The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

I must admit, I was a little nervous going into this movie when I saw the run-time of 2 hrs and 40 mins. for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. I wasn't sure I could make it through the entire movie without my bladder exploding. It seems that in my old age, my already small bladder has become even smaller. As such, I purposefully did not purchase my traditional Diet Coke. But I digress.

I absolutely loved this movie. It had a Terrence Malick feel to it and maybe that is why I liked it so much. The cinematography was breath-taking. There was one shot during the train robbery at the beginning where Jesse James is standing in front of the stopping train as steam billows about that totally captured the mythical nature of Jesse James. It set the stage perfectly for the rest of the story. I also really enjoyed the tone and pacing of the narration and story. It totally worked for me.

Brad Pitt was solid as Jesse James. However, Casey Affleck stole the show for me with his portrayal of Robert Ford. It was so interesting to watch his hero-worship of Jesse James turn to hatred. One of my favorite scenes of the movie was when James makes Ford tell him what he means when he says that they have a lot in common. This was the tipping point for Ford because of the mocking tone James uses and Affleck nails the mixture of love, embarrassment, and anger. Like I said before, Affleck steals the show.

My favorite part of the movie was the final act after the assassination has been committed. I found it very interesting to see how people idolized Jesse James and treated him like a fallen Hercules or Achilles even though he was simply a bad person who demonstrated no remorse for killing at least 17 people and treating the members of his "gang" horribly. This heroic treatment of James contrasted so starkly with the way that Ford was treated. It was especially moving because of the inner turmoil experienced by Ford after killing his hero.

Overall this was just a fantastic movie for me. I have zero complaints. I would definitely watch this movie again and that is about as strong of an endorsement I can give.

As a side note, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that Nick Cave did the score. If you haven't yet seen The Proposition then I highly recommend it as well. My appreciation for The Proposition has really grown over the last couple of weeks. Especially after 3:10 to Yuma.