The narration, though beautiful to listen to...is pretty pointless. The cinematography is a glorious thing to behold, and when you hire Nick Cave, you know you'll have yourself a perfect score atop those images.
Yet this film's heart and soul lays in the heart of the cast. Sam Rockwell continues as he has done for some years now to be a highly impressive supporting actor, he's one of the best around and it's a shame that he is so incredibly overshadowed here. You feel every twitchy nerve of Garret Dillahunt's Ed Miller, he takes a minor role and runs with it all the way...another actor whose star is surely on the rise.
Yet it's all about our title characters at the end of the day. Brad Pitt is better than he has ever been before, he's not exactly Marlon Brando, but Mr. Jolie has turned in his fair share of nice performances over the years. His Jesse James is beyond them all, he tried playing a legendary character in Troy...he's succeeded at it here.
However in the end it is Casey Affleck who stands front and centre. This a brain searingly brilliant performance, so effortlessly subtle and skillful, switchinng from one state of mind to another, seamlessly. I don't know if he'll go Supporting or Leading at the Oscars but it would be a crime if he was not nominated somewhere and it'd take one hell of a performance to top this.
