elaborate, beautiful...long

Rating: 8/10 (11 July 2008)

The death of the John Wayne Western: The assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford
It's been a long time since a great western movie came out. 1992's Unforgiven was Clint Eastwood' last ride in the genre and later in 1995 the exciting The Quick and the Dead. The assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford is a new type of western; it is a non-fiction story beautifully told and well acted by its entire cast of characters. The plot revolves around Jesse James last months. The film begins with Robert Ford trying to join Jesse James's gang. He is accepted and they proceed to rob a train in Blue cut, the year was 1881. The events that follow are grim, dirty and nonetheless captivating.
The cinematography is hauntingly beautiful, every scene is carefully set and light turning the landscapes into characters themselves. The cinematography is most notable when Jesse James and his gang are robbing a train in Blur Cut, on September 5th, 1881. Shot in near darkness, the camera gently sweeps across a man's silhouette, as it slowly disappears under smoke from the train. Roger Deakins's cinematography is truly spectacular and rightly deserves its Oscar nomination. The pacing is slow and slightly uneven. You will not find many action scenes, and the few that are in the movie, serve only to further the story.
The film has a runtime of roughly two hours and forty minutes. It is shot realistically without the overuse of editing; the viewer sees the action as though he or she were there. The narration takes time to get accustomed to but adds clarity to key scenes in the film. The movie itself plays out like that of a discovery channel re-enactment, which is not to say is bad, it simply makes it unique in terms editing and pacing. Brad Pitt showers the screen with emotional restraint and a characterization that overpowers all his previous performances. His portrayal of Jesse James is sly and captures a lost soul. Jesse James is portrayed as an intelligent man that could be kind yet evil, trusting one moment and menacing the next. Casey Affleck is the coward Robert Ford. His soft-spoken portrayal seeks and succeeds in showing a man who truly glorifies Jesse James. In a scene near the end of the movie, he tries on Jesse James's hat, sleeps in his bed and tries to emulate his stance and manner. The movie is long, uneventful, yet wholly captivating. The film is recommended for those who like photography, character studies and period pieces. It is a very good movie, but not great and will probably be disliked by action fans and those that like a lot of explosions in their movies.