9 Actors Who Made Better Versions Of Previous Films

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

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.