The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Starring: Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Sam Rockwell, Sam Shepard

Director: Andrew Dominik

Category: IIB

It's an image that fits Jesse James' status as one of the most notorious outlaws in the wild west: 10 minutes into Andrew Dominik's 160-minute saga The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, the cowboy stands in front of a blazing prairie, as if contemplating a fire that's as intense as the temper which drove him to become one of the most feared robbers of his age. The scene concludes a dreamy sequence dripping with imagery that bolsters the man's mystique.

James' final days - masquerading as upstanding, family-loving merchant Thomas Howard in Kansas City, while remaining unrepentant about the murderous mayhem he has left behind - are presented through distorted imagery (a nod to the stereoscopic postcards that commemorated his life in the 19th century), accompanied by a solemn voiceover.

Dominik's film, however, isn't just another conventional hero-worshipping homage. What follows the fire scene reveals James in a more mundane way: he eats a meal and cracks crass, misogynist jokes with a motley crew of small-time crooks in the woods as they prepare for one of his last train robberies.