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3:10 to Yuma
Lions Gate Films


6.5

based on 37 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 177 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for violence and some language

Starring Christian Bale, Russell Crowe, Ben Foster, Alan Tudyk, Gretchen Mol, and Peter Fonda

In Arizona in the late 1800's, infamous outlaw Ben Wade and his vicious gang of thieves and murderers have plagued the Southern Railroad. When Wade is captured, Civil War veteran Dan Evans, 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. (Lions Gate)

GENRE(S):	Western
WRITTEN BY:	Elmore Leonard (short story) Derek Haas Michael Brandt Halsted Welles
DIRECTED BY:	James Mangold
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: January 8, 2008 Theatrical: September 7, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	117 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

James Mangold's 3:10 to Yuma restores the wounded heart of the Western and rescues it from the morass of pointless violence.

100

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

The new version is a glorious, thrilling throwback that never sacrifices its solid roots in the western genre despite a sharp modern update that actually improves on the original.

100

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

The finest American Westerns have a characteristic that 3:10 to Yuma shares. In a way that's almost mystical, they suggest a truth beyond the specifics of the tale.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

The rousing new Western 3:10 to Yuma has the sweep of an epic and the economy of a stopwatch.

Film Threat KJ Doughton

Mangold has time to build sensational, studied characterizations, brilliant pacing (courtesy Mike McCuster, who also edited the director’s previous effort, the Johnny Cash biopic “Walk the Line”), and blistering action.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

James Mangold directs it with such energy and passion that it's as if he didn't know it's all been done before.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Unlike Glenn Ford, a soft-spoken studio star who was cast against type as Wade 50 years ago, Crowe is a perfect fit. Not because of his bad boy behavior offscreen, but because he can blend charm and menace better than anyone.

TV Guide Ken Fox

The nerve-racking wait at the Contention hotel is no longer the film's centerpiece, but the deeper characterization gives Bale an opportunity to once again sink his teeth into a complex role, and offers a reminder as to why the notoriously difficult Crowe is sometimes worth the trouble.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Both actors are among the best, most intuitively creative we have, and whatever transpires offscreen in Crowe’s case, onscreen they only serve their characters. Neither man showboats here, and it’s a thrill to watch them work.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

A riveting remake of a pretty terrific 1957 western about manhood, fatherhood and honor.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

A fine and sturdy picture, capable of standing alongside the many such films made when Westerns were one of our chief entertainments.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

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.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

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. His film isn't Leonard's classic, but it's a solid, genre-respecting Western in its own right.

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

A largely compelling ride on the strength of a powerful cast led by Russell Crowe and Christian Bale.

The New Yorker David Denby

In this movie, Fonda really is iconic. 3:10 to Yuma may be familiar, but, at its best, it has a rapt quality, even an aura of wonder.

Variety Todd McCarthy

James Mangold's remake walks a fine line in retaining many of the original's qualities while smartly shaking things up a bit.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Period westerns are so unfashionable and costly that they usually require a top-drawer script to get off the ground -- and this one, adapted from an Elmore Leonard story and its 1957 movie version, travels with an arrow's clean arc.

Time Richard Schickel

Who says remakes are always inferior to the original film? And who says the western is dead? Especially when a movie is as entertaining as this one, you begin to think this formerly beloved genre is due for a revival.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

This film is an example of a Western that ought to appeal to a healthy-sized contemporary audience, and is also a remake of the 1957 film of the same name, which is a hallmark of the type of psychological Western.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Captures a potent sense of the Old West with its multidimensional raw performances and captivating final shootout sequence. But with its emphasis on emotional truths, it transcends the confines of a cowboy movie.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The 30-minute finale, which includes a tense stand-off with Ben's gang, is masterfully executed. It's perfectly paced, suspenseful, and ends in a way that's both appropriate and satisfying.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

This is how a Western today tries to give us more bang for the buck. By working this hard to be a crowd-pleaser, though, it may please fewer crowds.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Maybe this redo didn’t need so many bells and whistles, but Mangold brings it home.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jennie Punter

While the newer version's darker ending lends a more contemporary twist, overall 3:10 to Yuma is reverent to the original – a few more bullets and more spilled blood notwithstanding.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

An extremely well-acted and well-directed remake of a 1957 oater.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Mangold has been smart or fortunate in casting, and personalities sustain interest even when the narrative flags.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

In the battle of the leading men, Crowe's character has a slight edge, and the actor really makes the most of it, showing us how boyishly mischievous charm and utter venality can exist without seeming contradiction in the same being. But Bale builds to a pretty impressive boil himself after laying back for about three quarters of the film.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Overall, the picture is accomplished, intelligent and, in places, a little dull. Mangold isn't an economical filmmaker, and parts of 3:10 to Yuma suffer from needless bloat. The new version doesn't use the same kind of blunt, visually arresting shorthand as Daves' original...And yet somehow, maybe just barely, Mangold -- succeeds on his own terms, largely because the actors he's working with here.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

As Ben Wade, gang leader and murderer, he gives an ironic performance, but Crowe’s irony is more intense than other actors’ obsession. He turns the idea of having so few emotions--of being beyond caring--into a bloody joke. He upstages everyone with his laughing eyes.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

The movie's best performance belongs to Peter Fonda. Tough, terrific, and totally unrecognizable as a bounty hunter, this cantankerous old hippie is so leathery he deserves his own line of rawhide apparel.

Newsweek David Ansen

What this version offers is the chance to watch Russell Crowe and Christian Bale—two of the more charismatic, macho leading men around--duke it out psychologically, while another fine but less well-known intensity artist, Ben Foster, steals

The New York Times A.O. Scott

More likely to be recalled as a moderately satisfying entertainment than remembered as a classic.

LA Weekly Scott Foundas

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.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

The result bears so little resemblance to the original that you have to wonder what happened. It seems more a remake of "How the West Was Won" than 3:10 to Yuma.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

The acting is its chief strength. Russell Crowe brings a cocky charisma to Ben Wade.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

The strengths of the first "3:10 To Yuma" were enhanced by its proportionality -- an intimate story told in 92 minutes. The story is no bigger in the new version, which goes on for 117 minutes. And it's certainly not better.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

The remake adds 24 minutes and subtracts most of the suspense.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.5 (out of 10) based on 177 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Dave P gave it a2:
The characters kept making decisions and doing things that just are not plausible! How do movies like this get made? In pre-production does nobody ever say "hey lets change the script to make it more plausible or not insulting to someone with a brain". How does Russell Crowe or SOMEBODY not have a little chat to the director and change a few things so i don't have to roll my eyes and think 'are you kidding me! you expect me to swallow that!

Dan C gave it a7:
The first 3/4 of the film are sheer brilliant intensity, and deserve a score of 10/10. In the final half hour, the acting remains superb, but the plot breaks down badly. I can't quite wrap my head around the illogic of the final scenes, and I can't quite love the film because of that. Still, it's well worth watching, and exciting to see such an excellent Western in this day and age. The best since Unforgiven.

Gordon L gave it an8:
Wow fun movie, totally unfair for alot of people on here bashing it. its probably the same person for all i know, unless everyones lost their minds, this movie had such a good script, strong emotional prevalance compared to many other action movies with an empty story, this one actually has "heart" or shall i say, a mind of its own, like a gun triggering off, nonstop. a very nice remake, my final personal rating is a 3/4 not a masterpiece like say, lord of the rings, but seriously HOW CAN someone give this a 1 or a 2? thats sooo lame seriously if you watch the directing, the pace of the film, the script...it all moves smooth slick and a fulfilling western action/flick starring two great actors. do you have any idea how ridiculed i am with such low ratings? if your going to bash a movie, why dont you try something like "era gone" lol this ones so ON though! its got a pulse, yah thaz right. bite it.

John gave it a3:
I usually think a meta-critic score is pretty reliable, but I have to dissent on this one. Like the detractors are saying, it does not make any sense, and it is really difficutl to understand why any of the people involved would do what they did in this movie. I guess it is suspenseful, if you forget all laws of human behavior.

Keith gave it an8:
Why does no one seem to get the end of this movie? Ben jumps on the train to make a hero out of Dan to his son, all the while knowing he can well escape a prison he's escaped twice before. He no longer needed his men, and, after meeting someone as incorruptible as Dan, took his vengeance on them for Dan's murder. This movie is excellent and absolutely took my breath away!

Gabe K gave it a1:
I am sorry to say but good acting and visuals do not save a film from a horrible plot. This movie makes no sense. Besides the fact that no one can properly detain a prisoner in this movie, the ending made no sense. This whole movie was laughable.

Tubby S gave it a4:
Clever story, good acting, solid themes; but, too many glitches. The film oozes unbelievability from start to finish.

3:10 to Yuma Lions Gate Films

3:10 to Yuma
Lions Gate Films