310 to Yuma
Review by Parker Mott
Directed by James Mangold
Produced by Cathy Konrad
Starring:
Christian Bale and Russle Crowe
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Review:
More cowboys? More Russell Crowe and Christian Bale? Does it ever end? Probably not, and that is a good thing, because this latest cowboy flick based on the 1957 film by Delmer Daves is a fast-paced cowboy drama that is no John Wayne, but one hell of a battle royale!
Russel Crowe plays the psychotic Ben Wade, the outlaw wanted for many counts of robbery and murder. Christian Bale plays Dan Evans, a farmer en route to bringing Wade to justice in order to prove a point to his sons and to get his farm back. Wade is escorted by many men of different occupations and they embark on a long journey through Apache soil and vicious villages.
Even though, there's plenty of action to keep the average teen awake, 3:10 is not a perfect movie by any means. In fact, its terrific action scenes save it from a two-and-a-half. The filming suffers from a flaw that some may not mind, but others, like me, find very tedious: director, Mangold, has a tendency to set up some shots that have the potential to be very artistic. However, he continuously uses fades and pulverizes his shot into a fizzy mess (yes, that's a callus term). Also, could someone explain why Luke Wilson gives his most transitory performance in a movie? He is a miscast in this role and it really destroys any serious events that take place during his presence on screen. Lastly, though some may beg to differ, the ending of the film makes no sense. Here’s why: throughout the film, Wade and Evans talk the talk, but the "interesting" relationship they develop is never really explored in the film. This is surely due to a lack of character development, which ultmately leads to a perplexing ending.
You may think a three out of five is a generous rating for what I’ve said in this review, but it does fit. This is because 3:10 is a thrill ride and it keeps you into it. It plays around with the cowboy genre, its special effects seem limited but keep you entertained and concerned about what is going on. It just didn’t seem right to completely trash a film that keeps the audience entertained. After all, isn't that what movies are for?
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