HURRY UP AND SHOOT HIM AFFLECK! (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (DVD))

Member Name: thedevilinme

Product:	The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (DVD)
Date:	08/01/09 (137 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some good bits

Disadvantages: Too many long and boring bits

A fist full of dollars please director!

That's the last time I listen to BBC film critic Mark Kermode's film picks! He said History of Violence was really good and then said Eastern Promises was definitely worth a watch, which I now know was based purely on the fact he liked Vigo Motensons work in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. All of those movies were very underwhelming and this makes it six very average movie picks, this by fast the most boring.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is an interesting premise to make a film about - but not over three bloody hours! Casting Brad Pitt as Jessie James was never a good idea, as expected spending those 180 minutes trying to be Clint Eastwood - tipping the hat, chewing the cigar, the full works... He would have lit a match on his iconic stubble to light that cigar if the director had let him get away with it. Casey Affleck (the brother of the worlds worse actor) does a lot better as far as distancing himself from cliché as Ford and it wasn't for that effort, this would have been a very dull western indeed. Affleck just pipped the excellent Shia Lebouf of Raiders 4 and Transformers fame for the role here and saves the movies integrity from being just a showcase for Pitt.

After watching the seriously under-rated Open Range with Kevin Costner a while back I was about ready for another gritty tale from the days of gunslingers and train robbers. I really loved that movie and as the acting was recommended in this I thought why not. But it's not long in before you realize this film is totally about Pitt playing cowboys and Affleck trying to scene steal and the whole thing just gets rather dull and stretched. It was supposed to be an exploration of fame in the 19th century Wild West, what the original Ron Hansen book by the same name was all about, but quickly turns into a tobacco chewing Oscar contest by the two actors as they eat up the scenery between them and then spit it into a bucket with a 'ping' when they had finished their piece, blowing the end of their smoking guns every scene as if keeping score. Affleck would receive a nomination for best supporting, Pitt would not. It really is one of those movies where you want to stand up in the cinema and shout 'Get on with it!!!' How ever well films are acted if they are boring then nobody cares.

-The Cast-

Brad Pitt ... Jesse James
Mary-Louise Parker ... Zee James
Brooklynn Proulx ... Mary James
Dustin Bollinger ... Tim James
Casey Affleck ... Robert Ford
Sam Rockwell ... Charley Ford
Jeremy Renner ... Wood Hite
Sam Shepard ... Frank James
Garret Dillahunt ... Ed Miller
Paul Schneider ... Dick Liddil

Directed by Andrew Dominik

-Trivia-
*
* The singer whom Robert Ford confronts in the bar towards the end of film is Nick Cave, a composer for the film.
-The Plot-

It's the 1880s and the notorious outlaw Jesse James (Pitt) is coming to the end of his career, about to do his last big job, the films opening sequence. Jesse, his brother Frank (Sam Sheppard) and the younger James siblings, along with some hired guns, the Blue Cut Gang, are about to rob a train in the dead of the night as the steam locomotive cuts through the soot black mountain woods to meet their blockade on the track, lit only by the gangs dying camp fire flicker, pulling on their neckerchiefs to begin the raid.

Also in the gang and ready for action is the fidgety Robert Ford (Affleck), I suppose what you could call a groupie, a young man obsessed with Jesse and his escapades, addicted to his boyhood hero through the many comic books he reads that idolize the James Gang, this Fords first job just to meet the man himself. The James gang is enigmatic and effective, loved by the blue-collar masses for their daring deeds, supposedly robbing from the rich and giving to the poor, a reputation Jesse has deliberately nurtured but not practiced.

The robbery proves ultimately fruitless; the gang's methods far more brutal to those everyday folks that idolize him, and the written press not letting on to. Why spoil a good running story that sells papers...However poor you are if you don't hand over your stuff you get pistol-whipped, no Robin Hood in sight. But that contradiction intrigues Ford, almost to the point of a homosexual attraction to Jesse in the film, the fan obsession moving to the point of emulation as he begins to imitate his hero by befriending him and his gang from this point onwards in the film. Impersonation is the biggest form of flattery.

Back at the gangs family hideout the spoils are divided up, Ford refusing his in a bid to ingratiate himself more with Jesse and brother Frank, a process that moves him up the gangs pecking order and deeper into Jesses trust. As days in their company turns to weeks- trust being rare amongst bandits in the bad old days of American history- Jesse and Ford become linked through their mutual fascination. But as Jesse retirement is here then there are a few loose ends to tidy up as various members of the rather nomadic gang are rounded up by the law and begin to squeal. As far as Jesse is concerned he thinks they will all squeal at some point and so they will all have to go. You don't trust anyone in this game and he wouldn't have got as far as he has if he had trusted anyone. And when your boss is as intimidating as Jesse is you are consoled to your fete, the timing the only variable. As Ford realizes Jesse's paranoia is all consuming like the claw of the harsh mid-west winter wrapping around them on the icy cold plains of North Dakota he must decide how history is going to remember not just Jesse James but Robert Ford, and being a coward maybe be the only solution.

-The Conclusion-

Although this has its moments and is unquestionably cinematic and bold from Dominik it's just boring. It's as meandering as the films title for its three long perfunctory hours these films tend to be that chase Oscars in the award season and although Pitt and Affleck are effective in the lead roles you don't really care by the time anything interesting happens. You get the feeling the director hasn't really done this type of film before and no one dare tell him to cut at least an hour off it. Its gentle tiptoeing soundtrack and the films sense of time and rawness is a plus but that aside you will be reaching for the fast-forward an hour in.

I suspect this film will appeal to the purist as its very gritty and authentic, you the viewer feeling like you are on the cold and bitter plains with the gang and their fears and paranoia's. But for me I need story, meaning and flow to a film and the fact the screenplay really missed the point that the film is about fame and not fortunes then I have to say it didn't work for me. I just can't recommend this to you guys, unless you're female and want to see Pitt naked in the tub with just his boots on. And to be honest, Pitt doesn't do rugged as well these days and is really beginning to lose his leading man appeal that I think he never had, this a movie that's about boosting his credibility as an actor and nothing else. Ghastly vanity projects like Mr & Mrs Smith with his clingy posturing wife make the likes of 'Seven' and the brilliant 'Fight Club' seem along time ago. Is Angelina Jolie his real Robert Ford, we wonder, someone sucking his fame dry by stealing his limelight, what this film was supposed to be about...

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Imdb.com scores it 7.7 out on 10.0 (37,690 votes)
RuN-TiMe 160 minutes
3 for £8 weekly deal at Blockbusters.
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Summary: Look at me because Im Brad Pitt...