Movie Review: True Grit
Happily, I was wrong. I only really found myself making a comparison to the original at one point. “Fill your hands you son’bitch” my favorite line from one of the most memorable scenes in movie history, as the overweight, one-eyed and whiskey sodden Marshal Rooster Cogburn, takes his horses reins in his mouth and, guns in hand, makes his solitary challenge riding head-on into a gang of outlaws. Yes, I missed the ‘Duke’ and Robert Dueval, but the bottom line is that this new True Grit is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. The story, the acting, scene interplays, the cinematography and the overall ‘feel’ of the movie are all excellent and all come together magnificently. As the original, the story is that after the death of her father, Mattie Ross, (wonderfully played by Hailee Steinfeld) a feisty and opinionated girl who inspires fear by quick drawing her lawyers name and using it more efficiently than any gun touting outlaw, hires the rather crodgedy,run down and trigger happy Marshal Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to track down and bring her fathers killer, Tom Chaney, to justice. Also trailing Tom Chaney is a pudgy, corn-cob smoking Texas Ranger, LaBouef (Matt Damon), determined to earn the reward for taking the killer back to face trail in Texas.
It is rare for me to give a movie five stars, but True Grit deserves them – and my must watch recommendation. |
As I sat down to watch the Coen brothers remake of the classic western, ‘True Grit, I must admit that I was more than a little worried.’ My concern was that like so many remakes, it would spoil my fond memories of the original classic - remember the remake of The Italian Job?
It is the marvelous interplay between these ably acted characters that makes the movie so enjoyably. Sticking more closely to the book than the original, who lives, who dies and the final outcome may come as a surprise to some, but one I don’t wish to spoil.Copyright © 2012. Able Ads Publishing and Media