The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

So before I start this review I should give a full disclosure - I have a minor man-crush on Brad Pitt.  For those of you not aware - a "man crush" is just basically a great way of saying "...geez, that guys awesome...I wanna be like him...", it doesn't mean you're gay ("not that there's anything wrong with that..." in my best Seinfeld accent).

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford ("Jesse James" from here on out...it's a long title) is perhaps one of my favorite movies.  First off, the overall theme and look and feel of the movie is great.  The photography is phenomenal, the music by Nick Cave (go Nick Cave!) is amazing and without it, the movie would not be complete.  It's the mortar that holds the movie together.  The movie is fairly long, not a lot of action -- it's not a western, but is an intimate look at the life of Jesse James and his relationships -- more so than anyone else with Robert Ford (Casey Affleck).  

As the movie moves along you start to pity Jesse James and sort of fear him at the same time.  It's obvious he's losing control and he knows it.  He sees things going south, but this is what he's done his whole life and this is what he's good at, so without anything else he continues down that path.  Brad Pitt does a phenomenal job at potraying this controlled image while really everything he has control on starts to slip away.  

You start to hate Robert Ford.  He's like that annoying kid in school who knew how to get his way and was just oh-so-awkward.  This is Robert Ford, totally spineless but too smart to know what he was doing.  You hate him and root for Jesse who is in control.  

My favorite scene in this entire movie is the train robbery.  Oh my -- what a great piece of photography.  As the light comes through the fall time trees in the evening shining on the men with their homemade hoods -- with their eyes only shining - so vivid!  Then throw a little Nick Cave in for the audio and you're locked in.  

The ending is no surprise, Jesse dies (duh, the title gives it away - plus history and all...), but the build up is really continuous throughout the movie.  You know it's coming, you've been drug through the trip spiraling south.  You've felt for Jesse and asked, "what are you doing?! Turn around and leave this guy!", but you know that it aint gonna happen.

The movie ends completely melancholy, just the way it should.  But there is a bit of closure at the end, I won't give that part away. 

Seriously, rent this movie.  Give it a chance.  It got no public attention, but it was worth the watch - heck, I've watched it like 4 times now.  You'll walk away thinking, "Man...why didn't I hear about that movie?"