9 Actors Who Made Better Versions Of Previous Films

6. Christian Bale - 3:10 To Yuma & Hostiles

Christian Bale 310 To Yuma Hostiles
Lionsgate & Entertainment Studios

James Mangold's highly entertaining western remake 3:10 to Yuma stars Christian Bale as Dan Evans, an impoverished rancher who accepts a mission to transport a dangerous outlaw, Ben Wade (Russell Crowe), to a train, after which he will be hanged for his crimes. However, Evans also has to contend with Wade's gang, which is now led by deranged criminal Charlie Prince (Ben Foster).

A decade later, Bale starred in Scott Cooper's criminally underrated western Hostiles, playing war veteran Captain Joseph J. Blocker, whose final task before retirement is to escort a terminally ill Cheyenne war chief (Wes Studi) home to die, despite his own bloody history with the chief.

In both films, Bale's protagonist teams up with a group of comrades to transport a man whose death is seemingly imminent, while contending with ambushes and the unforgiving terrain of the old west. Both movies also feature Ben Foster as a hammy secondary antagonist who ends up shot and killed, and by the end of both movies, the hero has begun to identify with the rogue they're escorting.

Quality-wise there's actually not much between the two, but for those prepared to get on-board with Hostiles' slower-paced existential musings, it's ultimately the more rewarding and memorable of the pair. Yuma is the giddy, popcorn-munching version, and Hostiles tells a far bleaker and less forgiving rendition.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.