Review: True Grit
10/10
Aaron
Jeff Bridges as the grizzly Rooster Cogburn*
The Coen Brothers' latest film is a new take on the 1969 film starring John Wayne. And to put it simply, it's fabulous.
The story follows a young girl, played by Hailee Steinfeld, whose father has been murdered by a farmhand. Determined to get revenge, the girl hires a grizzled old bounty hunter, Rooster Cogburn (played by Jeff Bridges). The drawling old man, the blunt and tough girl, and a cocky Texas ranger (Matt Damon) band together to hunt down this murderous farmhand.
In my humble opinion, the story is engaging and interesting enough, but the characters and their relations are what really make the movie great.
The girl, whose name is Mattie Ross, is fantastic. She adds a bit of humor to the movie, but not through direct jokes. Her mannerisms of being blunt, sharp-tongued and demanding with adults is interesting to watch and establishes her as a strong character, not a whiny girl character thrown in to quell complaints about lacking a female in the movie. Her acting is superb and she's fun to watch. The other character I really enjoyed was Marshall Rooster Cogburn, played by Jeff Bridges. He certainly does a fabulous job of portraying a gnarled mountain man. His thick, sometimes unintelligible drawl is always funny to listen to, especially when he argues with the loud, young and cocky Texas ranger.
In short, True Grit is fantastic, and has an interesting plot and really unique and entertaining characters. It's definitely worth the $9 theater ticket to see.
Now, to clear up some controversies and possible false expectations:
First, the trailers and teasers make the movie seem to have way more action than it does. I'm not saying there isn't any action, there is a fair share of gunfights and tension. But the trailers practically took every single scene where somebody discharged a weapon and compiled it into a two-minute string of gunfire.
Contrary to the trailer, there is much more dialogue and scenes of traveling, bickering and bargaining. I was slightly surprised upon seeing the movie, as I expected much more gunplay from the trailer. However, I welcomed the presence of engaging dialogue rather than constant shooting.
The second thing worth mentioning is the controversy over the rating of the movie. It is currently rated PG-13, and isn't something you'd take younger kids to. But many are arguing that it deserves an 'R' rating. I say no. The scene that most object to only lasts around 15 seconds. To be fair, it is graphic. A man is cut and stabbed with a large knife, while another is shot — all of this on camera. I admit, this amount of graphic violence stands out from the rest of the movie. I can see how some might be shocked at this and argue for the R, but in my opinion, this is the only scene in the movie with truly graphic violence, and it's a short scene. If adults are really against their kids seeing this, they can make them close their eyes or something for these ten seconds. I just don't think it's enough to condemn the rest of the movie to being R-rated.
All in all, the movie is great. Three parts dialogue, one part action, four parts great characters and ten parts a great movie. I highly recommend it.
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