Day 118 + 119 - 4/28 + 4/29/09 - Movie #117
BEFORE: I suppose I could have transitioned from animated mice to films about animated cats, but I'm a little burned out on cartoons for now. Better to finish off the Westerns on my list. I was out late playing Monday night trivia, so I'll have to spread this long film (2 hours + 40 minutes!) out over two nights. Whoever edited (or failed to edit...) this film should be shot in the back...
THE PLOT: Robert Ford, who's idolized Jesse James since childhood, tries hard to join the reforming gang of the Missouri outlaw, but gradually becomes resentful of the bandit leader.
AFTER: My impression, after watching the first 1/2, is that Brad Pitt chose to play Jesse James as the "quiet one", the one who can keep his head while all others around him are losing theirs... But it's the quiet ones you need to look out for, so they say. The film follows a group of young hired guns (literally...) that helped the James Brothers pull off their last big train robbery. But, there are so many of them, it's a bit hard at first to keep track of who's who. Sam Rockwell and Casey Affleck stand out, but I'll have to look up the other actors... When Jesse James starts checking in on his accomplices, is it a friendly visit, or is he eliminating the people who know too much? I'll find out in Part 2...
AFTER PART 2: The old saying is that there's "honor among thieves", but there's also greed, mistrust and paranoia. We're never sure exactly how much Jesse knows - does he trust Robert Ford, or is he keeping his enemy close by making him part of the gang? So it becomes a mind-game between Jesse James and his future killer - as Jesse starts to become unhinged, Brad Pitt's portrayal starts to resemble Tyler Durden, or Jeffrey from "12 Monkeys".
Note: I try very hard to avoid spoilers in my reviews - I'm not ruining anything by pointing out that Jesse James gets killed - it's right there in the title! It's like calling the Titanic movie "The Ship's Going to Hit an Iceberg and Sink" instead...
RATING: 7 out of 10 pistols (edited down from 8 - see how easy that is?)
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