I used to make fun of my mom for watching "westerns" all the time, which was basically anything that had horses or old-timey clothes. Westerns were one of the largest genres of not only film as it transitioned into talkies, but also literature during the 1900s which is still alive and well. My attitude towards westerns at the time was that they were boring old movies, but what western stories did I have growing up? Things like City Slickers, horse movies like Black Stallion, or any number of corny westerns (like kung-fu movies) outside of Unforgiven, Tombstone, etc. which I didn't want to watch until I was older. Westerns were all but a joke, or a setting for some sort of self-referential treatment, or glorification of the genre that ends up being a caricature. James Mangold set out to do more than just make another western, and it shows significantly that he had a good story to tell.3:10 to Yuma is not an original film, nor is it an original story (mostly) in the original 3:10 to Yuma, but in each iteration there have been additions to tell. The story by Elmore Leonard is rather short at around 10-15 pages, and only picks up at the end of the story when our now named Dan Evans (Christian Bale) is but minutes from delivering Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) to the train departing from Contention. The original film starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin, I would imagine added most of what this film added to that story, which is the lead-up to Leonard's original short story. One thing that director James Mangold added to this film was that Dan Evans was a veteran who had lost his leg in the war, which results in different avenues of story-telling between these characters throughout. Christian Bale plays the good, hard-working farmer well, and it's really the family that plays off of him that give him the emotional resonance from the start.Russell Crowe is brilliant, as he plays the type of good guy that you hate to cheer for. He's dastardly and destructive, wherever he goes there is chaos. But at the center of it is an extremely charming, bad guy in all black who ends up having the biggest arc of the film. Also, Ben Foster shines as his partner and assassin of Wade's gang who is absolutely ruthless and seems to even have a more-than-normal affection for Wade that makes his role all that more entertaining to watch. Logan Lerman plays Christian Bale's son in the film and is perfect for the role, as pointed out by the director in the commentary.The Special Features are great on this release, including a textbook director's commentary from James Mangold. He breaks down working with all of the stars in the film, including all of the small roles that are peppered through 3:10 to Yuma but really add to its excellence. Alan Tudyk joins the group leading Wade to Contention as a veterinarian, whom Mangold points out as only having 20 or so odd lines but it's on great character actors such as Tudyk to do as much as they can with them. This film is bursting at the seams with these character actors, all of which do a stellar job at adding depth and emotional power to this movie. It has a few intense action sequences, but overall it's a well-acted western drama about two men at odds with their own lives who drive each other to be better men.I would argue that this is maybe the best western since the year 2000, other than a few hidden gems like The Proposition. The western genre in film is dead, and James Mangold discusses a lot of how hard it was to finance this film due to the outlook studios have on these films. There have been a few brief flashes of westerns and western crossovers since the release of this film, but none that have even come close to how great this movie is. Even in being a remake, it stands to be one of the better, more popular genre films of the modern era. Nothing has come close since, and stands to prove that all involved are very talented filmmakers and actors, writers, etc.Blu-ray copy came in great condition, but this release did not include DVD or digital copies. I highly recommend 3:10 to Yuma to anyone looking for a great overall film to watch for movie night, and especially to those who are a fan of any of the actors or westerns in general. It's the defining western film of my generation that tells so many stories among its many characters that it's hard not to have some sort of investment somewhere in the movie. You are missing out if you haven't taken the 3:10 to Yuma!