In order to pay his debts and save a good life for his family, Daniel Evans, a kind rancher, who during the war, lost one of his legs, the thing that leads his family to face financial problems, takes part in the mission of helping the dangerous criminal to escape from justice, in exchange of a large amount of money.
Mangold delivers a taut modern take on a lesser classic, preserving the High Noon themes about doing the right thing against all odds, and injecting a more modern pacing and urgency without going overboard.
Matt's Movie Reviews
July 06, 2010
3:10 to Yuma confirms that the western is alive and kicking with a vengeance.
Elevated above the usual fare by an engaging and complex relationship between its two stars, 3:10 To Yuma would be a thoroughly entertaining two hours whatever the genre - the Western setting is almost a bonus.
Mangold's film is more than sufficiently subtexty and cynical for our modern sensibilities while simultaneously embracing Mangold's obvious pleasure in the Westerns' time-honored swinging saloon doors and stern masculine traditions.
The editing is tense and there's mucho splatter but the climax is unforgivable for reasons I can't spell out -- and owes something to a recent picture I can't name.
ComingSoon.net
March 03, 2011
3:10 to Yuma is as heavy on character as it sounds like it should be ... and still a rip-roaring adventure around it; until it all gets away from director James Mangold in a crashing heap of unlikely motivation and flawed decisions.
The two leads' sparking byplay, Crowe's addled cockiness versus Bale's nervy grit, would grace any surroundings, but it's a pleasure to revisit the frontier in a drama which feels far more vital than mere nostalgic homage.
James Mangold's expert and entertaining 3:10 to Yuma demonstrates both the Western's age-old appeal, and the problems it presents to a contemporary filmmaker.
It is part of the richness of 3.10 to Yuma that this is a classical piece of storytelling with themes and characters that can be found in the very earliest Westerns.
Nothing terribly original happens in this remake of a 1957 semi-classic that starred Glenn Ford and Van Heflin, but everything happens smoothly and with grace.
