3:10 to Yuma— can someone help me believe this movie was as good as I wanted it to be?

I was really, really looking forward to seeing this movie. Ash and I rented it through Justin’s Netflix account (we’re keeping it safe for him while he’s away) and finally got around to watching it Saturday night. I have to say, I was disappointed.

First of all, let me give you my context: Christian Bale is one of my favorite actors, if not my favorite actor. If I could be anyone else, it would probably be Christian Bale (or the version of Batman he portrayed in Batman Begins). I also like Russell Crowe a lot. I think he’s a great actor. Thirdly, I love Westerns. I’m not so much a John Wayne fan, but more of a Clint Eastwood fan (used to watch him with my dad a lot as a kid). I love everything about the Old West— it almost doesn’t seem like it was real, and I always have to remind myself that it was. There’s so much good vs. evil drama, bad-assery, brutality, men drinking whiskey like it’s apple juice, card-playing, gun-fighting, cool horses, etc., etc… Maybe what I like so much is to imagine myself as the “good cowboy,” the one that goes around sticking up for the innocents when the bad guys come to town to steal and kill. I would never have made it in the Old West (of course), so maybe that is why I’m so enthralled with it. Anyway… I digress.

I thought this movie was destined to be great. As badly as I want to believe it was, it just wasn’t. It could have been, but the last third let me down big time.

Let me start off by saying, though, that three acting performances in the movie were great: 1) Christian Bale: I’ve never seen a performance of his that wasn’t great, so no surprise there… but man, how he can play a convincing Bruce Wayne and also convince me that he’s a weathered, middle-aged, one-legged, down-on-his-luck, kids-and-wife-have-no-respect-for-me, but-I-still-have-enough-pride-to-risk-my-life to-make-a-name-for-myself-and-save-my-family rancher is beyond me. The scene where he tells Ben Wade how he really lost his foot is gut-wrenching. You can really feel his agony at the thought of the looks on his sons’ faces when they learned that he isn’t an American hero at all— just a poor, unlucky and broken man. 2) Russell Crowe: His depiction of Ben Wade was phenomenal. The only criticism I have is that he seemed to fall in and out of his southern accent— but this didn’t really have any affect on my enjoyment of the movie. You hate him and want him dead one minute, and the next minute he makes you laugh and you think that maybe under that hard exterior is a guy’s guy that you’d want to sit and have a beer with. Regardless of what you think of the character, you can’t deny that Crowe makes Wade so engaging and deep that you find yourself more interested in learning about the man and seeing what he’ll do next than watching him pay for what he’s done. 3) Ben Foster as Charlie Prince: he’s utterly despicable yet inexplicably likable. You hate him because he is a ruthless killer, but respect him because he’s so extremely loyal to his friend and co-conspirator— he was the only one willing to speak up in Wade’s defense when the rest were ready to abandon him. There is a youthful innocence in his face that presents such a stark contrast to his unsympathetic actions that you don’t know what to think of him. You think that maybe Ben Wade is the only friend he’s ever had. Maybe Wade is like a father to him. At times you get the impression that he’s a punky kid dressed up like a cowboy— but as soon as you start thinking that he blows some dude’s head off. It’s an interesting dichotomy, and maybe more a credit to the casting director than Foster himself; the point is it works.

SPOILER ALERT:

Now, what I didn’t like about the movie (I’m going to keep this short, because this post is already way too long):

-The anti-climax. I know, I know… I’m a dumb American that can’t appreciate the subtleties of modern cinema… but seriously— I wanted something more substantial. Dan didn’t deserve to die. Ben didn’t deserve to live. I know all movies can’t have a happy ending, but if this one had at least HALF a happy ending I would’ve enjoyed it a lot more. Either they should have both lived or both died. It is interesting, though, that the end of this movie leaves the door open for a phenomenal sequel, in which Dan’s son, William, stalks Ben to avenge his father’s death. Some might say that I’m missing the point— that William didn’t kill Ben because he’s too good to be a ruthless killer, and because he doesn’t believe Ben is all bad. I think William is just young, and not hard-nosed enough to realize that there’s no shame in killing the man responsible for your father’s death. When he has time to sit and stew over this, he’ll realize I’m right (cue opening scene of sequel).

-The scene in which Dan escorts Ben to the train station is so unrealistic. There were way too many men with guns for those two to make it across town without being killed. It was just too ridiculous to be convincing for me.

-Dan was a poor rancher, but he wasn’t stupid— so why, when he finally got Ben to the train, did he stand upright, in plain sight of his potential assailants, to speak to the attendant? I hated that part. He just spent ten minutes running for his life, ducking behind crates and buildings, even taking a bullet… and then it’s like he thinks he’s suddenly safe, like he reached the safe zone in a game of kick the can or something. He actually turned his back on the men that were trying to kill him. Did he think they’d let up? “Aw, darn… you beat me! Good game, Dan!” No. He knew better. The scene could have and should have been made more believable. Not only did it seem forced, but it made Dan seem stupid— not what you want to do to your protagonist.

The frustrating thing is that with this cast, and the basic storyline, this movie could have and should have been great. These major flaws, though, prevent it from reaching that next level. I’m not exactly sure how I would’ve written it— I’m no screenwriter— but I know it fell short of my expectations. At least I can still look forward to The Dark Knight.