3:10 to Yuma

An Arizona rancher (Christian Bale), desperate for money, agrees to escort an outlaw (Russell Crowe) to jail, aware that the man’s gang is stalking him, intent on freeing their leader. Elmore Leonard’s western story (first filmed in the 1957 semi-classic with Van Heflin and Glenn Ford) gets revamped for 21st century tastes by director James Mangold and writers Halsted Welles, Michael Brandt and Derek Haas. The emphasis this time is on gunplay rather than psychological tension and mind games—where the 1957 film was modeled on High Noon, this one echoes The Wild Bunch. Oddly enough, for all the gunsmoke and trail dust, the new version feels more “Hollywood” and less authentic than the original, with a protracted (and unpersuasive) climax. Still, Crowe and Bale are first-rate, the action satisfying.