Finally got around to watching 3:10 To Yuma today.  Holy silver bullet in a well-greased chamber, is it badass; it's a western that's as much about the gritty gunplay and shootouts as it is about the thrilling drama and intelligent plot.  The concept of honor and dignity between men in the old west is laid bare; it percolates throughout, then comes to a head by the satisfying (and bloodsoaked) conclusion.  At the heart of the film is Bale and Crowe, who play up hero and villain, each with a distinctive amount of character layers to be discovered.  There's a real human element in the film, and I'm glad the movie rises far above the reliance of standard western archetypes.

Damned excellent score, too. Never was an outspoken fan of Marco Beltrami's works; he's always had a good hand at delivering strong, solid orchestrations, but his compositional efforts have often been meandering, forgettable affairs.  Yuma turns that rep on its head, delivering a tour de force of rhythmic underscore and strong melodies.  Here, Beltrami allows the orchestra to play accompaniment to an impressive array of acoustics and percussion, as well as tack piano and organ.  There's traces of Morricone to be heard, certainly, but it borders more on subtle homage rather than blatant rip-off.   

Highly recommended.  Viewing the trailer makes me want to watch the movie again.  That, and I'll need to seek out the original '57 version.

I just glanced over this post really quickly just in case there were spoilers, heh. I'm glad you like it; it's next on my Netflix queue! (In Blu-ray, too.)

Really liked the music in the trailer, but it honestly didn't entice me enough to want to watch it the actual film.

I'm certain you'll enjoy it.  Would love to hear your opinions after you've seen it. :)

That's too bad.  For the record, though, I'm certain that the music in the trailer isn't evident in the final movie.  (Don't even know if Beltrami composed it or not.)  I'll have to give the soundtrack CD I just bought today a more thorough listen.

I thought it was a pretty good remake overall despite half the film being lifted directly from the original, dialogue and all.  The first film also offers a more cohesive presentation with less distraction from the central plot, though I'd be hard pressed to find fault with the '07 version's portrayals or technical merit. 

Aside: Having explored the remake's DVD release, I was pretty stunned to find not a single mention or reference to the Daves original.

Though I still haven't seen the original Yuma, I did watch the '07 version again just recently, prompting me to give the movie another well-deserved leg-up.  It's just that good.

Speaking of westerns, I've also been meaning to see "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford."  Anyone seen that one?

I enjoyed "The Assassination of Jesse James" but not immensely. It's a slow-moving film, but when everything comes together at the end the payoff is worth it.  Quality performances and nice cinematography throughout but I'd say it's only for patient viewers.  I still really need to see 3:10 to Yuma!

I thought 3:10 To Yuma was kinda boring, honestly. But I'm also getting tired of Christian Bale's habit of giving the exact same performance in every film he does.

I'm just kinda tired of Christian Bale himself. Found it awesome when the best character in Teminator Salvation wasn't Bale's Connor.

And, IMO, Bale's Batman voice sucks.

You and the rest of the world, buddy.

In fact, as much as I loved Dark Night, the moments Batman was on screen were very cringeworthy and actually made me feel I was watching a dumb Super Hero flick instead of a gritty crime movie.

I'm surprised to hear that.  I suppose I could see folks having problems with the "talky" nature of the film, but I thought the balance between dialogue exchange and action are immaculately struck.  The acting is truly sublime, too.

Any thoughts on Beltrami's music score?

As for Bale, I can understand some of the hate he's received as of late, but I've gotta say his Dan Evans in Yuma is among one of the better "intense" roles that he's played in years.  He and Crowe play off of each other so well.

I've never been a western fan. Only Russell Crowe really kept the movie alive for me. Things picked up a bit near the end, with the entertaining final showdown.

Pretty good. It was mostly very low-key but I thought it was effective. Beltrami has gotten better and better over the years. I recently watched Knowing (a hysterically bad Nicholas Cage end-of-the-world thriller) and his score was by far the best thing about it.

YES! This is why I think the Dark Knight bothered me! It had a gritty crime movie feel through most of it - which really worked - but when Batman showed up on the scene it tried to revert back to a dumb super hero flick and those two things didn't gel.

Also, saw Puplic Enemies last night: opinon of Bale remains unchanged. The only thing that really made me relate to his character wasn't anything done by him, but rather a revelation about the character he potrayed after the final scene faded out.