A slow pace, an arguably uneventful film (does it have a plot?) and a lengthy title (if you think it is, check the running time) then why is it, The Assassination of Jesse James could be the greatest western made of the last two decades?

The film however, has a 70’s feel, calling upon Westerns of that era and ‘Malick’ like imagery.

It is one of these rare films by where if you like it, you will immediately want to see it again because the film deals with and covers so much over the last few days of Jesse’s life.

This film does a great job in making the audience a modern day Robert Ford.

For this film to work, it had to be deep, meaningful and interesting because it’s a major disadvantage when the audience knows what is going to happen in a two-and-a-half hour film by reading the title.

Thankfully the film is meaningful, layered and quietly gripping.

The casting is perfect. Brad Pitt is ideal to play the outlaw as he, like Jesse James, is a modern cult of personality, which you cannot ‘act’ in a film.

Casey Affleck proves he is a quietly mesmerising presence in the film industry; playing the unlikeable yet strong-minded and motivated individual Bob Ford.

Pitt at times is terrifying as the outlaw; wild and unpredictable in his mood swings and constant paranoia.

Whilst the film may not build on the genre it certainly is knowledgeable and respectful of it; the idea of the outlaw and his killer dates back to Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid for example.

It is this love for the genre and the handling of the subject matter that has made Andrew Dominik a director to watch.

The film is packed with irony; Bob Ford’s death isn’t shown on camera and comes at the end of the film. This, added with such a long title that people are already chopping ‘by the coward Robert Ford’, are ultimate ironies that further relate to Bob Ford’s unsuccessful quest for a heroic legacy to match James’.

There’s also careful examination on the celebrity status then which rings true now.

Note the scene at the dinner table when James returns ‘it’s interesting the many ways you and I overlap. You’re the youngest of three James boys and I’m the youngest of five Ford boys. You have blue eyes and I have blue eyes. You’re five feet 8 inches tall; I’m five feet eight inches tall.’

No scene since The King of Comedy is so squeamish in having to watch such repulsive character behaviour; it’s an embarrassing yet compelling watch.

It is here Jesse James insults and embarrasses Bob Ford for the last time, causing the man to turn on his idol. It could be argued therefore like many great heroes, that Jesse James brings on his own downfall - a sense of inevitability perhaps which adds to the man’s mythic status.

This is further echoed when Jesse gives Bob a gun to match Jesse’s - it all adds to the mythic atmosphere. It is one of many magnificent scenes in the film loaded with unbearable silent tension.

It is the look of the film that lingers long after. Fantastic cinematography by Roger Deakins truly places us with the outlaw and his crew, with images that are elegiac and beautiful.

Static camera work and a subliminal score accompany these stark images that create an omniscient look to match the narrator’s.

The narration is a great accompanist to the God-like importance of these men, as if God chose to watch them over anyone else.

All of this immortalises Jesse James and yes, Robert Ford.

Although audiences have not flocked to see this - perhaps the ultimate irony in a film full of them, is that time will be grateful to this film as it was for the man it is about.

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