Comments on: Review: 3:10 to Yuma (2007) ****

By: jeffmcm

jeffmcm — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 18:25:21 +0000

No, that was a joke. Mostly I think that people who dislike ‘postmodern BS’ simply don’t understand it. I suspect this topic will come up again when Redacted is released.

By: Craig Kennedy

Craig Kennedy — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 18:11:48 +0000

Those are exactly some of the issues I had myself and there were more.

My next post will be up in a couple of minutes that I hope will answer some of those questions.

I’d also like to hear you say more about your disappointment over the lack of post-modern BS. Are you saying you would’ve liked a less traditional western? One that was made with more current sensibilities?

I love that kind of thing, but there was something refreshing about a movie that plays it straight. It was almost retro. Though some of the original advertising materials did seem to promise more in a post-modern vein.

By: jeffmcm

jeffmcm — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 17:59:11 +0000

There are a string of oddities in the plot that suggest things about Wade. He goes to Bisbee, for no apparent reason, hangs out in the saloon after all the other men have left and seems to put up very little resistance when he knows that there are men outside who have tracked him down and are going to arrest him. Why? Does he subconsciously want to be apprehended, and this is why he eventually comes around to agree with Bale and even partner up with him at the end of the movie?
But if this is the case, why commit the stagecoach robbery in the first place, not to mention the brutal murders he commits during the course of the movie?
It bugs me.

By: Craig Kennedy

Craig Kennedy — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 14:47:54 +0000

I’ve continued to think abut Ben Wade a lot and I even saw the movie again last weekend, but I’m not sure I’ve satisfactorily resolved all of his contradictions.

I’m hoping my next post will have some additional thoughts on the movie and Crowe’s character.

By: jeffmcm

jeffmcm — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 07:07:22 +0000

I just saw this tonight – can you help me out, because I think I had a lot of the same reservations with Wade’s character, that it didn’t seem like a unified character (not Crowe’s fault but the screenplay’s). Sometimes he’s the charming bad guy who’s not really that bad, sometimes he’s the total cold-blooded killer, and apparently at the end he was just waiting (SPOILER) for Bale to convince him to choose redemption with just the right anecdote. So I’d be interested to hear some greater detail on what was going on here.

Also I was disappointed in the lack of post-modern bullshit, of which I am a firm devotee. Actually there is some but more on that later.

By: joel

joel — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 05:53:29 +0000

It wasn’t exactly what I expected but I definitely liked it. I think 3:10 to Yuma is really the kind of movie one used to expect in the summer: Good, solid, entertaining genre filmmaking. Instead, even though it’s a remake it gets shuttled off to September and very little fanfare. Luckily, audiences are showing up for it anyway.

I’ve seen some really negative reviews of the film along with the numerous positive ones, but I honestly believe that the people who don’t like Mangold’s movie are people who simply don’t like Westerns. Sure the plot is contrived in parts, sure the characters are more idealized than real, but this is a movie of epic characters that leave in a stylized, hyper-real version of the West. This isn’t Unforgiven or Deadwood with their gritty realism and deep moral insights. This is a goddamn Western.

I thought Bale held his own. I agree that much of his performance is deeply internal. There were a few times where his character emotionally breaks free and rises to the surface and those moments were somewhat shocking. I also really liked Ben Foster, who is simply chewing scenery and getting to play the badass heavy but handling it well regardless. I thought Crowe’s Wade was a little much as written but he handles the part really well. I also really liked Logan Lerman as Will. He has a difficult job, playing against so many strong personalities but he held his own.

Good movie. Glad to see someone isn’t afraid to make a decent Western.

By: Craig Kennedy

Craig Kennedy — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 21:35:54 +0000

Glad you liked it Chuck. As I said, I also have some reservations with Crowe’s character though I’ve resolved most of them in my mind. I want to write more later, and perhaps even see the movie again.

Even if the issues remain, it was still an entertaining movie with two great performances by Bale and Crowe.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 20:37:52 +0000

I love good, unpretentious genre films, and 3:10 To Yuma largely fits the bill. About an hour into the film I thought to myself “I can’t remember the last time I saw a film this purely entertaining from scene to scene, and without a shred of post-modern bullshit!”

I have some issues with Act III, I think they stack the deck too unreasonably far in Crowe’s favor, and SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER-it didn’t make sense to me that he wouldn’t just call his goons off at the end. Nitpicking perhaps, but that’s what we’re all here for.