Starring: Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Sam Rockwell
Director: Andrew Dominik

I’ve got to admit - I was more than surprised. A western in this era of cinema, and especially one by a director I’d never heard of, did *not* make my heart “flutter with anticipation”. In fact, I half-expected this movie to be merely a launch for Brad Pitt to try and win an Oscar; not much else really seemed to be in this movie. Of course, that opinion was adopted purely on the fact that the title sounds like a joke, Brad Pitt was in it, and the director was a nobody (I pretend to be a movie-snob whenever possible ). I hadn’t seen any trailers, hadn’t read any reviews, and didn’t know anybody who’d heard of the movie; it wasn’t until later that I realised this movie was an Oscar nominee. But even then, it was in the categories of cinematography and supporting actor, which didn’t excite me enough to go and find out what all the hoo-hah was.

So, when I tell you that this movie absolutely floored me, you can imagine my surprise! As is obvious to even the most stupid, this movie is about Jesse James - legendary outlaw and unusual anti-hero from the good ol’ days of the “Wild West”. But to merely describe it like that is to do it an insult; this is more than about Jesse James - it’s about Robert Ford, his brother, the James gang, the aura of the West, and the need for a reckless society to make mountains out of men.

The movie centers on Jesse James (Brad Pitt) at the fag end of his outlaw career. The old gang has broken up, and all that’s left is a motley crew, one of whom is Charley Ford (Sam Rockwell), a bumbling crook, who, like everybody else in the gang (with the possible exception of Frank, Jesse’s eldest brother) basks in Jesse’s shadow, and is happy to be the legend’s flunky. Jesse James has already established himself as an icon, an image that has been glorified in a series of dime-novels. Robert Ford (Casey Affleck) is Charley’s kid brother and Jesse’s biggest fan; his worship of the man borders on obsession, having never really outgrown worshiping this hero of his youth (At one point, Robert narrates how he used to have a list of things that he and James had in common - including the fact that they were the youngest of three brothers, and that the second children of both families had 6-letter names!). Robert, only 19, begs to be a part of the gang, and, despite his innocence and foolhardiness, is taken under James’s wing for reasons unknown to anybody save James.

From the start, we know the outcome of this tale (it’s in the damn title, after all!) and we can’t help get the feeling that Jesse James does too; his relationship with Robert is curious and strained, yet their fates seem unfathomably intertwined. We see James as a ruthless outlaw, a seemingly semi-crazed lunatic, with severe bouts of depression, and also as the loving family man, with an almost primal instinct for danger. He never takes off his guns, and is rumoured to be impossible to sneak up on. There is a tension in him that you don’t see, but can feel - maybe it comes from being an outlaw and having to run, maybe it’s from living under an alias, maybe it’s just the guilt of his conscience. Whatever the reason, he seems a man resigned to his fate, and one who seems to have recognised his executioner before the latter has even realised it. Perfectly balancing this monolith of a man is Robert Ford - a kid who wants to grow up quickly and can’t decide if he wants to *be* Jesse James, or be *like* Jesse James (A question James puts to him soon after they first meet.). Having forever lived with being the baby, he wants to prove himself to everybody; and eventually, he realises that the only way for him to do it is to take out the legend - be The man who killed Jesse James.

The beauty of this movie is not so much in the tale - there are no surprises, no serious plot twists, nothing that would make you leap out of your seat - as it is in the telling. The cinematography is beyond words - every shot, every scene , every aspect communicates something about the men, and the world they live in. This is a hard land, and these are hard men. Pitt does a fabulous job - his Jesse James seems etched from stone, untouchable and austere. But the real surprise is Affleck! While most people remember him from his small role in the Ocean’s 11 trilogy, I recently had a chance to see him in Gone Baby Gone (also a *fantastic* movie!), directed by brother Ben Affleck, and he showed that he was no slouch in the acting department. That image is only reinforced in this movie. Although I was initially surprised that he was nominated for the Best Supporting Oscar, having watched this movie, he completely deserves it. Affleck’s Robert Ford as a man struggling with who he is, and who he becomes, and he portrays him with a suitable amount of subtlety and edginess. Even the score and the narrative do a brilliant job of helping the audience focus on the finer nuances of the characters’, um, characters?

All in all, I couldn’t find a single thing wrong with the movie; and considering that it’s almost three hours long, that’s pretty impressive.

For further info: The Assassination… at IMDb.com