True Grit is a remake of an old John Wayne film with the same title. No, I’ve never seen the original and have no desire to. I don’t have an Public Enemy type hatred of the guy. But at this point in my life he is more of a character of himself than anything else. I also trusted the great actors in this film to bring something new to the table and didn’t want to be influenced in any way. This version was directed be the Coen Brothers (O Brother, Where Art Thou?, No Country For Old Men, Fargo) and I loved everything they did with it.
Hallie Seinfeld (Son of Tuscon) stars as Mattie Ross, a young girl whose father was murdered for some gold coins and a horse. She arrives in this small town and spends the night sleeping in the mortuary with her father and three other men she sees hung for various crimes. She is a very smart child with fantastic bargaining skills. She hires Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski, Tron, Iron Man, The Men Who Stare At Goats) playing Rooster Cogburn, an alcoholic, chain smoking bounty hunter to track the man who killed her father for $50. Reluctantly he agrees.
Matt Damon (The Bourne Series, Saving Private Ryan, The Departed, Hereafter) stars as LaBouef (pronounced Le-Beef) a Texas ranger who loves to remind everyone of the fact that he is…a Texas ranger. After an attempt to leave the young girl behind they all begin their hunt for the killer, Tom Chaney played by Josh Brolin. Damn, this guy can act! The way he talks is so calm and creepy that as he walks around on screen you just know that any second he is gonna do something bad.
I can not leave out Barry Pepper (The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, 25th Hour, Knockaround Guys) who turns in an excellent performance. This guy is terribly underrated as an actor. Allow me to mention something before I forget. Hallie Seinfeld played her character of a very smart, clever child in a way that was never annoying. She was very impressive. Too many times a child actor is told to act like an adult and it comes off as either unbelievable or, well, an asshole. But she did her job well and she was perfectly cast.
The violence in this film, much like in No Country For Old Men, is very fast and very sudden. There are no slow motion shots of someone being hit with a bullet and falling off their horse. When a man gets his fingers cut off and a knife through his chest before the perpetrator gets shot in the face it happens in less than four seconds. Death in this film is not some noble thing handled with dignity. Its quick, ugly, and realistic.
Even for those of you (Alex!) that are not fans of The Coens, I seriously suggest seeing this film. This movie is the definition of less is more. No giant explosions. No 3D. Hardly anyone even raises their voice. Just real people acting very well.
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