There hasn't been a good Western in a while. At least, not by my reckoning. Last one I thought was truly something was "Unforgiven," and that came out in the 1990s.

As a rule, I don't like the idea of remakes. I think it stems from seeing too many bad ones or seeing an original so brilliant that it's a big "WHY?" when the remake is announced. Like, the Johnny Depp "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." Sorry, but why did that need to be done? Gene Wilder was beyond brilliant in that film. Gah.

But I'd read reviews of 3:10 to "Yuma" and wanted to see it. Russell Crowe is one of those actors I really love watching. Noo, not why you think. If you haven't seen "The Insider," it remains the role I think he should have won his first Oscar for. But, whatever.

He is really amazing in "3:10" as Ben Wade — despicable enough that you recognize he's a hard, hard man. But also slyly charming and living his life by his own terms.

Christian Bale was kind of a surprise. I've seen him in other films, and know he's got decent range, but he was just phenomenal as Dan Evans, the lame rancher struggling against drought and debt. The chemistry between them was what really sold the picture. You could sense the bond forming and the way Evans' contempt for Wade shifted to wary respect, and the honor that underlined Evans' motives was so believable - not a bit saccharine.

Ben Foster was also a surprise as Charlie Prince, Wade's fiercely loyal underling. He was very convincing as the cold villain. You might say it was a one-note performance. We don't see anything warm or fuzzy about Prince. But he was so convincing as a man who saw people as disposable obstacles.

And, of course, I enjoyed seeing Wash, er, Alan Tudyk, in a supporting role.

There were some good gunplay scenes, like an old-time Western, and a few disturbing scenes of violence that didn't come from a pistol, but that isn't the real point of the film. It's this incredible tension, of waiting for that train, waiting to see the true price of a man, waiting to see if their similarities, this budding unlikely bond, will somehow change the course that seems so inevitable: that someone is going to die.

What struck me most was Evans' sense of honor, though. And that it was so believable. That a man would walk toward certain death because even though it was certain and even though around him, others were turning and running, he believed in what he was doing and wanted to feel the pride in his son's eyes. Wanted to feel that he deserved that pride. Wanted to feel like a man again, after so much of what it meant to him to be a man was taken from him. Wanted to know that if he was going to die, it would be an honorable death.

It sounds hokey and schlocky, but it's not in the least bit. There is something incredible between Bale and Crowe that makes it all work.

OK, it really is a wonderful film. Gripping and emotional and exciting and tense.