7. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
This one’s pretty obvious, since we already know Red Dead Redemption 2 references The Assassination, at least in its trailer.
The legendary Jesse James (Brad Pitt) is followed by a starstruck fan, Robert Ford (Casey Affleck), who tries to join the James-Younger gang. Train robberies, a botched heist, infighting within the gang, conflicting loyalties and honor among thieves — there’s a lot in this movie that could inspire a story beat or two in RDR2’s depiction of the dissolution of the Van der Linde gang.
For now, at least the film's beautiful cinematography made it to the game's trailer, which leads me to believe Red Dead Redemption 2 may be the second game with movie-grade visual storytelling coming out this year.
Published Aug. 26th 2018
