3:10 To Yuma

[Rick Nebiolo]

Andy - My friend (the Commerce 20 & 40 player) and I saw it yesterday. I thought it was well done and entertaining until the final ten minutes and was ready to give it a solid B+ or so. But the ending was way over the top and (I hate to use this word after my comments in "The Celebration" thread) implausible.

Coming out of the theater my friend and I talked about it in detail. We agreed on every unrealistic and outlandish scene. This movie doesn't compare with "Unforgiven" in the least. He also thought the original movie with the same name was far better. I've put that one on my Netflix Q.

I'm surprised and puzzled that you and Zeno liked it so much.

~ Rick

[Moneyline]

Here's a review I wrote of this film on another forum:

Other than knowing it was a western, I went into 3:10 TO YUMA completely cold. I didn't see the original, read any reviews, or even know so much as to who was in it. Now that I've seen the movie and read some reviews I'm pretty shocked at the accolades the film is getting. To be fair, Bale and Crowe are very good, and an appropriately haggard looking Peter Fonda also deserves praise (even though I rolled my eyes a bit at the way he aped John Wayne's trademark diction in one scene). The pacing and editing worked too, as the 2 hour runtime never lulled.

Unfortunately, what works in the film is outdone by what doesn't. It's true that the story is more interested in character interaction and development as opposed to shootouts and barfights, but it's also true that the way the characters interact and how they develop is, to be blunt, pretty stupid. Crowe repeatedly murders and commits crimes while in the clutches of Bale's group of lawman, but despite being mostly bloodthirsty killers themselves, it never occurs to them to justifiably shoot Crowe in order to stop him and save a life. The actions of Crowe's character are equally confused. He spares one character's life, only to somewhat pointlessly kill him later. <font color="red"> SPOILER: He expends much energy repeatedly trying to escape, yet practically allows himself to get originally caught. He even goes so far as to aid Bale in bringing him to the prison train only moments after trying to kill him. END SPOILER.</font> The dialogue is filled with the inane cliche of characters quoting obscure passages of literature that, in this case, they claimed to have read when they were 8.

The FX, and in particular one explosion effect, are amateurish to the point of distraction. 3:10 TO YUMA also contains the most egregious continuity error that I've ever seen in a Hollywood movie. The characters walk into a hotel in the middle of a drought after traveling through miles of barren desert, yet when they walk out of the hotel a few hours later the ground is covered in snow. The movie would have been better if they filmed an actual explosion and used CGI to cover up the snow, rather than doing it the other way around. <font color="red"> SPOILER: And yes, I know it was a horse that exploded, but MY NAME IS NOBODY manages to do this effect just fine without CGI. END SPOILER. </font> Overall the film tries to show a battle between good and evil, but its arty pretensions just fail miserably. There's a lot of good films out right now, so I'd recommend seeing something else.

All of this is, of course, just IMHO.

[Rick Nebiolo]

[ QUOTE ]
To be fair, Bale and Crowe are very good, and an appropriately haggard looking Peter Fonda also deserves praise ...The pacing and editing worked too, as the 2 hour runtime never lulled.

Unfortunately, what works in the film is outdone by what doesn't. It's true that the story is more interested in character interaction and development as opposed to shootouts and barfights, but it's also true that the way the characters interact and how they develop is, to be blunt, pretty stupid. Crowe repeatedly murders and commits crimes while in the clutches of Bale's group of lawman, but despite being mostly bloodthirsty killers themselves, it never occurs to them to justifiably shoot Crowe in order to stop him and save a life. The actions of Crowe's character are equally confused. He spares one character's life, only to somewhat pointlessly kill him later. <font color="red"> SPOILER: He expends much energy repeatedly trying to escape, yet practically allows himself to get originally caught. He even goes so far as to aid Bale in bringing him to the prison train only moments after trying to kill him. END SPOILER.</font> The dialogue is filled with the inane cliche of characters quoting obscure passages of literature that, in this case, they claimed to have read when they were 8....Overall the film tries to show a battle between good and evil, but its arty pretensions just fail miserably. There's a lot of good films out right now, so I'd recommend seeing something else.

[/ QUOTE ]

Great post. The points you made in your post above is essentially what my friend and I discussed as we left the theater. I'm sure you are right on regarding what I didn't copy.

~ Rick

PS Check out "Sex and Lucia" Just finished it on DVD; thought it was beyond amazing.

[pryor15]

[ QUOTE ]
Lousy directing devoid of any substance or style.


[/ QUOTE ]

it's not exactly a best director nominee, but it certainly isn't "lousy". maybe it just didn't have a "cool" factor you were hoping for?

[ QUOTE ]

Ending was god awful.


[/ QUOTE ]

yup, but it did set up the sequel nicely. 3:11 to Yuma, coming soon to a theatre near you

[CharlieDontSurf]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Lousy directing devoid of any substance or style.


[/ QUOTE ]

it's not exactly a best director nominee, but it certainly isn't "lousy". maybe it just didn't have a "cool" factor you were hoping for?

[ QUOTE ]

Ending was god awful.


[/ QUOTE ]

yup, but it did set up the sequel nicely. 3:11 to Yuma, coming soon to a theatre near you

[/ QUOTE ]

Its lousy given you have two amazing leads with solid supporting characters and the majority of the scenes lack any real tension or suspense. It also sucks because it is a western which lends itself to having amazing settings and backgrounds and none of this is utilized. In large part because it seems like every damn shot is a tight shot or CU of either Bale or Crowe. The fight/shootout scenes are a joke and the set design and production values look like they belong on a TV show.

But your right in saying that its solid "hollywood" directing much in the same way that the directing directing of Rush Hour 3 is good.

[andyfox]

Sheesh, every great western is implausible. Have you watched High Noon or The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance lately? Like I say, I'm a sucker for 'em, so maybe I overlook things that would trouble me in other flicks.

But 3:10 to Yuma was cool.

I was going to see Jessie James this weekend, but the New Yorker review of Tommy Lee Jones in his new movie was so outstanding that I think I might see that instead.

[CharlieDontSurf]

[ QUOTE ]
Sheesh, every great western is implausible. Have you watched High Noon or The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance lately? Like I say, I'm a sucker for 'em, so maybe I overlook things that would trouble me in other flicks.

But 3:10 to Yuma was cool.

I was going to see Jessie James this weekend, but the New Yorker review of Tommy Lee Jones in his new movie was so outstanding that I think I might see that instead.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll be curious to see yr thoughts on Jesse James.
Have a feeling if you loved Yuma your not gonna like JJ lol.

[Borodog]

[ QUOTE ]
Sheesh, every great western is implausible. Have you watched High Noon or The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance lately? Like I say, I'm a sucker for 'em, so maybe I overlook things that would trouble me in other flicks.

But 3:10 to Yuma was cool.

I was going to see Jessie James this weekend, but the New Yorker review of Tommy Lee Jones in his new movie was so outstanding that I think I might see that instead.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think that a more "plausible" outlaw would have been a much flatter character.

[andyfox]

There was a bit of homage in the film as well. Peter Fonda was definitely channeling both John Wayne and his father. Crowe was Brando. And Bale was Jimmy Stewart. 3:10 to Yuma is a kind of knock-off of High Noon anyway.

[Zeno]

[ QUOTE ]

I'm surprised and puzzled that you and Zeno liked it so much.

~ Rick

[/ QUOTE ]

Really? I like to read Espinoza, does that surprise you also. In fact it would have been very quirky to have Bale quote from Espinoza’s Ethics instead of from the Bible, or perhaps some Shakespeare. The old west was rife with theatrical companies and many towns had theaters or performances were in the open air or under tents etc. So having Bale spew out some rancid Shakespeare would be very realistic.

Aside from the comments of Andy and Borodog, I will a few of my own. It is no sin to enjoy a movie that many others don’t think well of - If sin is the right word and I hope it ain't. Anyway, all the bitching about the ending and most of the other complaints are all hot air in my opinion (though no movie is perfect of course). And why have an ending that satisfies? Isn’t that the way most movies end, almost cliché like? Life never satisfies most people so why expect it in a movie.

Didn’t Bale’s pistols have the crucified Christ on the grips? Bloody awful wasn’t it.

But no matter, Some Like it Hot and some like it not. That’s the way of the world on this sorry ball. So Annie - Get your Gun.

Hope you are doing well Rick. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

-Zeno