3:10 to Yuma

This movie has all the elements of a great western.

The plot is relatively simple (based on the short story by Elmore Leonard), but it's the production that takes the breath away. The setting is fairly accurate (yeah, as if I was alive back then), and the gunfights are top-notch, and the action sequences make for one hell of a cowboy shoot-em-up.

Christian Bale is mesmerizing as usual (sorry ladies, you'll get a scruffy-looking Bale here, not a clean-shaven one), while Russel Crowe delivers one great performance as the despicable Ben Wade. Personally, I'm not used to watching Russel play the antagonist, although he was brilliant in Virtuosity. I regard him more as good-guy material, despite his press status as "Jerkus Maximus." Watch out also for Luke Wilson's cameo as─what else─a cowboy.

Rating: Four stars.