A slow slog

Rating: 4/10 (19 June 2010)

SPOILER RIGHT OFF THE BAT-------------------------
I hope it's not a spoiler to say that Ford does shoot James somewhere near the end of the movie. I thought it would never get to that point, though.
The cinematography is very good. I enjoyed looking at many of the scenes. But the parts of the movie I liked best were the voice overs. And when you like the voice overs better than when the characters are characterizing and expositioning, there's a problem. I understand the movie was cut originally to four hours, and then it was trimmed down to the two and a half hours it was released in. I'd suggest cutting another hour out.
The part of the movie after Ford shot James was the best, so I'd leave that as is. I'd figure so many feet per minute. Then I'd just take a scissor to the parts in front of the assassination until I'd cut an hour's worth of feet out. Snip here, snip there, then see what I'd left in. I'd be satisfied with whatever was left.
I understand Casey Affleck got rave reviews for his complex portrayal of Bob Ford. I think Brad Pitt was playing Warren Oates. I really liked Paul Schneider as Dick Liddil and Kailin See as Sarah Hite. The problem I have is that the movie was a series of scenes, some connected with each other, some not. Sort of like portraits of people. Long portraits. Like you're sitting there watching the portrait process as the paint dries. Great cinematography, lots of pretty scenes. But the only thing that got the movie going was the voice overs where we're being told what happens in between the static portraits and landscapes.
Until the end, when we see Bob Ford and his brother Charley spiral into self-parody and death. The life of Jesse James was made less interesting than the unraveling of the life of Ford.
Roger Deakins was cinematographer for this film, and he's been involved as cinematographer or director of photography for a few score others, including "Sid and Nancy," "Barton Fink," "The Hudsucker Proxy," "The Shawshank Redemption," "Fargo," "The Big Lebowski," "O Brother, Where Art Thou," "Intolerable Cruelty," "The Lady Killers" (you can't win 'em all), "Jarhead," and "No Country for Old Men."
Andrew Dominik is credited as director and writer.