3:10 to Yuma

3:10 to Yuma is James Mangold's "modern" western. This is a fine film, with Russell Crowe as a villain Ben Wade. The plot is a little contrived to my taste, but you cannot help admiring the moviemakers for their shameless manipulation of the audience. This is one of those films where the moral ambiguitiy is taken to the extreme. You literally swing from an unreserved admiration for the villain to a complete disgust in a matter of seconds, and then back. There is also a great acting by Christian Bale, who is playing the good guy. He is completely expressionless the whole time and one cannot even begin to understand his motives. So I'd say this film is a little like a series of silly riddles they make up to test your moral fiber (eg would you deliberately cause the death of one person if it saved five other people), but it is quite enjoyable.