3:10 to Yuma & Dhamaal : Two Short Reviews
Originally published on PassionForCinema.com
3:10 to Yuma
The movie’s been tagged as a “Western” to watch out for, since it first made its appearance on the internet. A remake of the 1957 flick, 3:10 to Yuma does have a lot going for it, including some good performances by its leading men Russell Crowe and Christian Bale… not to forget some strong support by actors Logan Lerman and Ben Foster.
It’s worth noting that in spite of its long absence, director James Mangold makes no attempt in this Western, to resort to gimmicks, the B grade gun fights et. all, instead focussing the camera on the tug and pull between Crowe and Bale all throughout the movie.
Though some may argue this is no “Unforgiven”, still 3:10 has its heart in the right place and continues throughout to dig in the spirit of a true western… the wild vast expanse, the animal in each human, the utter loneliness in a land where civilization has yet to take its first baby steps and that tinge of melancholy in dusty heat and brittle cold. The sacrifice, tragedies, the human spirit pops all throughout the journey where Bale, inorder to save his home and land, offers to take the dreaded criminal Crowe to the town of Contention where Crowe would board the train to Yuma for a federal court trial and eventually to be hanged.
3:10 isn’t for those who are expecting a 70s Clint Eastwood bang bang western fizz, rather if you loved his Unforgiven, then 3:10 may be something you’ll appreciate.
B Minus. An afternoon at 3:10 would not be a bad afternoon at all…
Dhamaal
If you really have to see this one, then go to the theater. Buy the ticket. Go have a snack, soda, popcorn or a beer. Visit the next door bookshop. The soda in your bladder may be ringing a bell. Find a restroom. Relieve yourself. Check the time. If its an hour and twenty minutes into the movie, walk in… the scene showing up may have Vijay Raaz talking over a mic to Aashish Chaudhury and Asrani who are in a plane and trying to land it. The comedy in that scene may get you (it did get me)… now wait… the best comic scene in the movie is then shamelessly and idiotically cut to some other scene where Sanjay Dutt’s in a bus full of children.
As the Sanjay Dutt scene passes by, snore. Wake up as soon as you get the Vijay Raaz scene back on the screen. The impact of the jokes has gone down a notch, partly because of the speed breaker applied by the director and editor in cutting away to another scene. A few laughs… cut to Sanjay Dutt and the children… snore a bit… the Vijay Raaz scene comes back… comedy goes down another few notches… finish the scene and get out of the theater.
Arshad Warsi looks lost, Javed Jaffrey hams and does invoke a few laughs cause now you feel pity for him, Aashish Chaudhary- who is he?, Ritesh Deshmukh should realize he isn’t a comedy king and should go easy on trying so hard over the top, while Sanjay Dutt looks like he was forced in doing this project even if he may be the only saving grace.
Indra Kumar needs to give direction up. The writers of this movie need to stop writing and first learn the spelling of comedy - it’s C O M E D Y… and not some weird K A M E D I or any other spelling that numerology may have come up with. The four lead actors should take a break, the crew of this movie should go on a vacation, the editor should strictly edit only wedding videos and we should laugh at our DVD rental guy when he offers us this movie two weeks from now - that is the only “Dhamaal” you’ll get out of this Dhamaal.
F Minus. Two comic scenes and forty six ham hammer hammered ones don’t make a comedy.
September 10th, 2007 at 10:35 am
Thank You.
For an accurate review of “Dismal”