The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is, like its title, a lengthy film. Clocking in at 160 minutes, the movie takes its time exploring the real life characters of Jesse James (played by Brad Pitt) and the young man who killed him, Robert Ford (Casey Affleck). A voiceover narrator (Hugh Ross) tells us some facts about James' adult life in the beginning of the film, and also narrates other scenes in the movie. This helps the film, adapted for the screen by Andrew Dominik from a novel by Ron Hansen, feel more like a book being read to you.

In Assassination, we see Robert Ford go from being a young man who has idolized James since childhood to a man who resents the outlaw leader and eventually takes his life. Many times in the movie, especially as James grows increasingly paranoid and suspicious of Ford and his older brother Charley (Sam Rockwell), there are silent pauses where the tension builds between the men. The cinematography in the movie is very beautiful, featuring snowy landscapes and wide, open prairies. In one scene, Affleck as Ford is inside a house and approaches a glass door, and his face materializes out of the darkness like a phantasm forming to life.

Although we know from the title what will happen to James in the movie, Assassination still worked at making me feel a sense of danger for the Ford brothers. Overall, "Assassination" is an interesting look at the two men in the title, one a famous outlaw whose dead body was photographed, and the other neglected by the public after his own death.