First of all, let me start off by telling you that I really, really liked this movie from the start.  How much better can you get with two of the greatest actors (in my opinion) today, Christian Bale and Rusell Crowe?  Well, these two had a great chemistry together as the dutiful husband who can’t seem to catch a break and the outlaw who takes what he wants and doesn’t care who he steps on to get it (Crowe), in this western movie that is anything but your typical western.

It had great promise from the beginning as we see the story unfold of how Bale’s character Dan Evans, a rancher who has nothing after his barn is burnt down and he can’t pay his debts and barely feed his children, ends up escorting Crowe’s outlaw character Ben, to the Yuma train station to a federal prison.

There’s plenty of shooting and killing, but the acting is what really keeps your attention.  As usual, Crowe fascinates with his effortless charm and sinister evil side, and I daresay he even eclipses the performance of my currently favorite actor Christian Bale a bit for much of the movie. 

However, and this is a big however, the movie loses all of its integrity and believability about 3/4 of the way through, and compeltely lost me at the end.  In fact, it turns downright hokey!  I don’t want to blow the ending, but some seriously questionable events happen that make you think the whole movie was just a farce, and you actually end up being mad that you liked the movie to start. 

If you see it, you might know what I mean, but if you’re inclined the like the unplausible, feel good, fuzzy and warm allover even though you know the string of events is total BS, you might like it.  Leave you comments if you’ve seen it, I’m curious to see what others thought of the last part of the movie…….