For years now I've thought the Western was a dead form. Enormously popular from film's inception (The Great Train Robbery) to the 50's, they used and re-used every plot contrivance imaginable and finally just ran out of ideas. The end-of-an-era films of the 60's-The Wild Bunch, Butch Cassidy, etc-seemed to mark the end of Westerns as a viable form. Sad efforts like Silverado came across as kicking a corpse trying to make it rise again, unsuccessfully.
But maybe it isn't dead after all, just sleeping.
This is a damn fine film. Dominik took a familiar story, gave it an intelligent, contemplative tone, shot it beautifully (with Roger Deakins) in stunning locations all over the west and created one of the best American films of recent years. Pitt ably conveys a mix of tired, suspicious menace. This man has had enough of running, hiding, fearing. Affleck steals the film with his whining, obsequious portrayal of the "coward" Bob Ford. The shifting dynamic between these two characters gives the film a subtle, electric tension that easily carries the viewer along.
The final 20 minutes is an elaborate coda to the shooting which provides perspective, insight and depth.
8
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