The Assassination of Jesse James (15)

10:25am Monday 3rd December 2007

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In England we have Robin Hood as our favourite outlaw and in much the same way the Americans have taken Jesse James (Brad Pitt) to their hearts. I am not sure that either of them is worthy of such idolisation, but they have both spawned countless books about their colourful lives.

Many consider James a murderer, but others suggested he robbed rich railroad owners and banks that exploited poor farmers. Whatever the truth he was their last frontiersman and a symbol of freedom. Based on the novel by Ron Hansen the film is written and directed by Andrew Dominik, whose directorial debut was the extremely violent Chopper (2001).

Nineteen-year-old self delusional Robert Ford (Casey Affleck) was James's biggest fan and had grown up with the one ambition of riding along side him. As we learn from the title this worship ends in disaster, and you will see that a lot of Jesse's celebrity status after his demise came thanks to Ford. The story starts in 1881 when the James Gang, which consisted of Jesse's older brother Frank (Sam Shepard), Ford's older brother Charley (Sam Rockwell), the James's cousin Wood Hite (Jeremy Renner), plus the outlaws Dick Liddil (Paul Schneider) and Ed Miller (Garret Dillahunt), where gathering for their penultimate train robbery. Ford arrives on the scene and begs Frank to take him on. But Frank considers him wet behind the ears, and besides he has had enough of being an outlaw and plans to head on out himself; Ford is a weirdo he could well do without. So Ford who gets creepier by the second turns to his hero Jesse, who seems amused by him and agrees to take him on, though he is prompted to say, "Do you want to be like me, or do you want to be me?"

After the train robbery and Frank has left, Jesse tells his gang to spilt up for a while, causing paranoia among them by keeping Ford by his side; you sense his wife Zee (Mary Louise Parker) isn't that thrilled to have Ford around either. And so as boredom sets in while the gang wait for Jesse's next command, mistrust and the green eyed monster is hanging in the air.

Pitt totally nails the part of Jesse giving us just the right amount of gritty ruthless charisma to make us believe and care for him. But it is the young Affleck's Ford who runs away with the film in which all the performances are strong.

You can see that his Ford started with a schoolboy crush that transcends into a possessively unhealthy obsession, becoming almost a stalker, none of which was that surprising as he was dreadfully picked on by everyone. But long after Jesse's death he reflects on his life and is able to be more rational and wise; it is an awesome performance. Every scene is like a 19th century photograph of the Wild West, each its own studied composition, giving the film a wonderfully nostalgic feel to it. For all lovers of westerns this is a must, but it would have been even better if 20 minutes had been culled from it. 7/10