3:10 To Yuma




Saw this on Saturday with Tony and Monique at The Bridge (in the very fancy Director's Hall with reserved seating!].

Really, really good - this close to being very good. Excellent acting all around: from Ben Foster, Peter Fonda, Alan Tudyk, Dallas Roberts, Logan Lerman and especially both Russell Crowe and Christian Bale.

As always, it comes down to the script.

This close.

It's a pity that the theatre was as empty as it was, given the quality of the film. Bloody Lionsgate (neck-and-neck with Paramount for the title of worst studio, ever!) totally mis-handled the marketing for this film.

Here is what critics are saying.

Go to the official website click through to "Soundtrack" to hear the excellent score by Marco Beltrami, who manages to update the usual Western motif without resorting to parody.



WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD - DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE

Rosanne, as always, had an interesting take on the film, which made me appreciate it a tad bit more.

The movie is about mythology - the mythology of the Western itself, of the villain in the film (and how he actively supports/subverts it), and of the hero (who has created the myth around his own heroism to gain the respect of the son).

Almost every myth, good or bad, is punctured at some point (the "heroic" Pinkerton employees and Marshals,; the railroad company; the scum that is the villainous second-in-command in the outlaw gang, who nevertheless cannot abide to let his boss go) which perhaps is the film's message: Myth Creation.

Interesting...