Tuesday, September 18, 2007

3:10 to Yuma

So I've finally managed to make my way back to the movies after a couple weeks away.

I thought it was a fantastic movie. Bale and Crowe did very well indeed. Logan Lerman, who played Bale's son did a good job I think. His character was skeptical of his father, and much of the movie was as much about his views towards his father as it was about the actual train to Yuma. And from the intensity in his gaze to the quivering in his hand when he held the gun on Crowe, I think he was extremely convincing. It was at least as good as your average western, though I have to say it probably had the most realistic looking bullet hits I've seen in a western, they didn't pull any punches.

Frankly, I think the most surprising performance of the movie was Ben Foster as Charlie Prince. The last fewthings I saw him in, X-Men, Hostel, The Punisher, and Flash Forward were all either child or teen oriented roles. Flash Forward has him as this awkward skinny kid, Hostage has him as a greasy, very, VERY disturbed psycho (and he died btw in that movie in what I'd call the best imitation of a classic Hollywood scene I've seen in quite some time, watch it to see what I mean). His role in the Punisher was as a helpless dweller of a hovel who needed protecting. And of course many will remember his role in X-Men as Warren Worthington III, but let's be honest, he was playing a teenager in a bit part. He was totally different in this. Ruthless and cunning, and very much graduated from the kid he usually plays, he was one of the best villains I've seen in quite some time. I really got into it, and I think without that character, the movie wouldn't have been half of what it was. He was the counterweight to the conflict going on between Bale and Crowe, who while good, really didn't do anything new. Bale did what Bale does, he speaks softly, slowly, very little, and he stares a lot. And Crowe I think played the role he generally plays too. Also speaking somewhat softly, clever, a little alluring though not necessarily in a romantic way (though there's an obvious confusion in whether the outlaw is in fact romantic or not). Kudos to all of them, but most of all to Foster, as his performance was a surprise. Alan Tudyk was also very enjoyable in his small role as the doctor, but for an expanded view on his role, you'll have to go below the fold for a spoiler.

A short word on the two women of the movie. Vinessa Shaw played Emmy Nelson, who was almost useless as a character. She was there to provide the seed for what would eventually be the growth of Crowe's humanity in the movie. But as a character in her own right she was useless. Shaw did what she had to do, but it was otherwise not noteworthy. Gretchen Mol on the other hand played Alice Evans, Danny's (Bale) wife. Bale and her worked well together. Clearly she loved her husband and her family, and their well being was foremost in her mind, but there was a clear conflict between what Danny saw as his role as a father and provider, and with how Danny felt Alice felt towards him. Their relationship didn't see a ton of screen time, but in the short time they had, it was like we understood them entirely. I credit that to good writing and better acting.

Spoiler ahead

First of all, Alan Tudyk. Tudyk had a very good performance. I was almost hoping to see him play a gunslinger rather than the role he played. I like to see actors try new things (it's why I like Viggo Mortensen so much), and frankly I thought he played what Wash would have been if he'd been alive in the 1860's. He was a doctor, but more, he was the voice of reason and morality, the counterweight to the baser human instincts towards violence. And it was a bit sad to see him die almost the same way he died in Serenity. "I'm a leaf on the wind, watch how I-" BAM! and "Did you guys see how I hit that guy with a shovel back-" BAM! A little intentional tugging on our heartstrings, and I suppose his character had to die, didn't he? Frankly I don't even know why the hell he was still there. The doctor never wanted to go to begin with, he only went because the Pinkerton that Crowe tossed off the cliff, Byron McElroy went, and he was injured. But once the McElroy got tossed off the cliff, wouldn't the doctor have gone back to town? He wasn't a gunhand, for heaven's sake, they proved that when he was doing his best to shoot the brush to pieces outside Bale's house. But it still worked as it was, and Tudyk was of course, great, so I can't really complain. I really didn't think that he was necessary at that point, and they could have sent him back to town, leaving me much more satisfied. He wasn't the real story, or the real reason why Danny was risking his life to put Wade (Crowe) behid bars. It was all about his family, and especially his son. They didn't need icing on that cake.

Luke Wilson was a big surprise, I didn't know he was supposed to be in the movie at all. I recognized him immediately, and thought his scene was a great chance for Danny to, if not bond, certainly flex his moral muscle when he freed Wade with the others. You could tell it wasn't just about the money for him. This was dual purpose: He needed Wade for the money for his family, but he also wanted to show his son how important doing the right thing was.

End Spoilers

In conclusion, it was a great movie, and if this is what we can expect from the future of Westerns (if the genre makes a comeback at all), then I'm really looking forward to seeing what Hollywood has to offer. And I'm looking forward to Ben Foster's next movie. I'd never pegged him as that kind of actor before, rough and fierce, or I should say, as someone who could in any way carry a movie. But now (though his role for 30 Days of Night doesn't look totally compelling), I'll be paying more attention.

No comments: