3:10 TO YUMA is a recently released western starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. Bale is a debt ridden, struggling farmer and Crowe is the somewhat charming, somewhat brutal outlaw. This film struck me as an old school style western with just a touch of a more contemporary emphasis on characters having a certain complexity and moral ambiguity.

There are elements in this movie that really work well particularly the father - son conflict between the Bale and Logan Lerman characters; Ben Foster was impressive as Crowe’s ruthless right hand man and generally the caste was well chosen in providing some classic jaw chewing, moustache wriggling, quick drawing western scenes. Alan Tudyk once again plays a lovable character who dies at a crucial moment (as he did in the sci-fi western film Serenity).  

The film was structured in such a way that Crowe’s character was both brutally criminal but, at the same time, presented as charming and engaging enough to be liked by the audience. In terms of the plausibility of character consistency and story line, and particularly the final scenes, I’m not sure that it entirely worked.  But the film was enjoyable and it was fun watching a western on the big screen once again.