It's been about a week since my screening of James Mangold's "3:10 to Yuma." I don't have the time or psychological energy to devote a review to it (or any other film) at this time (grad school orientation), but it's a winner inside and out. Kevin Costner's "Open Range," David Milch's "Deadwood" and now, James Mangold's "3:10" remake/re-adaptation are officially the holy trinity of the western's resurgence in my mind, a story I've been waiting on a major to pick up for some time. But no one seems willing to dig into the genre's obvious return. If Andrew Dominik's "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" is as stellar as early word suggests...

In any case, Mangold's film, working from a rather brilliant script by Halsted Welles, Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, is cut from the same cloth as Delmer Daves's 1957 original. But Elmore Leonard's 11 page short story only takes an audience so far, providing a third act for what is obviously a much broader story, one that could be taken in a number of different directions. What I liked most about Mangold's treatment of the material was how married he clearly was to tone. This is a real western dug out of the same earth as the roughest of John Ford cinema or even Don Siegel. It drips with righteousness and deeper meanings, emotions and considerations. I did cartwheels.

The narrative has an issue here or there, but I think it has become the one film I seem to allow myself each year that I love, stitches and all. Christian Bale is fantastic as a world-weary soul and a man seeking redemption in the eyes of his family, and Russell Crowe is equal parts charm and savagery, a combination we haven't seen out of the actor in quite a long time. Ben Foster is also electric, though given a few too many lines for the characters' own good. But, through and through, it's a sturdy ensemble and a thoroughly enjoyable one.

I love this genre.

(Dealing with some Photoshop issues at the moment. Images will be forthcoming.)