No jolly rancher

3:10 TO YUMA

I'm not exactly a fan of westerns. I've never seen a single John Wayne movie, or any of Clint Eastwoods "Dollar" series (an injustice verging on the criminal, I'm sure :P ). The only western I've seen that I enjoyed was “Unforgiven”, but that’s generally regarded as a classic. Directed by "Walk The Line's" James Mangold, and staring the heavy hitting pairing of Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, "3:10 To Yuma" was far more enjoyable than I expected it to be.

The story revolved round Crowe (a wanted criminal) being taken to justice by a few "good men" (this was the tough Old West, so they were only in it for the money :P ) and their primary objective was to have him on the 3:10 train to Yuma, where a high security prison awaited him. Not only were they trying to beat the clock, but they also had to stay ahead of Crowes posse, who were hot on their heels to spring their captured boss.

I tend to go into a Russell Crowe movie not wanting to like it OR him (its sad when an actors real world antics affect my opinion of the characters they play or the movies they star in, but sometimes its hard to separate the actor from the character!). Luckily for Crowe, he’s an excellent actor and as much as I hate to admit it, he MADE the movie for me. I found that (quite despite myself), I really enjoyed him on screen and he embodied the roguish character of Ben Wade perfectly.

Bale, while consistently excellent in all his movies, didn’t have as much to work with, playing the straight-laced do-gooder. I was also quite impressed with Bales son, played by William Evans. Unlike most "no Pop, I'm coming WITH you!!!" kiddy characters I've seen over the years, he wasn’t the least bit annoying and his performance was genuinely affecting.

This was the second movie I've seen this year with Ben Foster in it (the first being Alpha Dog) and once again, he almost stole the show from the other bigger-name actors. His portrayal of Charlie Prince, Crowe's die-hard second in command, was riveting and the crazy look he has in his eyes suited the character perfectly.

The film took a while too get going, slowly easing you into the characters and their situations, but after that you just sat back and enjoyed the ride. The only thing that let it down was its slightly unbelievable ending. Still, "3:10 To Yuma" is a rousing flick thats defo worth a look.