Ethan and Joel Coen, already amongst the greatest filmmakers of our time, continue to deliver the goods with their excellent remake of True Grit. The classic John Wayne western is still a great film to watch, but lacks the harsh reality of the American west that modern cinema fans have come to expect. The Coen Brothers reboot is quite gritty, but not overwhelming in the fact that they preserve the essence of the story. True Grit is violent, but as in all of their films, primarily driven by crisp dialogue and character development. While Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and Josh Brolin have their names above the marquee, the star of True Grit is thirteen year old Hailee Steinfeld; who is absolutely fantastic in her debut film.
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Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) treks to town to pick up the body of her murdered father. He was shot and robbed by the criminal farmhand, Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin). No one is slightly concerned about the crime or attempting to catch Chaney, so Mattie takes matters into her own hands. She looks for a man with ‘grit’, someone tough and deadly to track down Chaney. Mattie finds her man in the drunken, one-eyed, tough as nails US Marshall - Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges). After some convincing, Mattie and Rooster head into the west to find Chaney with Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (Matt Damon). Turns out Chaney has a host of aliases and is also wanted for killing a state senator.
The three main characters of Mattie, Rooster, and LaBoeuf make up the oddest road trip companions. Mattie, all piss and vinegar, fire and brimstone, is a handful to the loquacious LaBoeuf and extremely annoyed Rooster. Their interaction is both comic and surreal - two men and a teenage girl arguing in Indian territory while chasing dangerous bandits. This constant back and forth between the characters creates a repoire that carries the entire plot. Because while Mattie’s goal is to avenge her father’s murder, these men, particularly Rooster, will have a pronounced effect on her life. The Coen Brothers are masters, to use a literary term, of rising action. They skillfully use the banter between the leads to propel the story.
I don’t believe I have ever praised a casting director by name in a review, so I am pleased to shine the spotlight on Ellen Chenoweth and Rachel Tenner. These two women have pretty much cast every Coen Brothers film for the last ten years. They struck gold with Hailee Steinfeld. This entire film rests on her shoulders. She is the lynchpin. If you don’t believe her, then the entire film fails. Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon are proven commodities. To put the brunt of the dialogue into the hands of a teenager who’s never made a film is a calculated risk. But worth taking when you have casting team as able as Chenoweth and Tenner.
True Grit grabs you from the first scene. I love westerns, but even if you don’t, this is an entertaining movie to see. There’s a scene where Rooster and LaBoeuf contest who’s the better shot. It’s hilarious, really funny in a film that had been quite serious up to that point. This is another trademark of the Coen Brothers, the ability to flip the mood/tone of a film like a lightswitch. Not to be missed and a marked improvement on the original.
