Simply awful

Rating: Null/10 (6 April 2008)

I rented this film with high expectations. The expectations were consistently lowered through the first 30 minutes of viewing, until I was beginning to feel like a fool by continuing to watch something this bad.
The cinematography is postcard-perfect. The rest of the film really sucks. It starts with a very pretentious narration, which continues throughout the film. Casey Affleck starts by mumbling his lines. Everyone else, including Bradd Pitt as Jesse, is totally undecipherable, despite the narrator telling us what to think and explaining what is going on.
The film starts with an extended night sequence, leading me to wonder if this would be an attempt at film noir. Nothing much happens during the sequence. For a "western" this film has amazingly little action. I've seen Ingmar Bergman films with more life.
This film doesn't even work as a character study. It certainly aspires to do so, but between the mumbling, stasis and pretentiousness, I decided I had enough about 30 minutes into it. The last ninety minutes might be absolutely terrific, but I doubt it. I am not going to rate this film because I did not see most of it. Not having to sit through it all would probably cause me to be more generous with it.
This is just awful.