Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
Outlaw Jesse James is rumored to be the 'fastest gun in the West'. An eager recruit into James' notorious gang, Robert Ford eventually grows jealous of the famed outlaw and, when Robert and his brother sense an opportunity to kill James, their murderous action elevates their target to near mythical status.
A brooding, elegiac revisionist western of rare literary ambition. Roger Deakins' cinematography is among his finest work — painterly, autumnal, and deeply atmospheric. The performances, particularly Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck, are extraordinary: Pitt renders Jesse as charismatic and terrifyingly mercurial, while Affleck's Ford is a masterpiece of sycophancy, resentment, and self-delusion. The plot unfolds with novelistic patience, subverting genre expectations and meditating on myth-making, celebrity, and betrayal in ways few westerns attempt. The film earns very high Novelty for its singular tone, languorous pacing, and literary voice — it feels genuinely one-of-a-kind. The ending, while thematically coherent and emotionally resonant, is somewhat prolonged and its epilogue, though intentional, slightly diffuses the dramatic impact that precedes it, preventing a perfect landing.