**** Stars
Another four star review, and I'm loving every minute of it.
Russell Crowe and Christian Bale are two of the finest actors on the planet, both giving Oscar caliber performances in one of the best westerns I have seen in recent memory.
The story is beautiful, poetic, and staggeringly exciting. James Mangold (director of the great Walk the Line) brings back the western genre with such urgency and respect that it deserves to be a bonafide box office crowd pleaser.
Dan Evans (Bale), a civil war survivor turned rancher struggles to support family during a long drought, which extremely hurts his ranch. He takes a job to transport the evil outlaw Benjamin Wade (Crowe), the most notorious gangster of them all. Once the two meet, the criminal tries to tempt him into giving him more money then the job intends to give him. Obviously Evans is tempted, but he is determined to send this ruthless man to the Yuma prison.
The movie works dramatically in addition to being a flawless entertainment. I have never seen the original Yuma (which I will watch very soon) but to me this a original piece of cinema that brings us closer to balance with this years trilogy curse (Spidey 3, Shrek 3, Rush Hour 3 etc...) and hopefully this is not the last time Crowe and Bale unite. This is the duo of the year.
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