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Here's the Western I've been working on...
Review #114: 3:10 To Yuma (2007)
Dan Evans, a failing rancher is driving his herd of cattle across the big-country with his two sons... in the process they witnesses a man called Ben Wade and his posse of outlaws robbing a stagecoach.
Dan and his sons are spotted by Wade and end up losing their horses to the posse as well.
While walking back toward the town of Bisbee with a near-dead survivor of the stagecoach robbery, they are met by Bisbee lawmen, where Evans explains that Wade and the posse have actually headed into the town that the lawmen have just come from.
After the succesful but relatively accidental arrest of Ben Wade, the law of the town and owner of the robbed stagecoach decide to get Wade onto the 3:10pm train to Yuma Prison, under the escort of several armed men
Dan Evans sees an opportunity and steps up to the challenge of helping to escort Wade to the train station for a fee of $200, as he needs the money to pay off a debt.
What stands in their way though is Wade's gang of outlaws, who will stop at nothing to free their leader.
For a modern Western, 3:10 is relatively enjoyable, but not without many faults.
A remake of the 1957 film of the same name, this outing feels pretty bare and the ensemble cast feel just like they're going through the motions, awaiting their paychecks at the end of filming.
The screenplay is tip top and the overall action side of things is quite exciting, but other than that the movie feels pretty hollow.
The filmmakers have tried to add little touches of emotional backstory to the proceedings and have tried to build on the little legends of the characters, and there's a little sub-plot of Wade and Evans becoming almost friends and gaining a mutual respect for each others' tenacity as the gunfights are taking place... but mainly it's all a bit of a miss affair.
A lot of it is pretty forgettable too.
There are also a lot of quiet sections in the film. Anyone after a guns-blazing Western may find themselves getting bored at times.
Russell Crowe as Ben Wade is relatively believable as the super-gunfighter and outlaw leader, his overall presence on screen is quite fresh compared to some of his more recent outings in Hollywood.
Christian Bale, for me, wasn't really that good as Dan Evans. He seems to just recite his lines as if he's bored with the whole thing. He never really feels part of proceedings. His screen presence is noticable, but nothing that will live with the viewer for any longer than the film's running time.
Ben Foster as Wade's next-in-charge called Charlie Prince is by far the best of the cast. He's extremely unnerving and very believable.
Support from Peter Fonda, Logan Lerman, Dallas Roberts Allan Tudyk, Kevin Durand and Luke Wilson give the movie a little weight, but still, it feels more of a "let's get these guys onboard for the sake of it" situation.
There is some chemistry on-screen between the leading actors, but it's not enough.
I will say though, the action scenes are really well put together. They're exciting and very well choreographed.
All in all, I'm finding it hard to see why the movie was raved about so much by critics and can't understand why it was given such high reviews ratings.
It's enjoyable in the action stakes, yes, but anyone who's after a plausable storyline or any kind of coherant plot, may be disappointed.
My rating 74%
Review #114: 3:10 To Yuma (2007)
Dan Evans, a failing rancher is driving his herd of cattle across the big-country with his two sons... in the process they witnesses a man called Ben Wade and his posse of outlaws robbing a stagecoach.
Dan and his sons are spotted by Wade and end up losing their horses to the posse as well.
While walking back toward the town of Bisbee with a near-dead survivor of the stagecoach robbery, they are met by Bisbee lawmen, where Evans explains that Wade and the posse have actually headed into the town that the lawmen have just come from.
After the succesful but relatively accidental arrest of Ben Wade, the law of the town and owner of the robbed stagecoach decide to get Wade onto the 3:10pm train to Yuma Prison, under the escort of several armed men
Dan Evans sees an opportunity and steps up to the challenge of helping to escort Wade to the train station for a fee of $200, as he needs the money to pay off a debt.
What stands in their way though is Wade's gang of outlaws, who will stop at nothing to free their leader.
For a modern Western, 3:10 is relatively enjoyable, but not without many faults.
A remake of the 1957 film of the same name, this outing feels pretty bare and the ensemble cast feel just like they're going through the motions, awaiting their paychecks at the end of filming.
The screenplay is tip top and the overall action side of things is quite exciting, but other than that the movie feels pretty hollow.
The filmmakers have tried to add little touches of emotional backstory to the proceedings and have tried to build on the little legends of the characters, and there's a little sub-plot of Wade and Evans becoming almost friends and gaining a mutual respect for each others' tenacity as the gunfights are taking place... but mainly it's all a bit of a miss affair.
A lot of it is pretty forgettable too.
There are also a lot of quiet sections in the film. Anyone after a guns-blazing Western may find themselves getting bored at times.
Russell Crowe as Ben Wade is relatively believable as the super-gunfighter and outlaw leader, his overall presence on screen is quite fresh compared to some of his more recent outings in Hollywood.
Christian Bale, for me, wasn't really that good as Dan Evans. He seems to just recite his lines as if he's bored with the whole thing. He never really feels part of proceedings. His screen presence is noticable, but nothing that will live with the viewer for any longer than the film's running time.
Ben Foster as Wade's next-in-charge called Charlie Prince is by far the best of the cast. He's extremely unnerving and very believable.
Support from Peter Fonda, Logan Lerman, Dallas Roberts Allan Tudyk, Kevin Durand and Luke Wilson give the movie a little weight, but still, it feels more of a "let's get these guys onboard for the sake of it" situation.
There is some chemistry on-screen between the leading actors, but it's not enough.
I will say though, the action scenes are really well put together. They're exciting and very well choreographed.
All in all, I'm finding it hard to see why the movie was raved about so much by critics and can't understand why it was given such high reviews ratings.
It's enjoyable in the action stakes, yes, but anyone who's after a plausable storyline or any kind of coherant plot, may be disappointed.
My rating 74%
