In Arizona in the late 1800's, infamous outlaw Ben Wade (Crowe) and his vicious gang of thieves and murderers have plagued the Southern Railroad. When Wade is captured, Civil War veteran Dan Evans (Bale), struggling to survive on his drought-plagued ranch, volunteers to deliver him alive to the "3:10 to Yuma", a train that will take the killer to trial. On the trail, Evans and Wade, each from very different worlds, begin to earn each other's respect. But with Wade's outfit on their trail – and dangers at every turn – the mission soon becomes a violent, impossible journey toward each man's destiny.
I've never really been a big fan of Westerns. I can't really put my finger on why and have just accepted it as part of my movie watching preferences. Maybe its because in today's world or special effects I don't find anything that tension filled about chasing each other on horses and what not. However, I really enjoyed this movie. The best part of it was how the director was able to build an awesome amount of aforementioned tension that made you hang on to every scene. Russell Crowe and Christian Bale were both great and the movie was so well paced that you really didn't feel like you were sitting there for two hours at all. I only had one big knock on the movie but can't say too much about it without giving it away. I can't help but wonder why someone would be in a crazy gun fight for a good twenty minutes and then turn their back to chat with the shooting still going on.
I strongly recommend that everyone check this bad boy out. It's well worth the trip to the theaters and is definitely one of the better things out there right now.
