Christian Bale: 5 Awesome Performances and 5 That Sucked

4. 3: 10 to Yuma (2007)

Bale€™s Character: Dan Evans Bale is often criminally overlooked when people talk about 3:10 to Yuma; not by a long shot because his performance is bad but invariably because Russell Crowe€™s performance is just so god damned incredible. Overshadowing aside, Bale also performs superbly as an impoverished one-legged rancher who for $200 agrees to escort the notorious bandit Ben Wade across the country to board a prison-bound train. The character of Dan Evans embodies the spirit of wild west honour but Bale approaches his performance with a quiet nervousness that belies Dan Evans massive reserve of willpower. He draws not just from Evans€™ penultimate need to provide for his family (Evans€™ land is quickly souring, so this is a definite factor) but from his powerful intrinsic desire to achieve something meaningful out of life. It€™s subtle stuff, but if we€™ve learned one thing about Christian Bale from his illustrious career so far, it€™s that he does subtle well. Far from being outperformed by Crowe, as some will insist is the case, the two leads actually accentuate other perfectly, like a fine wine with an expensive steak.
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Stuart believes that the pen is mightier than the sword, but still he insists on using a keyboard.