The influence of Terrence Malick can be felt in every drawn-out scene in this agonizingly slow and pretentious revisionist Western, despite superb performances by Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck.

Story

Unlike American Outlaws, which sought to add to the legend of Jesse James, director Andrew Dominik's meandering mediation on fame and notoriety is more concerned with hero worship turned fatal. Based on Ron Hansen's book, Jesse James introduces us to an ailing and paranoid outlaw (Pitt) who's ready to…

For a movie that has sat on a shelf for two years gathering bad buzz, this quiet wow of a Western sneaks up as one hell of a satisfying surprise. Artfully exciting and compulsively watchable even at a butt-numbing 152 minutes, the film makes good on the promise New Zealand writer-director Andrew Dominik showed with Chopper in 2000. Brad Pitt totally nails it as Jesse James. He just picked up the Best Actor prize at the Venice Film Festival, and damn if he doesn't deserve it. Pitt is built to…