Review: True Grit

True Grit is outstanding entertainment from the Coen brothers, and features as breathtaking a screen debut as I can recall.

Let me state at the outset that I have neither read the novel nor (cue drum roll) seen the John Wayne film of 1969 – I’m afraid I just don’t like John Wayne. However, some desk research does confirm that the Coens’ take on the story of 14-year old Mattie Ross hiring US Marshall Rooster Cogburn to avenge her father’s death is much closer to the novel than Wayne’s Oscar winner.

Indeed the Coens’ focus is not on Rooster but on Mattie, and in this the decision to cast newcomer Hailee Steinfeld is a masterstroke. She completely holds her own against Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin and Barry Pepper; the verbal one-upmanship that Mattie deploys – delivered with gusto by Steinfeld – in the conversations with everyone she meets would scare off Stephen Fry.

However, any aversion to Mattie’s precociousness is swiftly offset by the pointless bravado and utter inability of any man in the film to do anything well: good or evil (and the film makes clear that none of the male characters are without sin, and that even bad guys can do the right thing once in a while), none of them have the intelligence, bravery, will power, and moral fortitude of Mattie. Nevertheless, the endless cycle of violence begetting violence, and the notion that revenge does not equal redemption are evidenced throughout.

Which might make this version of True Grit sound more than a little preachy – and it most certainly is not. It is frequently laugh out loud funny; the violence (when it comes) is violent and visceral – and not always telegraphed, although when it is, the tension is palpable.

There are a number of scenes of pure movie magic, aided and abetted of course by Roger Deakins’ ever-gorgeous cinematography. Two that particularly stood out for me were the almost elegiac opening and Rooster’s flight across the plains to save Mattie.

All the male actors perform well enough: Damon deploys his light comedic touch, while Bridges walks a fine line between curmudgeon and drunken madness. Brolin and Pepper have very little screen time, but the latter does especially well with his small role.

Just as Zodiac, Benjamin Button and Social Network served notice that David Fincher had grown up, so True Grit reveals that the Coens can make a straight movie – those of you that did not get Burn After Reading, for instance, have nothing to fear here. Mattie’s story carries themes that the Coens have returned to time and again, but for possibly the first time in their careers, they serve the characters and the story first, and their own obsessions second.

Ultimately I’m not sure it’s truly worthy of all the awards it’s been nominated for, but it is certainly more than worthy of your time and money.
Score: 8.5/10