Review of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) by Jordan G — 28 Mar 2014

This movie is over two and a half hours long and the pacing is slow but it never drags. How can this be? Answer: because it allows one's mind to catch up to whats going on. And there is a lot brewing under the surface in this movie.

In addition to being very cerebral, the cinematography is stunning. The gray dreary skies, golden wheat fields, stark candlelit shadows, and perhaps one of the most visually stunning scenes in the past decade featuring a train robbery.

Jesse James is a sort of a John Brown/Robin Hood type character preceding the likes of Bonnie and Clyde and other outlaw icons. Brad Pitt plays him as a strong, quick witted man who sits at the top of his career of robbing trains and murdering carpetbaggers.

You can tell that he knows that he is in a vulnerable state and that any one of the common gang members who he recruited could betray him and receive a large reward and instant fame. For this reason, he never takes off his guns.

Even if he appears to be sleeping and someone puts a foot on the floor, his gun will instantly cock and halt any movement. Robert Ford on the other hand is a awkward, frantic 19 year old that grew up reading tall tales about Jesse James' escapades and made him his idol.

Casey Affleck gives his best performance here as a confused, conniving kid who desperately wants to become his hero. The story is about Robert Ford joining forces with Jesse James, scheming behind his back while avoiding being found out, and ultimately, as the title implies, assassinating him.

Underneath the plot, however, is a study of human nature in similar vein as Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. The dialogue is always loaded with ambiguity and sometimes straight sexual undertones. I mean, three of the characters' names are Wood, Dick Liddle, and Jim Cummings.

But overall, the film interweaves two interesting character studies and does so with a barren backdrop and gritty looking characters. An excellent western drama in a year (2007) that also had No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, and 3:10 to Yuma.

Tough luck.