WALK THE LINE director James Mangold does with 3:10 TO YUMA what all good remakes do — use the original's strengths as a basis while fleshing out the weak moments. The 1957 original is a minor Western classic. However, while not perfect, the remake is a superior film. This is done by giving more depth and sublty to the characters and pumping up the excitement level in good ways. The addition of two of today's premiere actors — Russell Crowe and Christian Bale — as well as a star making performance by Ben Foster, does not hurt either.
Dan Evans (Bale, BATMAN BEGINS) lost a leg in the Civil War. Now he's struggling to keep food on the table and pay off his debts. His son William (Logan Lerman, THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT) resents the fact that his father doesn't charge after the men sent to burn down their barn. One day while tending the cows, they witness ruthless outlaw Ben Wade (Crowe, CINDERELLA MAN), along with his bloodthirsty sidekick Charlie Prince (Ben Foster, BANG, BANG, YOU'RE DEAD), use their cattle as a blockade in a robbery of the stagecoach. After Wade and his gang leave Evans and his sons without horses, they help the injured stagecoach driver Byron McElroy (Peter Fonda, EASY RIDER) and end up finding their horses on the road to town where Wade promised they would be. Desperate for money, Evans helps capture Wade and joins railroad manager Grayson Butterfield (Dallas Roberts, A HOME AT THE END OF THE WORLD), Doc Potter (Alan Tudyk, I, ROBOT) and hired thug Tucker (Kevin Durand, WILD HOGS) on a mission to deliver Wade to the 3:10 train to Yuma.