Review of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) by Juuso L — 08 Oct 2011

I think that it's pretty cool that this is a film that puts its summary in the title, just in case you don't have almost three hours and a syringe filled with concentrated adrenaline to spare. Really, I use to think that the title needed to be trimmed, but now I see that the title is perfect, because it just cuts to the chase and tells you what is going to happen. Why? So you know that we're not so much building towards something, as we are simply studying the psychology and transformation of those involved... or at least that's what that amazing trailer tells you. When you see the film, they couldn't care less. Now, I'm not panning the film, because is it is quite good, but is it as good as it could have been? No, because this director just does not have his game together and is no where on the same page as his peers.

I once heard someone express shock that they would make a slow film about Jesse James, but when you look at the concept, it's golden: The long overdue stripping of the romanticism behind Jesse James and an honest, intimate study on his character and psychology as he nears his final day. A study on him is brilliant enough without the incorporation of a study of the slow, but sure psychological tainting of his former admirer and eventual killer, Robert Ford. Right out of the gate, the director proves that he does not have the competence to pull off the concept, as he gives us backstory on Jesse James, but only for the sake of telling us his story. There's no real emotion or passion put into something as simple as that and it only gets worse from there. Andrew Dominik directs this film pretentiously, keeping it quiet and overdrawn, which could have worked if he was, in fact, taking an insighful view on the psychology of the subjects, but he occasionally has a hard time capturing casual conversation - of which there is a lot in this film - sharply, much less the psychology of the characters. Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck put on complex, tense performances and go on without the director, but Dominik - on a completely different page - keeps the film moving at an overly slow, overly intimate pace, but lacks the intimacy in the scenario, causing much of the emotional resonanse to ring false. Andrew Dominik gives a bland, borderline emotionally devoid execution of one of the finest concepts you can think up for a revisionist western, leaving the wildly promising concept to go unrealized, simply because the director is just not a competent enough of a storyteller.

Andrew Dominik's direction isn't horrible, but it is the key factor to this film's potential wasting, but as you can tell by my rating of the film, this film is a big over mediocre and I bet you're wondering "What makes the film so good?" Well, please not that earlier, when I was complaining about Dominik's direction, I said that "his" execution is borderline emotionally vacant. Sure, if the director's not on the right page, you're not gonna get very far when it comes to emotional resonanse, but if you're invested in nothing else, than you're invested in the environment, thanks to subtle, yet effective production designs, some fine dialogue, handsome cinematography and even the score, underused and rather repetative though, it may be. Now, it seems like all I've done this review was pan Dominik's lack of emotional attention, but if there's anything you can say about him, it's that he knew when to step back and leave the leads to carry their weight, which is good, considering that our leads might be too good for this film. Sam Rockwell gives a sadly neglected and criminally underappreciated co-lead performance as Charley Ford, a character just as significant as Jesse James and Bob Ford, serving as a figure of high authority and reason who finally finds himself trapped in a scenario he can't work his way out of, and Rockwell's emotion and atmosphere is absolutely awe-inspiring. Of course, just because Rockwell deserves more credit, that doesn't mean that Brad Pitt doesn't deserve his praise, as he fully embodies the charm, cold-bloodedness and struggles of Jesse James in a very human, tense and subtley complex fashion, and although he's more of a supporting actor than the lead they advertise him as, he still draws you to the screen every time he's on it. Of course, the true shocker of the film is Casey Affleck, who may not drift too far from his acting conventions, but manipulates them in a fashion that fits Robert Ford like a dream, as he starts out as a charming little rascal, but steadily comes into his own, not just as a man, but as a cold-blooded struggling human, and watching Affleck execute the chilling tranformation of the man who bested the best really shows his true potential as an actor.

At the end of the film, which runs about a day, you're left looking back and seeing some genuine potential squandered by the straightfoward, barely passionate direction by Andrew Dominik, who further taints the film with an aura of pretense and dullness, but thanks to its captivatingly handsome style, as well as its wide cast of strong talents, - led by the perhaps too blasted good Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck and Sam Rockwell - "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" ultimately stands as - if nothing else - a quite fascinating honest study on the final days of legendary outlaw.

3/5 - Good.