Rancher Dan Evans (Christian Bale) lost a leg during the Civil War. He received a small pension and returned home to tend his ranch in the Arizona Territory with his wife (Gretchen Mol) and two sons. However, in the years since, he has been struggling to make ends meet due to a three-year drought, and has taken on a loan he’s been unable to pay back. The Evans’ property sits right in the planned path of the transcontinental railroad, and lender Glen Hollander sees the opportunity to make some money by seizing the property and selling it to the railroad company.

Evans heads towards Bisbee to try to negotiate with Hollander, but on the way he and son William (Logan Lerman) witness a gang of outlaws robbing a stagecoach belonging to the railroad company, killing those inside. The notorious Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) notices Evans watching him in the distance, and rides up to confront him. Wade allows the rancher and his son to live, but takes their horses so that they can’t alert anyone. As Wade and his gang ride off, Evans and his sons slowly walk the rest of the way into town.

It isn’t long before Wade is discovered and captured, and railroad representative Grayson Butterfield (Dallas Roberts) wants him to stand trial for his crimes. He requests some men to help transport the prisoner to Contention, where he will be put on the 3:10 train to Yuma Prison. Evans, who wasn’t able to convince Hollander to change the terms of his loan, agrees to join the escort party in exchange for $200. However, a dangerous path lies ahead—Wade’s gang, now led by Charlie Prince (Ben Foster), is still at large and will no doubt be coming to rescue him; the path to Contention passes through dangerous Apache territory; and Wade has already proven to be an unpredictable, ruthless killer.

It had been nearly a decade since I last saw this film, so I was excited to check it out again on Lionsgate’s new 4K UHD release, and I wasn’t disappointed. The film really holds up, and was even more action-packed than I had remembered.. There are many surprising twists and turns to the story that I had forgotten about, so it was a bit of a roller-coaster ride watching this again for the first time. There’s just one deadly obstacle after the next that gets in the way of the escorts’ mission. Their exciting adventure includes lots of nerve-wracking shoot-outs, chases, and really tense moments.

Ben Wade and Dan Evans are very interesting characters. Evans is a soldier who was wounded in war but only got a meager pension for his injury. Now he feels like a failure to his wife and kids, and has something to prove. So Evans undertakes this dangerous mission to help save his home and hopefully become more of a hero in his family’s eyes. Meanwhile, Wade is said to be this ruthless killer, but he does actually show some compassion for Evans and the situation he’s in. Wade has his own moral compass and set of rules that he lives by, and this leads to some unexpected turns of events. Bale and Crowe have great on-screen chemistry and its both fun and heartbreaking watching this cat-and-mouse game play out.

This 2007 film is a remake of the original 1957 adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s short story “Three-Ten To Yuma”. However, this version is a little darker and grittier.

Lionsgate’s new UHD release looks quite good and sounds amazing. The video presentation is a bit more detailed than its Blu-ray counterpart—this is can especially be seen in the faces of the actors, and in wall and clothing textures. The colors are also a bit richer in the fire-lit and candle-lit scenes that take place at the Evans’ home. On the negative side, there was quite a bit of noise, particularly in the bright blue skies of some outdoors scenes. However, in the more overcast outdoors scenes, this was far less prevalent. As for the audio, I couldn’t really find any faults—which is probably why the film received an Oscar nomination for Sound Mixing. The overhead, surround and stereo channels are well-utilized to provide a fully-immersive experience. On-screen action is brought to life as bullets echo and reverberate overhead, and zoom around the room, and the subwoofer kicks in to add excitement to and allow the viewer to feel the explosions. Dialogue is clear throughout the film, and the Oscar-nominated score sounds delightful!

There is no new bonus material created specifically for this release. The included Blu-ray disc is exactly the same as the 2008 stand-alone release, and contains all of the same bonus features. Most of the Blu-ray bonus material has also been ported over to the UHD disc—a director commentary, five behind-the-scenes featurettes with the cast/crew, two historical featurettes and a collection of deleted scenes. The items not ported over are two interactive features and the film’s trailer.

This release comes with both a 4K UHD disc and a Blu-ray disc packed in standard UHD keepcase with a rounded-corner slipcover. The case also contains an insert with a code to redeem for an UltraViolet digital copy of the film. At the time of this review, Vudu was the only redemption option, and they did not offer the title in 4K UHD format.

What’s Included:

Film: (2:02:25)

4K Ultra HD:

• 2160p / Widescreen 2.40:1
• HDR
• Audio: English DTS:X, English Dolby Digital 2.0 (Audio Optimized For Late Night Listening), Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 2.0
• Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish

Blu-ray:

• 1080p / Widescreen 2.40:1
• Audio: English 7.1 PCM (Uncompressed), English 5.1 Dobly Digital Surround EX Audio
• Subtitles: English, Spanish

Digital HD (Redemption Deadline 5/2/2018):

• Digital HD copy redeemable via Vudu

Extras:
The included Blu-ray is exactly the same as the 2008 release, and includes all of the same bonus features. The UHD disc does not include any new supplemental material, but most of the Blu-ray features have been ported over. The exclusions are noted below.

• Audio Commentary with Director James Mangold (2:02:30)
  The film’s director provides an entertaining commentary for the film, starting off with an explanation of why he decided to remake the original film. Throughout the film he explains the reasons for certain story/staging decisions, and talks about the characters, actors, locations , effects and more. Mangold also provides a lot of interesting behind-the-scenes stories and production tidbits.
• Destination: Yuma (20:58)
  A behind the scenes look at the making of the film—topics include the changes from the original film, building the sets, shooting the action, the special effects, the costumes, and more. Includes lots of behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with director James Mangold, producer Cathy Konrad, production designer Andrew Menzies, set decorator Jay R. Hart, writer Michael Brandt, director of photography Phedon Papamichael, key armorer Thell Reed, stunt coordninator/second unit director Freddie Hice, special effects coordinator Ron Bolanowski, costume designer Arianne Phillips, and actors Christian Bale (“Dan Evans”), Logan Lerman (“Will Evans”), Luce Rains (“Marshal Weathers”), Russell Crowe (“Ben Wade”), Kevin Durand (“Tucker”), Gretchen Mol (“Alice Evans”), Peter Fonda (“Byron McElroy”), Ben Foster (“Charlie Prince”) and Dallas Roberts (“Crayson Butterfield”).
• Outlaws, Gangs & Posses (12:58)
  A historical look at the rise of outlaw gangs in the Old West just after the Civil War. Participants include author/historian Dr Roger McGrath, historian Will Bagley, Old West researcher/publisher Don Taylor and Tombstone city historian Ben Traywick.
• An Epic Explored (6:22)
  A discussion on how Westerns are more than just period films, providing a fantasy in which to explore all kinds of societal issues. Participants include director James Mangold, writer Stuart Beattie (“Collateral”, “Pirates of the Caribbean”), and actors Ben Foster and Christian Bale.
• 3:10 to Score (7:38)
  Composer Marco Beltrami talks about why he wanted to do a Western film, his inspirations for the film’s music, and some of the techniques he used to create unique sounds for the score. Also includes a comparison of a scene with and without the music, and thoughts from director James Mangold.
• From Sea to Shining Sea (19:39)
  A historical look at the transcontinental railroad, the difficult task of its construction, and the impact the railway had on American society. Includes interviews with Weber State University History department professor Richard W. Sadler, historian Will Bagley, University of Utah professor W. Paul Reed and Golden Spike National Historical Site representative Martin Soholt.
• A Conversation with Elmore Leonard (5:24)
  Writer Elmore Leonard talks about how he first got involved in writing Western stories,
  his influences, and his original “Three-Ten to Yuma” short story.
• The Guns of Yuma (6:17)
  Key Armorer Thell Reed, director James Mangold and actors Christian Bale, Alan Tudyk (“Doc Potter”), Kevin Durand and Russell Crowe discuss the weapons used in the film.
• Deleted Scenes (7:55)
  Collection of 7 deleted scenes. Play All or select from “Darden vs Nez”, “Darden vs. Monty”, “Al Pinkerton’s Tongue”, “‘Were You Sincere About Mexico?'”, “Corrupted Souls”, “Overrated Souls”, and “‘That’s My Son!’ The Hay & The Grass”.
• Historical Timeline of the West (Blu-ray only)
  Interactive timeline that lets viewers learn more about the American West from 1860-1899.
• Inside Yuma (Blu-ray only)
  Interactive viewing experience. When enabled, all sorts of interesting on-screen items can be activated during playback of the film, such as the film’s script, storyboards, and a picture-in-picture with behind-the-scenes footage, visual effects, footage from dailies and more.
• Theatrical Trailer (2:25) (Blu-ray only)

Final Thoughts:

3:10 To Yuma is an exciting Western, with lots of action, tense moments and some unexpected twists and turns. Lionsgate’s new UHD release provides slightly increased detail from the previous Blu-ray release, and an amazing audio track. There is no new supplemental material in this release, but most of the previous bonus material has been ported to the UHD disc, and the set also includes the original Blu-ray as well as a digital copy of the film.