--- title: "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-assassination-of-jesse-james-by-the-coward-robert-ford/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-assassination-of-jesse-james-by-the-coward-robert-ford" critics_score: 71 critics_reviews: 11 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007): what the critics said Critics' score 71 from 11 reviews: 7 positive, 1 mixed, 3 negative. Most critics respond warmly to Andrew Dominik’s slow, psychologically focused Western, with praise clustering around Roger Deakins’ cinematography and the performances of Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck. The relationship between James and Ford supplies the chief source of tension: the reviews repeatedly identify obsessive admiration, male vulnerability and the desire for recognition as compelling subjects. Supporters find the patient pacing absorbing and value the film’s attention to how outlaw reputations are made. The spread of opinion is wide, however, and length troubles even some admirers. The sharper disagreement concerns whether the film’s visual beauty and deliberate pace deepen its characters or leave them stranded. The New Yorker finds the narration excessive and the drama tiresome; The Hollywood Reporter argues that repetition smothers the central relationship. The New York Times takes a mixed position, admiring the photography and Affleck while finding insufficient historical or emotional depth. ## The AV Club — Scott Tobias Rating A. 20 September 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. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/the-assassination-of-jesse-james-by-the-coward-robert-f-1798203064) ## The Guardian — Philip French Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 30 November 2007. 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. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/nov/30/3) ## Variety — Todd McCarthy Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 31 August 2007. Festival review. 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. [Read the review](https://variety.com/2007/film/reviews/the-assassination-of-jesse-james-by-the-coward-robert-ford-1200556813/) ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 4 October 2007. 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. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-assassination-of-jesse-james-by-the-coward-robert-ford-2007) ## Time Out — David Jenkins Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 12 October 2007. 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. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-assassination-of-jesse-james-by-the-coward-robert-ford) ## Little White Lies — Lorien Haynes Rating 4/4/4. 29 November 2007. 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. [Read the review](https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-assassination-of-jesse-james-by-the-coward-robert-ford/) ## Screen Daily Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 3 September 2007. Festival review. 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. [Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/the-assassination-of-jesse-james-by-the-coward-robert-ford/4034289.article) ## The New York Times — Manohla Dargis Fi1m's normalised score 55/100 (inferred from the text). 21 September 2007. 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. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/21/movies/21assa.html) ## The Hollywood Reporter Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 30 August 2007. Festival review. 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. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/assassination-jesse-james-by-coward-158850/) ## The New Yorker — Anthony Lane Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 24 September 2007. 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. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/10/01/outlaws-2) ## Empire — Ian Nathan 30 November 2007. 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. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/assassination-jesse-james-coward-robert-ford-review/) ## Evening Standard 30 November 2007. 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. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/tough-reality-behind-the-myth-7400348.html) ## Slant Magazine — Nick Schager 19 September 2007. 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. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-assassination-of-jesse-james-by-the-coward-robert-ford/) ## The Independent 1 December 2007. 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. [Read the review](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-assassination-of-jesse-james-by-the-coward-robert-ford-15-761437.html) ## The Skinny — Parker Langley Rating ★★. 7 November 2007. 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. [Read the review](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/the-assassination-of-jesse-james-by-the-coward-robert-ford) ## Eye for Film — Angus Wolfe Murray 2 December 2007. 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. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-assassination-of-jesse-james-by-the-coward-robert-ford-film-review-by-angus-wolfe-murray) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/the-assassination-of-jesse-james-by-the-coward-robert-ford.md