"you oughtta pity me, too"

Rating: 7/10 (10 February 2008)

Fine acting, brilliant photography, and many simple, truthful moments are undermined by Andrew Dominik's tendency to repeat himself. As in his frequently excellent CHOPPER, he here allows an interesting first act to degenerate into a meandering second and redundant third. Basically he reveals all his cards too soon, leaving nothing really important to happen later. Remember, class: if the audience is ahead of you, you might be moving too slowly.
A tone poem can be a fine thing - BADLANDS, RUMBLE FISH, FIVE EASY PIECES, THE PROPOSITION, PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID are fine films, and as much about mood as plot; but then, each of those does have a coherent beginning, middle, and end. All we get in ASSASSINATION is a series of reminders that hero worship is a hollow calling. This is a theme, yes, but not a story. A climax that's a foregone conclusion is, theoretically, perfectly acceptable - see any Greek tragedy - but you've got to give us something to care about in between the prologue and the final chorus. A story is the usual device, and a story never hurts.
Instead, we get Roger Deakins' bleak and moving portrait of a melancholy moment in Missouri history. I often feel, watching his work, that Roger Deakins should photograph every movie. But he isn't a writer, and he can't give us a story that's not in the script.
Fortunately for all of us, Dominik has cast his movie with profound judgment and taste. Sam Shepard, Garret Dillahunt, Sam Rockwell, Paul Schneider, Michael Parks, Ted Levine - a Western ensemble as good as any since MISSOURI BREAKS. The women are very good, what little we see of them. Casey Affleck is many times the actor his big brother will ever be. Brad Pitt pretty much smirks his way through yet another performance, but once again it mostly fits the character, and to be fair he has his share of subtle, poignant scenes.
To be really fair, though, it must be said that many of these scenes are just variations on earlier moments that required no elaboration.