A dreamlike film that's firmly anchored in reality...

Rating: Null/10 (18 April 2008)

There's an almost dreamlike quality to this film which, given the nature of the story it tells and the disposition of the main characters, perpetually threatens to spill over into the stuff of nightmares. There are no heroes here (although Ford believed he would be considered one) and few people with any redeeming features. The story follows the final few months in the life of James (Brad Pitt) and the curious relationship he developed with Bob Ford (Casey Affleck), the idol-worshipping hanger-on who would eventually become his hero's killer. Because we know the outcome of the story from the outset, and because Pitt plays James as a character resigned to his fate even though he verges on paranoia in his mistrust of those around him, there is a very real sense of inevitability about the tale, as if nobody can escape their fate, which dovetails nicely with the slow, measured unfolding of the tale.
Although this film contains all the attributes of its genre, it isn't a conventional western by any means. There's hardly any action, and what little violence it contains is presented almost matter-of-factly, with no concessions made with regard to glamorising the lifestyle and deeds of the subject. The one gunfight in the film takes place in a bedroom, with two men firing at each other from a distance of about three feet and repeatedly missing the target. Cowboys were lousy shots in reality, and legendary incidents (such as the gunfight at the OK Corral) apparently lasted no longer than a matter of seconds. It's refreshing, therefore, to see the de-glamorisation of the myth in this way (the only other westerns I can think of that successfully manage this are Dirty Little Billy and Eastwood's Unforgiven).
The acting throughout is first-rate. Pitt eschews pretty-boy looks (he's too old for that now, anyway) in favour of a grizzled, weathered demeanour and a depth and inscrutability that is truly frightening at times. All his gang are terrified of him, and all believe (and, again, accept to a degree) that he will someday try to kill them. Affleck, too is terrific as Ford, something of a creep, a nobody who dreams of being somebody. It would have been easy for the character of Ford to have descended to the level of stooge but, again, the film takes the time to paint an altogether fuller picture of the man  a picture that isn't complete until the last few seconds of the film. Paul Schneider also stands out as Dick Liddil.
The assassination scene keeps with this aura of inevitability that pervades the entire film. James, knowing the Ford brothers are plotting against him, removes his guns and turns his back on them both. He sees Ford's reflection aiming a gun at him in the picture frame he is straightening but makes no attempt to avoid its bullet. Its an enigmatic touch, maybe intended to suggest that, for all the painstaking research carried out on the life and times of James, we shall never know the whole truth about his assassination and the events leading up to it.
This is a film that can be wholeheartedly recommended to anyone who prefers not to disengage their brain when watching films. Everyone involved here  director, writer, actors, cinematographer  appears to be playing at the top of their game. A film like this is evidence, if it were ever really needed, that Hollywood can still finance and produce films of real and lasting quality.