Russell Crowe takes aim in 3:10 to Yuma, 2007.

The film 3:10 to Yuma is an actors’ showcase set in the Old West, which never is a recipe for box office success, though it can lead to good cinema. Too bad it doesn’t. The film, directed by James Mangold (Walk the Line), is a flat, not-involving bore that flutters during supposed dramatic high points and ends in a way that will have Western purists crying blasphemy.

Christian Bale plays Dan Evans, a weak-willed family man and Civil War veteran who is facing foreclosure on his home and losing the respect of his wife (Gretchen Mol) and his oldest son (Logan Lerman, an emerging talent).

After Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) and his gang rob a nearby stagecoach, Wade gallivants with a local barmaid (Vinessa Shaw) and is captured by a group of men. Soon after, railroad representative Grayson Butterfield (Dallas Roberts), who is tired of getting robbed, offers a group of volunteers $200 to help transport Wade to the city of Contention and put him on the 3:10 train to Yuma — and prison.

Evans, a crusty old cowboy (Peter Fonda), a veterinarian (Alan Tudyk) and others accept the offer. Wade warns that his men will come after him and, sure enough, his pal Charlie Prince (Ben Foster) does just that.

Bale offers the same coy, embattled innocence that he successfully employed as Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins, but adds an Old West code of honor that forces him to be brave in the face of imminent danger. Dan Evans clearly is not a courageous man, and watching Bale buck up the strength to face a grave standoff is a study in somber and effective acting. Crowe has more fun, as his character is cunning and devious with a likable charm.

Unfortunately, the movie has nothing more to offer. Based on an Elmore Leonard short story and the 1957 Western starring Glenn Ford as Wade and Van Heflin as Evans, Mangold’s version never flashes with the vitality or tension needed to make it resonate with viewers. It lacks urgency: The two-hour rendering doesn’t build drama as much as it plods along with an occasional action sequence thrown in to keep our attention. We want to be worried for Evans, wonder about Wade and wait in white-knuckle suspense as the story rises to a climax. But the journey is so drawn-out that your mind wanders and starts thinking about the new Batman movie Bale currently is shooting and the upcoming film American Gangster with Crowe and Denzel Washington.

After the success of Walk the Line, Mangold had the power to choose his next project, and no one can blame him for remaking one of his personal favorites. The fact that this often is a bad idea (for evidence, watch Gus Van Sant’s 1998 remake of Psycho, the first movie he made after Good Will Hunting) seems to have eluded Mangold and, ironically, he made a movie that lacks the spirit and energy that originally inspired him.

3:10 to Yuma ** Directed by James Mangold. Starring Christian Bale, Russell Crowe, Gretchen Mol and Peter Fonda.   **** A genuine must-see ***   Entertaining **     Mediocre, but not worthless *       A wretched waste of time   Opening in Miami-Dade County this Friday: 3:10 to Yuma, Shoot ‘Em Up, The Brothers Solomon