3:10 To Yuma

3:10 To Yuma proves that there is still room for a Western in the testosterone fueled, sex obsessed realm of modern cinema.

The characters are genuinely deep and indeed I often found myself empathizing more with the anti hero Ben Wade (played by Russell Crowe) than with good guy Dan Evans (played by Christian Bale), it is an enjoyable reversal of roles. Particular note should be payed to the development of Christian Bale's character, Crowe has the most up-front emphasis but it always feels like you are just tapping the surface of the depths of Bale's Evans.

I cursed with joy upon the realization that Alan Tudyk played the role of the Doc, and even more so when I realized that Crowe's psychotic right-hand man was none other than Ben Foster, aka Spacker Dave in The Punisher. Foster's performance at times seems over the top compared to some of the more subtle characters but I see this as a good thing. To me it says that Wade (Crowe) saw that Charlie Prince (Foster) had the drive and personality to separate him from the other guns in the gang, that this was a person more creative or dynamic than the others.

There are no fancy pretensions towards a convoluted plot of ever changing loyalties, no eye catching special effects to give you that visual orgasm that George Lucas believes that our lives are so pitifully lacking, there is no secret mystery that entwines their fates together. This movie is about an honest rancher struggling to make ends meet who agrees to assist in the transportation of a dangerous outlaw to the nearest city in order to get payed enough to provide for his family, with the outlaw's gang in pursuit. 3:10 To Yuma proves that a simple, and almost cliched story can be told in such a way that the audience will appreciate it as if it were exploring virgin territory.

I am not on the whole a fan of westerns, mostly because I discovered the phaser before I discovered the six shooter, but even years ago in the height of my Star Trek obsession I did enjoy movies such as 'Unforgiven' and 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly'. 3:10 To Yuma can sit quite comfortably in these vaulted halls as a classic western, and in this author's opinion quite rightly so.

Rating: A