3:10 to Yuma

3:10 To Yuma, a remake of the 1957 Glenn Ford classic of the same name, succeeds on so many levels its almost certain to revive the €˜forgotten western genre€™, and pin it firmly back on the cinematic map where it belongs. But then James Mangold, the elusive writer/director behind Cop Land, Girl Interrupted and more recently Walk the Line, is a master at churning out deep-felt, thought-provoking emotional dramas that deserve continued recognition. And, lending a major (albeit uncredited) hand in the screenplay development here, Mangold has taylored this version of 3:10 to Yuma, to make it his most assured triumph yet. Like the original film the story concerns infamous outlaw Ben Wade, (played this time by Russell Crowe) who is captured and then escorted cross-country by a posse, to meet the titular train to take him to justice. The posse includes a penniless small-time rancher named Dan Evans, (Christian Bale) and it's the interplay between Evans and Wade - who play opposing sides of the same coin - that makes the story so compelling, ensuring a complex relationship that suggests the two characters have more in common than they would care to admit. Wade may be a ruthless killer but he is unnervingly charismatic, likeable and even displays humanity in his banters with hard up family man Evans. Evans on the other hand is doing this for money to feed his family and gain much needed fatherly respect from wayward son William, (Logan Lerman) but gradually begins to appreciate Wade's self-independence and hardened world weary existence. This is a film that benefits from the exceptional cast of old and new talent. I can't remember ever being so enthusiastic about a Russell Crowe performance than with this ambiguous portrayal of a semi-villainous outlaw. You get the impression that the captured Wade could break out of his predicament at any time, that he's just flirting with his captors before his own tribe of gunslingers catch up with them. And Christian Bale offers a worthy contrast as justice-seeking reliable Evans, a sorry soul but one who believes in his cause and will give it his best shot despite all the put downs. While Ben Foster, as Wade's psychotic gang leader, hot on the posse's tail, is creepily mesmerising in his epitome of pure evil. And there's seasoned support provided by Peter Fonda's bitter old-hand Byron McElroy, stubbornly defiant but strong enough to mount fearsome punches on men half his age. Taking in the vast mountainous expanses of New Mexico, which is beautifully lensed by Mangold's regular collaborator Phedon Papamichael, (who also captured the idyllic sun-bleached tinges of California in Sideways), and underscored by Marco Beltrami's homage-infused Morriconesque score, 3:10 to Yuma harkens back to the timeless assurance worthy of a Sergio Leone or an Anthony Mann western. The film is also laced with haunting pathos and inventive dark humour. In one scene a character irritates Wade by singing 'Gonna hang you in the morning, I'll never see the sun', later meeting a grisly end at the hands of Wade. Then Wade reiterates the same verse to taunt Evans when the odds are pitted against him. The action doesn't splinter for a second neither. Whether staging the posse being hounded by deadly night time attacking Apache in a particularly tense scene, or fleeing from the clutches of a vengeful mine owner on horseback through an exploding tunnel, or depicting their plight during the final obligatory town shoot-out, Mangold ensures a daft hand at delivering old-fashioned triumph-against-all-odds set-pieces. But, like High Noon, this is a western which builds most of its suspense through the built-in titular ticking clock. The climatic showdown doesn't disappoint and is handled with gusto and flair, with the unforgettable final sequence a nostalgic honeymoon to great westerns of past.

rating: 4.5

After the slight but amicable offerings of Open Range, The Proposition and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, Mangold's western has managed to restore promise in the old genre most thought was dead and buried in Monument Valley. Could 3:10 to Yuma along with the eagerly anticipated The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford bring life to the old country yet?