True Grit - Early Review

[JasonEvans]

Got to see the new Coen Bros flick Thursday night. As most of you know, it stars Jeff Bridges as U.S. Marshall Ruben "Rooster" Cogburn, Matt Damon as Texas Ranger LeBeef, Josh Brolin as Tom Cheney, and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld as Maddie Ross.

This is a true Western that hearkens back to the days when Hollywood made movies like this often. It has beautiful scenery and really takes you back to the era of the late 1800s. It is a film about a journey and the relationships that develop over the course of the journey. It is not a film about getting the bad guys or some big, satisfying ending. My two sons (14 and 11) both liked it but complained about the ending being a bit abrupt.

As with all Coen films, the acting is first-rate.

Jeff Bridges is amazing as Rooster Cogburn, playing the cantankerous and drunk old U.S. Marshall for all it is worth. The talk is that he deserves a Best Actor nomination and that is not an exaggeration. That said I don't think he carries the film quite enough to win. It is even possible that the desire for "someone else" after he won last year may keep him out of the nominations.

The film really belongs to Hailee Steinfeld. She is in virtually every scene and does a fabulous job as a young girl trying to act older and more experienced than she actually is. She really should be in the Best Actress category, but the push is to get her up for Supporting Actress. She does not have to display a lot of range, mostly just be 14-going-on-40. Still, she's great at it and the early scenes in the film where she negotiates with local townspeople are just fabulous!

Matt Damon is fine, nothing special in my opinion. Brolin is barely in the film, only showing up rather late.

The movie is almost a comedy at times. There are some very funny lines, mostly from Cogburn. It is an enjoyable film that does not contain any of the somewhat confusing, lengthy dialogue scenes that have been found in recent Coen Bros. films. It is a very good movie, though not quite a great one. I am not sure what would have made it great, but after seeing it I can see why it is somewhat being overlooked for some big awards. I could see it winning prizes, especially acting ones, but I just didn't walk out feeling I had seen one of the great movies.

It is a good time at the movies and I recommend it to almost everyone. I suppose folks who really dislike Westerns may not like it, but that is about it.

-Jason "interested in the opinion of others once they see it" Evans

[Lord Ash]

Thanks for the review, Jason... I am dying to see this one. Looks like a good old true Western in all the right ways, and having some Johnny Cash in the trailer doesn't hurt its Manly Factor!

[Olympic Fan]

Jason,

Thanks for the review ... I envy you the early look at the only Christmas movie that I'm anxious to see.

Just one thing. It's a remake and like all remakes I wonder how it differs from the original. In almost every preview I've seen, it appears to be a scene for scene remake (the scenes of Rooster being questioned by the defense attorny ... of Mattie negotiating with Rooster ... with Mattie finding her father's killer at the river ... the final confrontation between Rooster and Ned Pepper's gang....)

I can't believe the Coen brothers took a classic, remade it and didn't add a twist, some oddball point of view. I've read that they didn't go back to Charles Portis' book, which was a somewhat different story.

The original film contained a great, career-encapsulating performance by John Wayne and some wonderful supporting performances by Robert Duvall and Jeff Corey (I had forgotton that Dennis Hopper was also there!), but Glen Campbell and Kim Darby were forced and artificial. However, it did have what was -- to my mind -- one of the great endings in screen history. Curious to hear that you think this one ends abruptly. The original ending -- with Rooster and Mattie at the graveyard:

Mattie (kneeling by her father's grave): Trust you to buy another tall horse.
Rooster (sitting on his horse): Yeah. He's not as game as Beau, but Stonehill says he can jump a four rail fence.
Mattie: You are too old and fat to be jumping horses.
Rooster: Well, come see a fat old man some time!

Then he jumps the four-rail fence and the film ends with Elmer Bernstein's glorious score. Just a bit of trivia -- Wayne did the jump himself, without a stuntman!

As I said, I'm looking forward to the remake, hoping the Coen brothers offer a new take on the story. Because if it's nothing more than a remake of the orginal with new acters, I know I'll be disappointed. I love Jeff Bridges, but he's no John Wayne.

[SuperTurkey]

I can't believe the Coen brothers took a classic, remade it and didn't add a twist, some oddball point of view. I've read that they didn't go back to Charles Portis' book, which was a somewhat different story.

According to this review (http://www.comingsoon.net/news/reviewsnews.php?id=72296#ixzz18TyqAHc9), the movie is very (perhaps, overly) faithful to the original source material:


[A]n abiding sense of faithfulness to the original novel pervades the entire film, a faithfulness that ultimately holds it back... [B]y sticking so close to the source material, "True Grit" as a film seems fettered, stuck following a pre-made path, and never able to create its own identity.

Having neither read the book nor seen the original, I can't speak to the accuracy of the reviewer's point.

Also, it's worth noting that this was in the midst of a positive review, and True Grit is currently riding high at 96% at RT.com. The consensus seems to be 'good not great,' as Jason said.

[JasonEvans]

I have not seen the John Wayne movie in decades, and my memory of it is a bit fuzzy, so I cannot say with certainty all the differences. I can say that there are many of them, most significantly the fact that the Wayne movie made Rooster Cogburn the main character while this movie is 100% told from the perspective of Mattie Ross. I can also tell you that the iconic ending, with Wayne jumping his horse over the fence, is not how this movie ends.

I don't want to say much more as I don't want to ruin it for folks. I don't think anything I have said so far should be a problem for people.

-Jason "see it, you'll enjoy it" Evans

[NYC Duke Fan]

The original is being shown this Wednesday at 8:00 PM on Turner Classic Movies

[hedevil]

This movie, as well as the Fighter are my two most anticipated movies right now. I never saw the original True Grit, so I'll be able to watch the remake through my unbiased lenses. Personally, thanks to technology, I do tend to like certain remakes better than the originals. Of course, there are some classics that should never be touched.

The fact that True Grit (2010) is still being hailed as a good movie even by viewers who saw the original really says something. I'm looking forward to it.

[Jim3k]

Saw True Grit (2010) this afternoon and True Grit (1969) tonight on TMC. I'm not going to compare the two.

Instead, I will comment on the contention that Jeff Bridges deserves another AA for the role. In shot, he does not. It's not that he's bad; it's that he's played the role of drunken knight before. He's certainly better than OK, and I have been a fan of his for 40 years, since his role in Last Picture Show.

This movie is not really his. It belongs to Hailee Steinfeld. She is excellent, though again, IMO, not of AA quality. Delightful as a 14 year old frontier tough kid, better educated than anyone and fierce in her determination, she's a lot of fun to watch.

As for the acting, I have to say that Matt Damon has never done anything quite like this. He's basically unrecognizable. And his character requires acting in a way he's never done before. I think it is fair to say he's very successful in carrying it off. Even so, his performance, like everyone's in the film, while very good, is not something we can say sets him apart from other excellent actors. In some ways I liked Glen Campbell better in the role in the original version, even though Campbell's performance was worse than pedestrian. I think Damon is far better, but he's so unlikeable that the movie is the worse for it.

Having said all that, I still recommend the movie as a B+ afternoon entertainment. The Wayne version is about the same. Don't spend more than matinee money on it, but the dialogue is worth the money.