Box office heavyweights Christian Bale and Russell Crowe pool their A-list talents for director James Mangold's suspense-filled Western, a remake of the 1957 classic starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin. Rancher Dan Evans (Bale) agrees to transport the captured outlaw Ben Wade (Crowe) to the nearest town with a rail station, where they'll catch a ride to court in Yuma. But all the while, Wade's henchmen are plotting their next move.
Even if youre not particularly a fan of Westerns, you might like this one. It stars Russell Crowe as Ben Wade, the leader of a gang who steals from stagecoaches. Wade and his gang cross paths with soldier-turned-farmer Dan Evans (Christian Bale) when he steals Evans horse in order to escape the law. Evans is desperate to save his home but is behind on payments. When he is offered money to help transport Evans to jail, he agrees. Along the way the two banter back and forth and you soon realize that the men are actually quite similar. Despite their divergent lives, the two live by a code of honor. While the set up to the movie is a bit slow, it soon picks up and becomes action packed. Gun fights and chases help liven up the movie and are interspersed with quiet moments between the two main characters. Both men try to outsmart and out think each other, and in another life may have been great friends. Also in this film are Luke Wilson, Ben Foster and Alan Tudyk.
Somewhat bland, even for a Western. Bale is pretty good, though - nice to see him in a more vulnerable role and play that as well as the invincible. It was all the supporting cast that got me and all of the small "cameos" so to speak. ****/*****
4/5 Stars
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