Character assassination

Rating: 3/10 (20 October 2007)

New Zealand director Andrew Dominik breaks many genre rules with this unconventional western about the illustrious outlaw Jesse James and his assassin Bob Ford. Better he should have broken something else (let's start with his type-writer) in this turgid, sluggish western that moves slower than a Conestoga wagon through the Badlands in the 19th century.
The first rule he forgoes is in ignoring the axiom that Western characters are men of few words. The James brothers are in the twilight of their careers and this last gang they have assembled is a band of dullards and morons that have trouble putting a sentence together in between long vacant stares. The film opens promisingly enough as the brothers plan a train robbery in a stark wilderness setting. Here Bob Ford, the delusional, James worshiping sidekick attempts to inveigle his way into the good graces of Frank (played with a fine stoic, resignation by Sam Shepard) who will have none of it.
Casey Affleck's speech and tick affected Ford is interesting for the first half hour of the film before he becomes downright annoying for the rest of it. Nevertheless, brother Jesse takes him under his wing and for over two hours we are given obvious hints from the pursuit of fame to latent homosexuality as reasons for Ford's ultimate act of treachery.
Director Dominik clearly loves cowboy movies. He manages to plagiarize (in a decent film this would be called homage) from westerns good and bad. The Searchers, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, The Left handed Gun, The Great Train Robbery and Dead Man are among others all hinted at. Visually it has some striking moments but overall the cinematography is uneven.
At ninety minutes this would have been a bad film. At two and one half hours it becomes a tortuous one. While the heavy handed Dominick deserves most of the blame, producer and actor Brad Pitt should have strangled this project at birth. His comatose performance of Jesse is all pose and little substance and as producer he green lighted this soporific monstrosities running time.
For more engrossing, entertaining, better acted and filmed evocations of the James legend I strongly suggest you see The 1939 Henry King Jesse James with Tyrone Power and Henry Fonda and the 1973 Philip Kauffman film The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid.