10 Movies You Can Never Finish

7. The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Brad Pitt
Warner Bros.

From its eye-rollingly overlong title onwards, Andrew Dominik's singular western is a film defined by its excesses, for as brilliantly acted as it is by Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck, and as gloriously eye-watering as Roger Deakins' cinematography might be, this film is a pure endurance trial.

Clocking in at a meaty 160 minutes, Jesse James takes an abusively long time to tell its rather straight-forward titular story, with a stately, slight style that's likely to leave your eyes glazed over.

It's certainly atmospheric and intriguing, but an ultimately undisciplined piece of filmmaking which didn't need to be a minute over two hours - if that.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.