Lionsgate, Relativity Media and Tree Line Film Productions present a 117 minute, R rated western directed by James Mangold and starring Christian Bale (Dan Evans), Russell Crowe (Ben Wade), Chris Browning (Crawley), Chad Brummett (Kane), Kevin Durand (Tucker), Peter Fonda (Byron McElroy), Ben Foster (Charlie Prince), Shawn Howell (Jackson), Logan Lerman (Williams Evans), Lennie Loftin (Hollander), Gretchen Mol (Alice Evans), Benjamin Petry (Mark Evans), Luce Rains (Marshal Weathers), Dallas Roberts (Grayson Butterfield), Alan Tudyk (Doc Potter), Vinessa Shaw (Emmy), Johnny Whitworth (Tommy Darden) with a vast supporting cast of cowboys and some Indians.
Dan Evans, his wife Alice and two boys, William, the eldest and Mark the youngest live on a farm outside the city of Bisbee, Arizona. Looking to raise their cattle and farm their soil they are confronted with a local, Hollander. He has stopped the water runoff on their land from his and burned down their barn so that they will have no option other than to leave their home which would be taken over by the railroad industry. Dan crippled with a $198.36 fake leg lives with the memories of how government can walk away from supporting a vested man rather than the man walking away with pride.
When Dan and the boys stumble upon a gang of thieves led by Wade robbing a stagecoach and killing all but one he finds himself eventually confronted with a decision. After taking the man into town for medical treatment by the local physician, who happens to be an animal doctor, Dan is faced with a choice. The film although quite serious throughout is definitely written with some layers of levity, religious beliefs and the fine lines between the good and the bad versus the inner thoughts of cowardice and morals. Of course most of the best written and portrayed moments in the film are between the two leading men, Bale and Crowe.
Money talks and well you know what walks and for $200 Dan decides to help the authorities transfer Ben Wade to the town of Contention to catch the "3:10 To Yuma". Not an easy task since they are faced with Wade's gang out to rescue him, greed, and the mind games played by a brilliant and somewhat religious mass killer. Not even the old bait and switch always works in the old days of boots and saddles. Dan tired of waiting for God to save his ranch sets off into the desert with a small group of men out to escort the prisoner Wade to the train in Contention. Getting there is the hard part but thanks to a rebellious 14 year old son William, the journey was made a bit more interesting for the characters and the audience.
A prisoner cannot breathe, piss or talk unless told to do so but all doesn't go as planned. Albeit no one said anything about singing let alone the one with the fork in his throat. Along the way there are many peeks and valleys but once they make it to the town of Contention decisions come into play. Propositions versus morals versus need all make for an interesting plot twist throughout the film all layered to a phenomenal end. When five against seven seems possible but the number increases to more than thirty the shoot out in Contention begins bringing down the ending to an unbelievable yet heart pounding beat of a train engine climax that will leave you breathless. The water will flow once again, Hollander will back off and money will change hands if Dan succeeds in delivering Wade to the 3:10. A half mile walk sometimes can seem like a destiny for a non-stubborn man when confronted with the decision of what is right from wrong especially within the eyes of his son.
Nice to see a well written, acted and directed western hit the big screen again. What it lacks in very few moments it surely makes up for in many others somewhat like the reading of a good novel. The dialogue fitting to the conversations and outcomes to the characters is sometimes unexpected which leads to the continued interest in the story from beginning to end. The cinematography was superb along with the creation of the sets filled with open prairies, fast guns, cattlemen, cowboys, dusty towns, villains and heroes all fitting into a well produced plot worthy of a trip back into the remade old west. But it is truly the unpredictable end of the film that will have you amazed and speechless of how the west was won.
Reporting for Talkin' Pets, I'm Jon Patch.