Nowadays it seems that the classic western film is more hard to come by. An upside to this is that whenever a western comes around it is usually pretty good (for example, "3:10 to Yuma"). The same goes for the Coen brother's newest adaption of Charles Portis' novel, "True Grit." The film of the same name brings together an award-winning team of Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, and the Coen brothers to bring us a western that won't soon be forgotten.
Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) narrates the film as she tells of her quest to avenge her father, who was murdered by a man named Tom Chaney (Brolin) when she was 14. When Mattie goes to collect her father's body, she also looks for a US Marshal who she can hire to hunt down Chaney. She chooses a man named Rooster Cogburn who was described to her as the most merciless of the Marshals. However when she approaches Cogburn he rejects the offer.
Mattie isn't the only one searching for Chaney. Later that day she meets La Boeuf (Damon), a Texas Ranger who is hunting Chaney after he killed a senator in Texas. La Boeuf proposes that they both team up with Cogburn to get Chaney but Mattie quickly refuses and continues to plead for Cogburn's help. Eventually Cogburn agrees to help her and tells her to meet him at his house the next morning (a lie so that he can leave without her knowing, keeping her out of harms way). The fact the Cogburns already left doesn't stop Mattie from catching up to him where she finds that he has teamed up with La Boeuf. From there the three ride into Choctaw country in search of retribution.
The first thing I noticed while watching "True Grit" is that it is nowhere near as dark as I expected it to be. The trailers for the film make it out to be dark and grisly. Looking at what the Coen brother's have directed in the past (specifically "No Country For Old Men") I expected the movie to be just the same. However when I saw it I realized that "True Grit" has more laughs than most comedies that were released this year. At the same time, the majority of the film consists of people being shot, killed, having fingers and teeth chopped off and pulled out, you get the point...it's intense. But the Coen brothers manage to mix the intense moments with the humorous ones, which many times does not work out well. Luckily for "True Grit," it does.
Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin...of course this movie will have great acting that's what I thought...and I was right. To me, Jeff Bridges already has the right look and persona to play a merciless US Marshall/cowboy and the role of Rooster Cogburn was perfect for him. But the standout actor wasn't these three men mentioned, it is Hailee Steinfeld. This is the young actresses first film to my knowledge and she is outstanding playing her cunning and very intelligent character. She has already been nominated and has won awards for "True Grit" and I believe that this is the beginning of a very successful career.
Now I bet everyone reading this is waiting for me to answer the question, "Is Jeff Bridges better than John Wayne?" Well...I don't know. I never saw the original (you can gasp in horror) and after seeing the film I'm actually glad I didn't (gasp louder). Why? Because I didn't have to waste my time in the theater comparing the two versions of "True Grit" and tell myself that, "Jeff Bridges is no John Wayne!" What I can tell you is that the new "True Grit" is a spectacular film, one of the best of the year, with a great story, great acting, great everything. Maybe one day I'll see the original but when that happens I will probably end up comparing John Wayne to Jeff Bridges (mega-gasp) but hey, he was before my time after all. I give "True Grit" 4 stars out of 4.
"True Grit" has a running time of 110 minutes and is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of western violence including disturbing images.
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