True Grit

Review by Sean Lynch

The western has long been absent from our silverscreens, especially a successful one, but that all seems to have changed with the critically acclaimed True Grit becoming a bonafied money spinner across the globe (to date the film, which cost just $35M to produce, has currently raked in over $150M worldwide).

Based on the 1968 Charles Portis' novel, the second adaptation of the book (the first being the 1969 Oscar winner starring John Wayne), True Grit stars Hailee Steinfeld as the tough-as-nails Mattie Ross, and Jeff Bridges as U.S. Marshal Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn.

We kick off proceedings just as fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross's father has been shot in cold blood by the coward and no-goodnick Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), and she is determined to bring him to justice.

Enlisting the help of a trigger-happy, drunken U.S. Marshal, Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), she sets out with him - despite his many drunken objections - to hunt down Chaney.

The pursuit for justice for her father's blood takes the unlikely duo deep into Indian territory where they cross paths with a Texas Ranger named LeBoeuf (Matt Damon) who is also on the hunt for Chaney (but who wants to take him back to Texas for the murder of another man... and a healthy reward).

What follows is a slow burning relationship drama, which traverses the old west landscape with film-making precision.

Along with beautifully constructed characters, the brothers Coen have once again managed to weave in their own brand of farcical comedy without ever overshadowing the importance of the bonds that being created effortlessly between Cogburn, Ross and the down on his luck LeBoeuf (Damon reportedly wore a rubber band on his tongue to impede his speech).

There are some truly wonderful tense moments throughout True Grit as well, but for those expecting an out-and-out western, be prepared, True Grit isn't a gun slingingly heavy as traditionalists might like. Yes, it's slow... but the good kind of slow.

A step forward for the return of Western's into cinema (at least, more hope than Wild Wild West gave - that's for sure) and yet another piece of cinema that will cement the Coen's as two of the greatest of all time.

4 out of 5

True Grit
Australian release: 26th December, 2010
Official Site: True Grit
Cast: Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld, Barry Pepper
Director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen