3:10 to Yuma
IN order to save his farm, impoverished rancher Dan Evans agrees to take charismatic outlaw Ben Wade to the train that will take him to prison in Yuma.
Given Hollywood's penchant for torquing its own past achievements (see also: Scarface, Cape Fear, The Thing), you might reasonably expect 3:10 to Yuma to be just another remake with amped-up sex, violence and a higher magnitude of star power. Christian Bale and Russell Crowe inherit the respective rancher and outlaw roles of Van Heflin and Glenn Ford, who starred in the original 1957 version by Delmer Daves.
Oddly enough, the original (released on DVD late in 2007) more than holds its own when it comes to chilling violence (the hanging of town drunk Henry Jones) and unexpected sexual tension (Ben Wade's seduction of Emmy the barmaid is practically identical in both versions).
As for star power, Crowe is fine, sure, but Glenn Ford was never better than he was in the role of magnetic, psychopathic outlaw Wade.
That said, this version by James Mangold is a thoroughly respectable modern western, keyed on the pressure-cooker personal dynamics of Wade and determined farmer Evans. The ending of the remake is sufficiently distinctive that 3:10 Version 2 stands tall in the saddle as its own movie -- not better, but not worse either.
The DVD extras include one of those perversely contrarian real-west documentaries that affirms exactly how historically inaccurate the western genre is -- 3:10 to Yuma included. HHH1/2
Sunshine
DIRECTOR Danny Boyle enjoys nothing better than to have his way with different film genres, including the horror movie (28 Days Later), the drug movie (Trainspotting) and the thriller (Shallow Grave). Here, he has a go at sci-fi. The premise is outré: eight scientists set their controls for the heart of the sun, to quote Pink Floyd, in an effort to reignite Sol with a "stellar bomb."
But Boyle shows real respect to the genre, or at least enough respect to render one of the most visually beautiful sci-fi films since 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Like that Stanley Kubrick classic, Sunshine is sufficiently open-ended that it could be subject to a number of interpretations as to its deeper meaning with respect to its themes of scientific rationality vs. spirituality. And it's also beautiful enough to make the necessary re-viewings not the least bit arduous.
The DVD includes a couple of short films that have nothing to do with Sunshine, or Boyle for that matter. Promoting the work of other filmmakers is a notably generous way to fill up extras space on a DVD. HHH1/2
White Noise 2: The Light
EDMONTON-BORN Nathan Fillion is one of those rare actors who has managed to make a solid impression in genre movies, providing sardonic leadership to a quirky entourage in sci-fi flick Firefly and rising above the slime in the gross-horror extravaganza Slither.
Alas, Fillion blows some of that cachet with this dismal sequel to the already pretty dismal Canadian-made thriller White Noise. Fillion is Abe, a regular guy whose life goes kablooey when his wife and son are gunned down by some random nut in a diner. The depressed Abe tries to take his own life, but is brought back from death with an ability to see a white aura surrounding people who are about to die. When Abe starts saving some of those endangered lives, he learns there are serious consequences to his altruistic acts... and maybe that killer gunman wasn't such a nutjob after all.
To its credit, White Noise 2 has at least one never-seen-that-before moment involving a stunt with a grand piano. But basically, this is a film that tries to exploit near-death experiences with the same kind of carny enticement that the first movie attached to the phenomenon of Electronic Voice Phenomena.
Fillion is now at work in the Winnipeg-lensed rom-com Chilled in Miami, and good on him. If he plans to leave genre cinema behind, one hopes he'll leave on a higher note than this. HH
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-- Rogers Video, week ending Jan. 6
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