Into the Fire

I haven’t been a lover of Westerns since I was a young girl falling in love with Johnny Crawford in “The Rifleman” series. C’mon, smile. A lot of little girls loved “cowboys”. Still do, I suspect.

You put Russell Crowe on a black horse and make him a ruthless charmer who ain’t “all bad”, and you’ve got one heck of a western, let me tell you. I must say that Christian Bale as Daniel went toe-to-toe with “the Crowe” in his role as a downtrodden amputee trying to save his land from a cunning debtor.

Although hardcore killing and cruel violence is brutally evident throughout the film, if you want to extract some kind of morality from the experience, you could say that both the cowardly and the cruel got their due.

The bad guys were “animals” to quote the biggest and baddest Ben Wade (Crowe). He had to be in order to lead them, he assured the 14 year old son of Bale’s character who insisted he wasn’t all bad.

This was excellent casting. Russell Crowe is a phenomenal actor who fits this rogue character to a tee, and the heartache mixed with determination in Christian Bale’s understated performance was often painful to watch as he took a journey with a killer to regain his shattered manhood. Gretchen Mol as Bale’s wife couldn’t disguise her distance from her husband or the inevitable fleeting attraction to the alluring bad guy. The kid who played Bale’s oldest son likewise was intrigued by the evil Ben Wade and couldn’t hide his blatant admiration for the speed of his shooting abilities. His disrespect for his father and the rebellion which leads him to become a man and see his father in a truer light is both frightening and heartbreaking.

Oddly enough but interesting in its application, scripture is quoted from the unlikeliest sources and serves as a reminder that it still wields power, able to impact people in unexpected ways.

The ending was perfect—especially the last of the last scene. You’ll see what I mean if you remember this opinion is coming from a horse lover.

The only flaw worth mentioning is something no one but a horse lover would notice. After whining about how the miles they had to cover to rescue their leader in time to keep him off that “3:10 to Yuma” would likely kill their horses, the outlaws showed up on those same horses apparently none the worse for wear.

If you can get through the violence to arrive at the mercy, I highly recommend this film. Four of four stars. (A caution for some bad language that seems like it could easily have been avoided.)

Father, it’s amazing where your Word shows up. I continue to pray that film will be used to demonstrate your perfection, mercy, and sacrifice. May your everlasting love reach out to soften even the hardest hearts and breathe life and eternity into lost souls in the industry of entertainment and film making. Thank you, Jesus, that you died for us all. Use me, somehow, Lord. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.