A Great Western: The Assassination of Jesse James

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Directed by Andrew Dominik
Released September 21, 2007

This long-delayed film is a fantastic surprise, and seems not to suffer at all from its many postponements. The title summarizes the film well enough, but this is not merely a simple one-plot premise which fails to expand upon its opening. The entire cast is uniformly excellent and truly fit into the mood of the film, spearheaded by Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck in wonderfully nuanced performances as the title characters. The music is awesome, and it really feels like a western. The scenery and shots are beautiful, and the film only begins to drag a tiny bit towards the very end of its 2 hour 40 minute run time, but by film's end, it is clear that was necessary to get to a stable and satisfying end point. If the voiceover narration is too much for you, just wait for a stunningly well-done scene about half an hour in that will have you hooked for the rest of the film.

B+