The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Constant surprises to keep the audience interested when they aren’t being sucked into the beautiful shots.
Review by Sirus

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is a movie title that pretty much explains the main plot of the movie. One might think that knowing what is going to happen before going into the movie would make it less interesting but that was certainly not the case here, thanks to some fantastic performances by the lead cast. The movie opens with a beautiful description of Jesse James (Brad Pitt) and the sorts of things he was known for. This and many later descriptions in the movie come straight from the novel of the same name as the film and are so well written that they are welcome without question.

Jesse and his brother are preparing for one last train heist before they stop night riding for good. As the only two remaining survivors of the James gang, they are forced to hire on a bunch of common criminals to pad out their numbers. One of these common criminals who finds his way into the heist is Robert Ford (Casey Affleck). Bob is a young man who tends to get flustered in social situations but considers himself destined for great things. Bob and his brothers are friendly with Jesse and later find themselves able to exploit that friendship for their own purposes.

Brad Pitt gives a stunning performance in the movie that gives his character a charm that might not otherwise be there. Casey Affleck similarly proves he has significant acting talent and he pulls off his stuttering and otherwise constant social awkwardness with ease. Both actors are given large amounts of screen time that allow them to show off their fantastic performances. The characters are all complex and constantly thinking about whether or not they are doing the right thing. Even the notorious murderer Jesse James finds himself broken down sometimes over the acts of brutality he has committed over the course of his life of crime. Both men find that they have to put on separate public personas to hide their pain but nobody can hide their pain 100% of the time.

The movie’s soundtrack is similarly fantastic. The tunes offer a mix of piano, strings, and bells to set the mood at all times. There are quite a few scenes when the actors stop speaking for a minute or two and we see nothing but a fantastically shot landscape with the haunting music in the background. The movie is quite long, lasting 2 hours and 40 minutes and, while it might be called slow, it is never boring. There are constant surprises to keep the audience interested when they aren’t being sucked into the beautiful shots. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is a thought provoking movie of the best kind.