The Best Western Since Clint Eastwood's 'Unforgiven'

Rating: 9/10 (23 November 2007)

Robert Ford: It is interesting the many ways you and I overlap; you're the youngest of three James boys, I'm the youngest of five Ford boys. You have blue eyes, I have blue eyes. You're five feet eight inches tall, I'm five feet eight inches tall.
Some of the most unique and beautiful cinematography you'll ever see is in Andrew Dominik's western 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford'. But that's not the only positive thing to be said about this gritty and powerful film. 'Assassination' tells the true story of outlaw Jesse James (Brad Pitt) and his murder by weak-minded close associate Robert Ford (Casey Affleck). 'Assassination' is very much a play in three acts, the first is us being introduced to Jesse and Robert, the second is the growing bond between them and the third is Robert's life after the assassination of Jesse James. Although it's a western, there's not much gun-play here. There are violent bullet-ridden scenes, but very few and they are spread out quite a bit. Although I enjoyed the film from start to finish, many might not because of it's incredibly long running time of 2 hours and 40 minutes. It's leisurely paced (or slow) but seldom does it become boring. There's a slow chunk in the middle for about 20 minutes that I felt could be cut, but besides that 'Assassination' is pure cinematic greatness.
Andrew Dominick, whose directed the obscure Australian gun film 'Chopper' with Eric Bana, does remarkable work here. The screenplay is very good as well, it has a few slow parts like I stated before but the dialogue is far superior to that of say '3:10 to Yuma'. On an acting scale, everything is pretty solid. Brad Pitt captures James perfectly, while Casey Affleck in a tour-de-force performance steals the film. Affleck is just so quiet, subtle yet creepy and sympathetic that whenever he's on screen your eyes are glued to him rather than his more famous co-star, Mr. Brad Pitt. The supporting cast is all solid especially the extremely underrated Sam Rockwell as Robert's older brother and Deadwood and John From Cincinnati's Garret Dillahunt as one of the outlaws who rides with Jesse James.
As far as westerns go, 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' is the best one since Clint Eastwood's 1992 Best Picture Winner 'Unforgiven'. Don't miss it. Grade: A-