Zähl bis drei und bete

Dies ist nach langer Zeit, wo mich Bales Charakter nicht gestört hat, allem Anschein nach deshalb, weil sie hervorragend durch den prägnanten Charakter Russell Crowes ausgewogen wurde. Aber wie dreht man denn einen Film, in dem sich ein guter Bauer und ein böser Räuber gegenüber stehen und bewahrt gleichzeitig beiden Seiten ihren Charakter? Leider kommt man hier nicht ohne eine gewisse Krampfartigkeit oder ein Spielen an den Effekt aus (besonders am Ende), ansonsten inszenierte Mangold ein stilvolles, rohes und attraktives Genre-Spektakel. Außerdem ist es auf sympathische Weise bärtig, verschwitzt und altmodisch. (01.08.2010)

Am Anfang ist es ein großartiger Western. In der zweiten Hälfte verliert der Film langsam seinen Drive. Im Finale verwandelt er sich in einen schleimigen und rührenden Streifen mit zu vielen Emotionen, der nicht nur der Wahrscheinlichkeit, sondern auch dem gesunden Verstand widerspricht. Schade, sehr schade. Der Film hätte ein exzellenter Beitrag zum Genre sein können. Es ist ja so, dass hier allein Russell Crowe alle Western-Klassiker in die Tasche steckt. (12.03.2008)

I think the only thing I’ve watched less than western is Japanese anime, so I can’t evaluate this film objectively within the genre, but what I can say is that, up until a certain moment, I was so immersed that I was considering the highest rating, mostly thanks to the performances of the trio Crowe, Foster, and Bale. But that ending! It’s the biggest WTF I’ve seen in a long time. From the moment of the dialogue in the hotel room, when I first realised where things were heading, I hoped that it would turn out differently. Unfortunately, it didn’t and Yuma lost all its credibility and seriousness, which brought the rating to an average three stars. It’s a shame. (01.12.2008)

Originally, I was going to remark, at the expense of some of the responses here, that to complain for the lack of humour in a classically cut western, is like mocking Schwarzenegger for never playing Hamlet. But I really didn't expect that, because the last 10 minutes almost gave me a pain in my cervical spine from shaking my head in disbelief. There was a lot of potential, though, with the fantastically believable realities of the Wild West, the impressive casting with all those unwashed, hirsute faces and two actors (Crowe and Bale) who have the personality and charisma to pull the film to its very… stupid conclusion. What takes place in the last quarter of an hour (the moral awakening of a hardened bastard, the joint escape on the train, etc.) shamefully dwarfs the previous 100 minutes of carefully constructed suspenseful narrative. Stupidity of the coarsest grain, when during the closing credits I was looking to see if the Monty Python gentlemen had contributed their scriptwriting bit to the mill, because in the genre classification here I am missing the word 'parody' next to the word 'Western'. Strong 3* for the first 100 minutes and let's leave it at that, I'm going to pretend I went to the toilet for a very long 15 minutes before the end... (27.11.2007)

A superb renaissance of the classic American western with all the trimmings, including the genre rules (and their weaknesses), that fulfills the meaning of words like honor or principled to the max. Whoever is criticizing the ending so vehemently should watch the film again because that is exactly what the film has been heading toward all along. Crowe and Bale are traditionally delightful, and all the more surprising is Ben Foster's cold-blooded butcher. Mangold has made arguably the best western since the early millennium. (30.11.2007)