3:10 To Yuma

In Arizona in the late 1800s, infamous outlaw Ben Wade (Crowe) and his vicious gang of thieves and murderers have plagued the Southern Railroad. When Wade is captured, Civil War veteran Dan Evans (Bale), struggling to survive on his drought-plagued ranch, volunteers to deliver him alive to the "3:10 To Yuma," a train that will take the killer to prison. During the grueling expedition, Evans and Wade, each from very different worlds, begin to earn each other's respect. However, with Wade's posse on their trail, the mission soon becomes a violent, impossible journey toward each man's destiny. (Gary Reber)

In addition to the speacial features on the standard disc, there are the following featurettes: "3:10 To Score" (eight minutes), "From Sea To Shining Sea" (20 minutes), "A Conversation With Elmore Leonard" (five minutes), "The Guns Of Yuma" (six minutes), and an interactive "Historical Timeline Of The West". Special features shared with the standard disc include up-front previews; the following featurettes: Destination Yuma (21 minutes), Outlaws, Gangs & Posses (13 minutes), and An Epic Explored (nine minutes); seven deleted scenes; and additional trailers. In addition, the Blu-ray Disc includes the following featurettes: 3:10 To Score (eight minutes), From Sea To Shining Sea (20 minutes), A Conversation With Elmore Leonard (five minutes), The Guns Of Yuma (six minutes), and an interactive Historical Timeline Of The West.

The 2160p HEVC/H.265 Ultra HD HDR10 picture, reviewed on a Sony Bravia Z9D 4K Ultra HD HDR display, was photographed on Fuji Eterba film stock using Panavision Panaflex Millennium XL and Panavision Panaflex Platinum and sourced from a 2K (not 4K) master Digital Intermediate format. As the 2K Digital Intermediate has been unconverted to 2160p, there is no real gain in native resolution. Picture quality is terrific with a glorious wide specrtrum and warm color palette of earthy hues. Brown and grayish-black hues dominate against a blue sky and bright sunlight. Thanks to HDR encoding's enhanced contrast, the white steam puffs from the train are incredibly realistic. The darker scenes exhibit excellent shadow delineation with fine detail evident in object textures. Black levels are deep and solid. Fleshtones are healthy in appearance with a warm glow, accentuated at times with candlelight. Resolution is superb with fine detail evident throughout. Facial features, beards, hair, hats, leather, and wool clothing and object textures, as well as close-ups of rock formations are impressive. While photographed on film, grain resolution is never an objectionable artifact. This is a superb 4K Ultra HD HDR picture with effective highlights that heighten the dramatic and intriguing cinematic imagery. (Gary Reber)

The DTS:X/DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1-channel soundtrack features a dynamic and spatially dimensional holosonic® presence, with plenty of galloping horses, pistol and rifle gunfire that ricochets off rugged canyon rock facings and at the train station shootout, stagecoach wheel sounds, the train movement, as well as mind explosions. Often deep bass enhances the sound effects with powerful sub-25 Hz .1 LFE energy. Foley effects really enhance the realism, from nuanced atmospheric sounds to the hoof movements of horses. Dialogue is consistently intelligible with good spatial integration. The orchestral score is beautifully recorded and spans a wide and deep soundstage with surround envelopment that nicely expands the soundfield experience.

The Immersive Sound element consists namely of an aggressive extension of, at times, the orchestral score to the height channels, plus explosions, other sound effects, ambience such as wind and ambient flutter, subtle voices, subtle bird chirps, aggressive gunfire, train on tracks and a train whistle. The Immersive Sound element could have been so much more effective in supporting the soundscapes suggested by each scene, but apparently the sound designers ignored this potential.

This is a wonderful western soundtrack that is well produced. (Gary Reber)