Western fans know, of course, that the genre remains one of the most diverse and exciting of them all. However, if you haven’t really warmed up to the genre yet, you can tune in today, December 17 at 11:15 PM on 3satbecause that’s where it’s going “Death Train to Yuma“ now a real western highlight.
This is what ‘Death Train to Yuma’ is about
Dan Evans (Christian Bale, “The Dark Knight”) is a farmer who lives with his wife Alice (Gretchen Mol) and their two sons William (Logan Lerman) and Mark (Benjamin Petry) in a small village on the border with Mexico. The former sniper lost a leg in the civil war and now has his hands full trying to provide for his family. Therefore, he has long lost the respect of his 14-year-old son William. Debts are piling up and Dan fears losing his land.
When Dan and William witness a bank robbery by notorious bandit Ben Wade (Russell Crowe, “Man Of Steel”) and his ruthless gang, the tide suddenly turns. The clever Wade falls into the hands of bounty hunter Byron McElroy (Peter Fonda). Now a group must take the criminal to Contentino to catch the prisoner transport train to Yuma. To earn money, Dan joins the escort. But the path is dangerous and Wade’s right-hand man Charlie (Ben Foster, “X-Men: The Last Stand”) is hot on their trail…
Christian Bale vs. Russell Crowe – a fantastic match
It must be said in advance that you should not expect a postmodern western of the “Django Unchained” brand from ‘Death Train to Yuma’. Instead, director James Mangold (“Indiana Jones 5,” “Logan”) follows the tradition of westerns from the 1950s and 1960s and stages it in a very classic, but never old-fashioned way. It is therefore not surprising that the film is a remake of Delmer Daves’ classic ‘Count to Three and Pray’, which was made right at this time.
In the official FILMSTARTS review, “Death Train to Yuma” earned an excellent 4.5 out of 5 stars. Our author explains that the film thrives on two notable strengths: “The top-notch character study of good and evil and the fantastic acting from the actors. Only then comes the action, which is only harmoniously staged when necessary for the plot – including an almost 30-minute breathtaking, consistent showdown.
The heart of the film, however, are the charismatic performances of Christian Bale and Russell Crowe, who constantly demand new facets of their characters and thus noticeably increase the ambivalence of the story. There is no simple good-evil drawing here, but ‘Death Train to Yuma’ is more about honor and responsibility.
The review concludes enthusiastically: “The old-fashioned Western impresses as a complex moral educational fable, which certainly carries the melancholy of ‘Merciless’, but should never be interpreted as a swan song for the Western. ‘Death Train to Yuma’ is masterful narrative cinemathat breathes new life into the long-dead Western genre.”