The
Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
A MUST SEE
Warner Bros. Pictures, 160mins, R
Written and Directed
by Andrew Dominik
Bob
Ford shot Jesse James in the back in the spring of 1882 and instead
of being thanked for getting rid of Missouri's worst terrorist, he
has been saddled with a reputation as a coward and a turncoat. The
murder of the murderer has been forever the stuff of legend, and
auteur Andrew Dominik has decided to dissect said legend in the only
way it deserves, in a three hour epic that doesn't actually seem
that long.
It's the waning days of the Garfield administration, and Frank (Sam
Shepard) and Jesse James (Brad Pitt) are preparing to do one last
robbery before calling it quits after 14 years. They've brought
along the membership of their usual gang who aren't already in jail,
Ed Miller (Garret Dillahunt), the James' cousin Wood Hite (Jeremy
Renner), Dick Liddil (Paul) and Charley Ford (Sam Rockwell), who
brings his hero-worshiping baby brother Bob (Casey Affleck) along,
much to Frank's disgust and Jesse's chagrin.
This is the story of hero-worship gone wrong. The great man not only
has feet of clay, but is a sociopathic monster to boot. As an epic,
the film goes forward on a leisurely pace, letting us get to know
the characters in a way that we expect only in TV series.
This is Pitt's best
role since “12 Monkeys” He manages to chew the scenery with a
panache he doesn't always manage to have, and his chemistry with
Affleck is an interesting one. The supporting cast is excellent,
with Renner and Schneider giving surprisingly strong performances.
Rockwell is great as comic relief, but it's Affleck's movie, and
here he far surpasses anything his brother Ben has ever done. This
is the year's epic western and one wonders why it took so long to
get out of the cutting room. See it.
Bob
Ford shot Jesse James in the back in the spring of 1882 and instead
of being thanked for getting rid of Missouri's worst terrorist, he
has been saddled with a reputation as a coward and a turncoat. The
murder of the murderer has been forever the stuff of legend, and
auteur Andrew Dominik has decided to dissect said legend in the only
way it deserves, in a three hour epic that doesn't actually seem
that long. 
This is Pitt's best
role since “12 Monkeys” He manages to chew the scenery with a
panache he doesn't always manage to have, and his chemistry with
Affleck is an interesting one. The supporting cast is excellent,
with Renner and Schneider giving surprisingly strong performances.
Rockwell is great as comic relief, but it's Affleck's movie, and
here he far surpasses anything his brother Ben has ever done. This
is the year's epic western and one wonders why it took so long to
get out of the cutting room. See it.