Goes down like a fine bottle of bourbon -- nuanced, original, and very satisfying

Rating: Null/10 (29 July 2011)

Once you get past the first 35 minutes or so this film is amazing. All the actors do a fantastic job and Dominik really takes the viewer back to an age when people measured their trips in days. The intensity of the acting and the tension is incredible right up until the inevitable confrontation between Ford and James. And the ending tells a poignant story about Ford. The motives of the characters are complex and we're never fully certain of Jame's motives when he died. The way the director ties in the contrast between the myth of Jesse James with the reality of the man (as portrayed in the film) is superb. There's not only the narration and Robert Ford's adoration for the James' of his childhood yarns contrasted with his awkward, fumbling attempts to win James' affection, but also the juxtaposition between an American public who scorned Ford for being "a coward" contrasted with the experiences of Ford and the other gang members around James who was a cold blooded murderer around whom many were nervous, never sure as to whether he might shoot them.