True Grit ( 2010 )

Starring:  Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, & Barry Pepper

Directed By Ethan Coen and Joel Coen

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1403865/


     For the second time this year, I have seen a remake that was just as good as the original.  The first being Let Me In.  I was like a lot of people and VERY apprehensive when I heard about an American version of the Swedish vampire film Let The right One In.  When I attended the screening, I was floored at how good and very equal the American version was.  The same can  be said about True Grit.  Sort of.

     When it was announced that True Grit was going to be remade, I about threw up.  I could only imagine who some Hollywood douche bags would select for the role of Rooster Cogburn.  To my surprise the douche bags of Hollywood got some of the best directors fit for a project like this, and even sweetened the deal by getting Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and Josh Brolin to star in it.  I still had some concerns though,  How do you take a classic film like True Grit, and re-hash it for the "thrill me" culture to appreciate?  Ethan & Joel found a way.

     This version though, is a lot darker and more violent.  I expected it to be of like this.  You can't take 2 great directors like the Coen brothers and expect them to keep it all ginger beer and twizzlers.  For the most part the story is still the same.  Following the murder of her father by hired hand Tom Chaney ( Josh Brolin, ), 14-year-old farm girl Mattie Ross ( Hailee Steinfeld ) sets out to capture the killer. To aid her, she hires the toughest U.S. marshal she can find, a man with "true grit," Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn ( Jeff Bridges ) . Mattie insists on accompanying Cogburn, whose drinking, sloth, and generally reprobate character do not augment her faith in him. Against his wishes, she joins him in his trek into the Indian Nations in search of Chaney. They are joined by Texas Ranger LaBoeuf ( Matt Damon ), who wants Chaney for his own purposes. The unlikely trio find danger and surprises on the journey, and each has his or her "grit" tested.

    The story was still the same, but more violent.  There is no way that they could release the same kind of film the Original was by today's standards.  People would either pan it, or walk out.  So with those considerations, I would say that True Grit was a huge success.  Part of that is the way the characters play off of each other.  LaBoeuf and Cogburn's back and forth bantering was classic and well timed, and young Mattie Ross's very to the point nature, and maturity was played with remarkable skill by Hailee Steinfield. 

     True Grit is an amazing film that was well paced and not hard to watch.  If you have a chance, go see this one in the theaters.

-Mr. What?-  ( * * * * )