True Grit (2010)

I grew up watching John Wayne movies. The man is movie icon. His body of work is legendary. Since Hollywood is seriously lacking in creativity these days it came as no surprise to finally see a remake of one of "The Duke's" films. I must admit that when I first heard that someone was remaking True Grit, I was appalled! And his only Oscar winnings performance to boot!? Blasphemy! Those arrogant Cohen Brothers! Who do they think they are? During the next few months the idea really started to sink in. I began to really consider the audacity of the dynamic brotherly directing duo and I became a believer. I considered the Brothers own legendary body of work. Eight Academy Awards between them, including two for Best Picture (Fargo, No Country For Old Men) and various other accolades. They even inspired me to read the book! After a bloody inner battle I realized that if anyone could pull this adaption of the Charles Portis classic and meet the Duke standard, they could.

Now for the actual review.....

True Grit is a story about a young girl named Maddie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) whose father is unjustly murdered by one of his employees, a simple minded criminal by the name of Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin). Maddie sets out to the town her father was killed to settle his business affairs, to send his body home for funeral, and to see that Chaney is brought to justice. After discovering that justice will not be sift as she sees fit, Maddie hires U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to hunt Chaney down. As they prepare for the hunt, they encounter an arrogant Texas Ranger by name of Lebeouf (Matt Damon) who is also on the scout for Chaney under a different name for the murder of a Texas senator. Together the three go after Chaney, who is now banded with Lucky Ned Pepper (Barry Pepper) and his gang of miscreants.

First and foremost the casting was brilliant. I am convinced that no one can play Rooster Cogburn like the Duke did, not even Jeff Bridges. However, this isn't the Rooster Cogburn of John Wayne lore. This Rooster is a much dirtier and dingier portrayal. There is no doubt about the man's courage and toughness, but there is some question about his character. Is he a good man? Or is he bad? By the end of the movie, Bridges has played the character so well that there will no be doubts to what the answer is. Matt Damon as LeBoeuf is monumentally better than Glen "The Rhinestone Cowboy" Campbell. He captured the arrogance and later the humility of LeBeouf very well. And newcomer Hailee Steinfeld is the most impressive by nailing the sassy and confrontational Maddie Ross. Made even more impressive by the fact that she has very little acting experience and easily garners the most screen time. Finally, the Cohen Brothers are masters at both writing original screen plays and adapted screen plays. While True Grit won't win an Oscar for Best Movie, it is deserving of multiple nominations and will more than likely be treated duly, although the Golden Globes managed to thumb its nose at the movie in most categories.

Recommendation: It is a family friendly movie with little or no coarse language. There is some violence. Some of it bloody, yet not excessively. True Grit is one of the rare Oscar caliber movies that is OK for almost everyone to see. Don't wait for this one on Blu-Ray or DVD!