The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

A dark, iconoclastic Western that recalls moody revisionist classics and features strong performances from Pitt and Affleck in exploring the tense dynamic between outlaw and assassin.

The critic praises Dominik's slow-moving but gripping and tremendously observed revisionist western for its self-possession and grandeur. He highlights the psychological duel between Jesse James and Robert Ford, along with strong performances from Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck.

Dominik's ravishing, magisterial poetic epic moves its characters toward tragic destinies with Greek-drama implacability and stands as one of the best Westerns of the 1970s. McCarthy singles out the surpassing visual beauty, Roger Deakins' luminous cinematography, layered performances by Pitt and Affleck, and meticulous historical and psychological detail.

The film explores the charged, almost erotic tension between Jesse James and his obsessive admirer Robert Ford as it builds inexorably toward the inevitable murder. Ebert praises the epic Western scope, Roger Deakins' cinematography, and the lead performances that capture mythic stature and star-struck fixation.

Dominik’s film traces the paths of James and Ford in a Gothic tête-à-tête that queries the title and delivers emotional foreboding, making it a red-raw classic despite a flabby coda.

The critic praises Dominik’s epic retelling for daring to invest in the hero and highlighting male vulnerability and co-dependence. It notes the film is too long and slow but values its character studies and style.

Dominik’s retelling is stirring, nuanced and elegiac, blending a mentor-acolyte love story with a melancholy neo-Western and Biblical betrayal tragedy; ravishingly shot with mesmeric performances from Affleck and Pitt.

The film adds another gauzy, overly aestheticized chapter to the overtaxed Jesse James myth, relying on celebrity and visual dazzle rather than historical or emotional depth. Dargis notes that it works on its own narrow poetic-realist terms, especially thanks to the cinematography and Casey Affleck's wily performance.

The obsessive relationship at the film's core is smothered by long takes, repetitive scenes, and mumbled dialogue. The Venice premiere highlights an imbalance, with too much focus on the buildup and not enough on the aftermath.

Andrew Dominik has made a boring film about Jesse James, filling two and a half hours with slow, shaggy-dog meditation and heavy-handed deconstruction of the outlaw legend. Lane finds the interplay of the characters odd but ultimately tiresome, with too much narration and not enough dramatic traction.

Dominik delivers a slow, meditative, revisionist Western poem evoking Malick and Peckinpah, focused on myth-making, celebrity, and inevitable death rather than action. Pitt and especially Affleck deliver outstanding performances in this extraordinary, visionary study of a legendary murderer's fate.

Dominik's long, meditative Western intelligently deconstructs the Jesse James myth with beautiful period-authentic visuals and strong performances from Pitt and Affleck. It thoughtfully explores celebrity and impending death but moves at a stately pace that prioritizes mood over momentum.

Dominik crafts a self-conscious, artful mood piece examining hero worship and myth-making in the West through stylized visuals and a focus on the fateful relationship between James and Ford.

This is a strange, haunting poetic Western about fame, myth, and the aftermath of outlaw life, with Jesse portrayed as a vicious sociopath. The film excels in its landscape photography, literary narration, and strong performances, especially Casey Affleck's revelatory turn as the obsessive Robert Ford.

The critic finds the film infuriatingly redundant, overly long, and poorly narrated, with Brad Pitt miscast in the lead role. They single out Roger Deakins' cinematography and Casey Affleck's performance as the only redeeming features.

The film is a character-driven piece that strips away Western myths to portray Jesse James as paranoid and ruthless while focusing on Robert Ford's desire for recognition and his act of betrayal. It excels as an atmospheric, tension-filled actor's picture with strong performances from Pitt and Affleck and superb cinematography.