Our Review By Owain Gillard
Based on Ron Hansen’s 1983 novel of the same title, Chopper writer/director Andrew Dominik’s second feature film opens on the 1881 Chicago and Alton Railroad train robbery - the last major heist of the dwindling James gang. The frenetic pace of the sequence does little to indicate what’s to come. Rather, the clue can be found in the film’s title, as this particular account of the Jesse James saga veers away from James’ heroics, focusing instead on his relationship with his number one admirer Robert Ford, who not only went on to kill him, but melodramatically re-enacted the incident in a touring stage play an estimated eight hundred times, with his brother Charley playing James.
When young buck Bob Ford (Casey Affleck) approaches Jesse’s brother Frank (Sam Shepard), in a plea to join his own brother Charley (Sam Rockwell) in the James gang, Frank is less than welcoming. But Bob, whose childhood was devoted to fantasies of Jesse’s Wild West adventures (depicted in the comic books of the time as Robin Hood-style conquests), is nothing if not persistent. His charm carries him through and Jesse (Brad Pitt), the thirtysomething bandit vet, takes the eager rookie under his wing.
One of the many elements that set 'The Assassination…' apart from the vast plethora of Jesse James biopics is its brief timescale - from the autumn of 1881 through to the early spring of ’82. Dominik’s long, bleak, dimly lit execution sees Pitt’s mercurial Jesse while away his final months in the harsh Missouri winter. The heavy, lingering scenes gather up like thunderclouds, and Dominik’s unhurried direction, which could have tipped the balance between hypnotic and sleep-inducing either way, sadly tips towards the latter, and does so from surprisingly early on. Despite great technical skill and artistic integrity, it’s all downhill from there.
That 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' is a slow burner, in truth, is an understatement of epic proportions. In fact, the movie burns like a roll-up cigarette that goes out after every drag. The build-up to that fateful day of April 3rd, 1882 becomes such a laboriously long drawn out affair, with so little going on to keep the audience amused, that when it finally does arrive, it effects an astonishing catharsis – for all the wrong reasons. And just when you think the finish line is in sight, the finale drags on for yet another eternity, making you wonder just how many eternities one movie could possibly contain.
True to form however, Pitt – himself a Missouri man – puts in a charismatic turn as James, but it’s Affleck who steals the show. His Bob Ford – the little boy lost assassin, gives off an extraordinary duality that calls to mind the young Christopher Walken. Dominik too displays moments of brilliance, the best of which is arguably the “shoe size” scene, which surely warrants a place in the annals of film history. These elements combined ensure that this version of the saga will not go unremembered. Even so, it’s hard to see it avoiding the channel hop when it makes it to our TV screens.
Cast:
Brad Pitt - Jesse James
Casey Affleck - Robert Ford
Mary-Louise Parker - Zee James
Sam Shepard - Frank James
Sam Rockwell - Charley Ford
Paul Schneider - Dick Liddil
Jeremy Renner - Wood Hite
Garret Dillahunt - Edward T. Miller
Zooey Deschanel - Dorothy Evans
