This is a remake of the 1960’s western written by Elmore Leonard (Get Shorty, Out of Sight, Jackie Brown). This is by far the best western since Unforgiven, which was released over 15 years ago. Christian Bale has come a long way since Little Women, hasn’t he? He does a wonderful job of playing the anti-hero who is fighting to redeem himself and save his family. Cast against type, Russell Crowe does a great job of playing the villain. Incidentally, a lot of great actors have played against type in westerns (Gary Cooper – High Noon, Henry Fonda – Once Upon a Time in the West, Gene Hackman – Unforgiven). For those of you who know your westerns, you’ll notice that subplots in this film are reminiscent of other great westerns, including Shane and Winchester ’73. 3:10 has been described as a “classic modern western,” which is an accurate description because it has a postmodern feel that is most akin to the darker westerns that began appearing in the 60’s and 70’s. Unlike earlier westerns, this film isn’t afraid to show flawed multidimensional heroes. 3:10 goes one step further by showing the humanity of its villains too, which makes this a great film.
6 comments:
Agree with you 100% on this one. Great western and great movie in general!
Marci just told me that I should check out your review on this film; I rented it a couple weeks ago and really enjoyed it. Typically I'm not a big Crowe fan but I thought he was great in this film. Another recent rent I really liked was No Country For Old Men. Do you have a review for that one?
I haven't seen No Country yet but I am planning to watch it soon. No Country has been compared to There will be Blood, which I really enjoyed. It isn't a heart warming film but the acting is superb (much like No Country, I'm sure). I will be posting a review of it soon.
The thing about Crowe, according to the press he doesn't seem like a very likable person, but you have to admit, he's a strong actor. He was fantastic in Cinderalla Man. Crowe, like a handful of other good actors past and present, provide viewers with the challenge of not letting their feelings about them as a person influence their opinion of them as an actor.
Yeah, I really like There will be Blood as well. Daniel Day is an All-Star. Does Liz watch these movies with you? I have to watch them alone because Marci only likes the heart-warming types. No Country for old men was all she could handle.
No Country for Old Men was stunning! I watched it the nite before I took comps as a way to stop thinking about my exams. Almost walked out the first 10 minutes. Loved it, loved it, loved it.
I think Liz could have made it through There Will be Blood, but she wouldn't have like it. Liz is kind of fickle when it comes to movie violence. She can stand Platoon, but hates boxing movies. It is something about the up and close violence that is most disturbing to her. So I often have to watch these kind of films when she is either at school or out of town.
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