie is spot on?
-What cameo are you referring to?
May 15, 2008 at 7:44 am
Vivian(the wife)
Ben Foster has always been over the top, he reminds me of Robin Williams because of it. Ben Wade was so charming and smart, yet sooo dangerous and evil. I kept wondering what his fate would be. I hate it when they make the villains out to be heroes, like all their killing is unexcused because “people like them”. It just contradicts itself. But real life is like that too a lot of times. The jerks and hunks get all the fame and money. The normal guy who devotes his life to his family and works steadily to provide never gets the hero award.
May 15, 2008 at 2:19 pm
johnny thunders
haha, robin williams. the thing is, robin williams can be understated at times too, see one hour photo or insomnia. ben foster can’t do anything but over the top bad acting. which works in a few rare cases… see 30 days of night.
anyway, assassination is amazing. the pacing is slow at times, but that’s how the movie should be. it’s not a rock ‘em sock ‘em action thriller, it’s a character piece about the nature of mythology. seriously, the movie is just so well made and it’s amazingly beautiful. i’m glad it at least got nominated for the cinematography oscar, but it should have won.
but then again, a lot of my favorite films have been called slow, so maybe i just enjoy slower paced films at times.
and the cameo i was talking about was the luke wilson one.
May 15, 2008 at 11:29 pm
Dan
I really liked seeing Luke in this movie. To me it was a very odd cameo and it seemed like an odd detour for the characters at first, but put in the context of the entire movie, I actually liked that scene. Good catch.
May 16, 2008 at 6:32 am
Donna
Where was Luke Wilson’s cameo in the movie?
May 16, 2008 at 9:38 am
Vivian(the wife)
I absolutely missed the Luke cameo!
May 21, 2008 at 7:20 am
Vivian(the wife)
Robin Williams was ok in one hour and insomnia, but it took him MANY years to get a part like that right, maybe Ben Foster will have it in him when he’s in his 40′s. What did you think of him in the Punisher?
May 21, 2008 at 7:22 am
Dan
I really liked his character in the Punisher. He was sort of a vulnerable, geeky, brave guy who in the end, stood up for what he believed to be right…and he paid for it. I didn’t actually realize that was him in that role, good call babe!
May 21, 2008 at 7:47 am
The Button Down Blog | 3:10 To Yuma (2007)
[...] been hearing good things about 3:10 To Yuma since it came out last year, so when Dan from Truth on Cinema said last week that he was getting ready to watch a film I’d just reviewed, I decided to [...]
October 3, 2008 at 7:12 am