But Ben and Dan discover an unlikely bond, and Bale's haunted reticence plays well against Crowe's roguish relish. Their characters open up a bit too much toward the end, in confessional moments that soften the clean, hard contours of the story and bring to the surface themes that would have been more interesting if they had been left half-buried.
Mangold, whose previous films include Girl, Interrupted and Walk the Line, is not the kind of director who indulges in stylistic showboating. The action sequences in 3:10 to Yuma are effective and coherent, but it is the actors who carry the movie. The destination may be as familiar as the journey, but there are some sights worth seeing along the way.
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