3:10 to Yuma 2007

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Director James Mangold draws good performances from both leads as they wrestle with the predatory power structure of the old west. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: The story is no bigger in the new version, which goes on for 117 minutes. And it's certainly not better. Read more

Mark Rahner, Seattle Times: You don't need to be a fan of that near-extinct genre to enjoy the movie -- sold more as a faceoff between Alpha males Russell "Gladiator" Crowe and Christian "Batman" Bale -- but it may turn you into one. Read more

Tasha Robinson, AV Club: Mangold delivers a taut modern take on a lesser classic, preserving the High Noon themes about doing the right thing against all odds, and injecting a more modern pacing and urgency without going overboard. Read more

Kerry Lengel, Arizona Republic: May not shake all the cowbells off the genre, but it kicks up plenty of dust. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Lean, almost absurdly satisfying. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: [Director] Mangold has brought welcome intensity to the project, giving 3:10 to Yuma a visceral, immediate quality that makes it realistic and mythic all at the same time. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Those who have a deeper abiding love for the western genre than I, may love the new Yuma. I liked a good deal of it -- just enough to be frustrated by the clutter. Read more

Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle: The best Western since Unforgiven, 3:10 to Yuma is both cathartic and intelligent. While a wildly eventful action-adventure and outlaw shoot-'em-up, it's also a vibrant story of heroism, villainy and hard-earned redemption. Read more

Tom Charity, CNN.com: James Mangold's expert and entertaining 3:10 to Yuma demonstrates both the Western's age-old appeal, and the problems it presents to a contemporary filmmaker. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: What Alfred Hitchcock once said about thrillers also applies to Westerns: The stronger the bad guy, the better the film. By that measure, 3:10 to Yuma is excellent. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: The tale never quite resonates beyond the screen. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: It's got old-timey atmosphere with just enough new-age empathy to work. Throw in plenty of gun fighting and two fine actors circling one another with glee, and you've got one hot pistol of a movie. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: A sturdy and enjoyable remake of the 1957 minor classic. Read more

Mark Bourne, Film.com: Mangold's film is more than sufficiently subtexty and cynical for our modern sensibilities while simultaneously embracing Mangold's obvious pleasure in the Westerns' time-honored swinging saloon doors and stern masculine traditions. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: It remains, underneath all the decoration and heavy artillery, a good yarn. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: 3:10 to Yuma manages to incorporate the rhythms of a contemporary action movie while maintaining a healthy respect for the tenets of the genre. That makes it a train well worth catching. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: Under Mangold's sure if uninspired hand, the new Yuma is reasonably exciting and terse, and, like its predecessor, built around a memorable villain of ambiguous villainy. Read more

Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News: This Yuma is Shane with a train. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: Moves like a barn on fire. Read more

David Ansen, Newsweek: Decent-enough entertainment, though it's hardly going to breathe new life to a genre whose demise has been reported for at least 30 years. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: James Mangold's movies include Cop Land (1997), Girl, Interrupted (1999), and Walk the Line (2005), and this is by far his most sustained and evocative work. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: The editing is tense and there's mucho splatter but the climax is unforgivable for reasons I can't spell out -- and owes something to a recent picture I can't name. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR.org: Nothing terribly original happens in this remake of a 1957 semi-classic that starred Glenn Ford and Van Heflin, but everything happens smoothly and with grace. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: ... gritty, hugely entertaining. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: An extremely well-acted and well-directed remake of a 1957 oater based on a short story by the then-obscure Elmore Leonard. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: The performances of Mr. Crowe and Mr. Bale alone are worth the price of admission. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: A period-perfect, witty, well-played and exciting Western is all but ruined in the final minutes by someone the screenwriters, a star who insisted on image-flattering changes, a director feeling his Walk the Line oats. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: Yields performances as elemental as the landscape while it questions a culture more concerned with money than human life. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Watching a movie like this, I can't help but wish that the Western would come back into favor again. We can use more productions like this. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: James Mangold's 3:10 to Yuma restores the wounded heart of the Western and rescues it from the morass of pointless violence. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: [Director] Mangold succeeds on his own terms, largely because the actors he's working with here, Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, so comfortably inhabit the movie, and the genre that cradles it. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: In 3:10 to Yuma director James Mangold has made himself a grand Western. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: One of the great pleasures of westerns is the showcase they offer for character actors, and 3:10 to Yuma has a pair of aces. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Crowe and Bale are a great study in contrasts, yet the two characters develop a grudging respect for each other that enriches the murky morality play that makes up the last half hour. Read more

Jennie Punter, Globe and Mail: The lean, cerebral swagger of the 1957 western 3:10 to Yuma is stretched out and punched up with more characters, gun-shooting and horse-riding in an entertaining remake directed by James Mangold. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: James Mangold's 3:10 to Yuma, an old-school Western updated for modern mores and tastes, pays due homage to its 1957 predecessor. Read more

Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine: When a movie is as entertaining as this one, you begin to think this formerly beloved genre is due for a revival. Read more

Trevor Johnston, Time Out: The two leads' sparking byplay, Crowe's addled cockiness versus Bale's nervy grit, would grace any surroundings, but it's a pleasure to revisit the frontier in a drama which feels far more vital than mere nostalgic homage. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: 3:10 to Yuma is a drama well worth the journey. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Reinforced by a strong central premise, James Mangold's remake walks a fine line in retaining many of the original's qualities while smartly shaking things up a bit. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: Mangold's remake of 3:10 to Yuma isn't as startling a resurrection job as his Johnny Cash biopic, but it does send a saddlebag full of western tropes skittering into the 21st century. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: The movie feels like an uneasy combination of new and old western stylings. Read more