Scan and Pan
Friday, October 19, 2007
3:10 to Yuma
Dan Evans (Christian Bale) is a disabled Civil War veteran and impoverished rancher in peril of losing his land to the railroad. After Dan and his two sons witness the ambush of a stagecoach by outlaw Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) and his gang, Dan helps the lone survivor of the stagecoach crew, bounty hunter Byron McElroy (Peter Fonda), and is instrumental in the capture of Wade. In exchange for some much needed cash, Dan volunteers to help McElroy and railroad representative Grayson Butterfield (Dallas Roberts) transport Wade to Contention City to be put on a train bound for the prison in Yuma, a task that's complicated by the determination of Wade's lieutenant Charlie Prince (Ben Foster) to rescue him from the clutches of the law.
Director James Mangold (Cop Land, Walk the Line) subtly distills all the tropes of classic Westerns into a single film that intelligently explores the moral ambiguities of its characters and the West, and there isn't as much as a single extraneous frame in this tautly executed study of men who are as unpredictable as the landscape they inhabit. Mangold successfully invokes the ambience of a classic Western while employing modern pacing and sensibilities to tell the story. The splendid pacing starts out at a slow burn and builds toward a dramatic climax.
Screenwriters Michael Brandt & Derek Haas (2 Fast 2 Furious) deftly update and expand upon the 1957 screenplay by Halsted Welles, which was loosely based on Elmore Leonard's short story, offering characters that are as complex and vividly drawn as the story is compelling from start to finish, leading inevitably toward a memorable denouement that arrives like a shot to the gut. As a remake, it never once feels superfluous.
Cinematographer Phedon Papamichael (Identity, Walk the Line) uses hard, textured lighting to capture a naturalistic impression of the rugged New Mexico landscape where it was filmed. Production designer Andrew Menzies (art director of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Munich) and costumer designer Arianne Phillips (The Crow, Hedwig and the Angry Inch) strive for and achieve an authenticity that instantly transports the audience into the Old West. The brooding score by Marco Beltrami (Hellboy, Live Free or Die Hard) seals the mood.
3:10 to Yuma is an actor's film, and both Bale and Crowe deliver Oscar-worthy performances. Bale always excels at playing damaged men, and he's outstanding here as a man beaten down by life and trying to find a way to redeem himself. He allows much of Dan's inner torment to go unspoken, revealed instead only in his eyes. Crowe is magnificent as he revels in the complexity of a charming, morally ambiguous outlaw. You may love or hate Wade by turns, but you'll always be fascinated by him. Crowe's performance is at once subtle and bravura, vividly etching onto the screen a character who's more than just the sum of his outlaw reputation.
The strong performances don't stop there, with Fonda as the grizzled bounty hunter, Foster as Wade's vicious lieutenant (seemingly in love with his boss), Roberts as the railroad man, Logan Lerman as Dan's rebellious teenaged son, Gretchen Mol as Dan's weary wife, Alan Tudyk as the town veterinarian pressed into service as a doctor, Luce Rains as the Marshal, and Kevin Durand as the local landlord's hired muscle.
Although the heyday of the Western was decades ago, it's a genre that still has a lot to say when done right. 3:10 to Yuma is not only done right, it's a flawless film that instantly joins Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven as one of the rare modern classics of the Western genre.
[5 out of 5 stars]
The Western genre makes a triumphant return to the big screen with a searing and suspenseful character study remade from a 1957 classic that starred Van Heflin and Glenn Ford.
Dan Evans (Christian Bale) is a disabled Civil War veteran and impoverished rancher in peril of losing his land to the railroad. After Dan and his two sons witness the ambush of a stagecoach by outlaw Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) and his gang, Dan helps the lone survivor of the stagecoach crew, bounty hunter Byron McElroy (Peter Fonda), and is instrumental in the capture of Wade. In exchange for some much needed cash, Dan volunteers to help McElroy and railroad representative Grayson Butterfield (Dallas Roberts) transport Wade to Contention City to be put on a train bound for the prison in Yuma, a task that's complicated by the determination of Wade's lieutenant Charlie Prince (Ben Foster) to rescue him from the clutches of the law.
Director James Mangold (Cop Land, Walk the Line) subtly distills all the tropes of classic Westerns into a single film that intelligently explores the moral ambiguities of its characters and the West, and there isn't as much as a single extraneous frame in this tautly executed study of men who are as unpredictable as the landscape they inhabit. Mangold successfully invokes the ambience of a classic Western while employing modern pacing and sensibilities to tell the story. The splendid pacing starts out at a slow burn and builds toward a dramatic climax.
Screenwriters Michael Brandt & Derek Haas (2 Fast 2 Furious) deftly update and expand upon the 1957 screenplay by Halsted Welles, which was loosely based on Elmore Leonard's short story, offering characters that are as complex and vividly drawn as the story is compelling from start to finish, leading inevitably toward a memorable denouement that arrives like a shot to the gut. As a remake, it never once feels superfluous.
Cinematographer Phedon Papamichael (Identity, Walk the Line) uses hard, textured lighting to capture a naturalistic impression of the rugged New Mexico landscape where it was filmed. Production designer Andrew Menzies (art director of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Munich) and costumer designer Arianne Phillips (The Crow, Hedwig and the Angry Inch) strive for and achieve an authenticity that instantly transports the audience into the Old West. The brooding score by Marco Beltrami (Hellboy, Live Free or Die Hard) seals the mood.
3:10 to Yuma is an actor's film, and both Bale and Crowe deliver Oscar-worthy performances. Bale always excels at playing damaged men, and he's outstanding here as a man beaten down by life and trying to find a way to redeem himself. He allows much of Dan's inner torment to go unspoken, revealed instead only in his eyes. Crowe is magnificent as he revels in the complexity of a charming, morally ambiguous outlaw. You may love or hate Wade by turns, but you'll always be fascinated by him. Crowe's performance is at once subtle and bravura, vividly etching onto the screen a character who's more than just the sum of his outlaw reputation.
The strong performances don't stop there, with Fonda as the grizzled bounty hunter, Foster as Wade's vicious lieutenant (seemingly in love with his boss), Roberts as the railroad man, Logan Lerman as Dan's rebellious teenaged son, Gretchen Mol as Dan's weary wife, Alan Tudyk as the town veterinarian pressed into service as a doctor, Luce Rains as the Marshal, and Kevin Durand as the local landlord's hired muscle.
Although the heyday of the Western was decades ago, it's a genre that still has a lot to say when done right. 3:10 to Yuma is not only done right, it's a flawless film that instantly joins Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven as one of the rare modern classics of the Western genre.
[5 out of 5 stars]
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