Later that same rant…
* Personally, I think that old cliché “show, don’t tell” is a bunch of bullshit. They both work, depending on what the scene demands – but an omniscient narrator interrupting the movie every two minutes to “tell” us what is already on the screen is ridiculous. Watch the scene where Robert Ford walks through James’s empty home with the sound off and see if you don’t agree with me. The narration probably takes up 15-20 minutes of screen time that should be dedicated to Jesse James and Robert Ford…
* …who feel woefully underdeveloped, which is weird, because screenwriter/director Andrew Dominik has almost three fucking hours to tell this story. The movie starts strong, but after the brilliantly staged train robbery, the movie loses sight of both James and Ford, spending too much time on supporting characters and subplots that either run too long or are completely unnecessary. And while Pitt’s character should be an enigma, since his character is growing ever more paranoid and psychotic (two bad tastes that don’t taste great together), Dominik’s take on Jesse James is too cryptic for the movie to work.
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