REVIEW: True Grit

MOVIE
True Grit

CAST
Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld

RATING
PG-13

RELEASE
December 22, 2010

DIRECTOR(S)

Joel & Ethan Coen

STUDIO
Paramount Pictures

RUNNING TIME
1 hour 50 minutes

GRADE
A+ (97)

STARS
****

REVIEW:

On the night of December 15, 2010, there were two movie screenings brewing up in center city Philadelphia. The first, was the Reese Witherspoon comedy 'How Do You Know'. The second screening was Jeff Bridges' 'True Grit'. Guess which one I chose? Yes, I did pick True Grit, in case you were curious is I spent my night watching Reese Witherspoon in strings of relationships. Now I personally was a bit skeptic on seeing this movie, since I really never saw a Western movie before, (does Back To The Future Part III count?) so I didn't know what to expect, other than cowboys and guns. But this is more than a western movie, this is a brutal, funny, disturbing, and serious movie that is surely to be hailed as one of the best movies of the year. Luckily, I agree with all of the critics who've reviewed the movie so far: True Grit really is one of the best movies of the year.

Mattie Ross' father got shot in cold blood by the coward Tom Chaney, and she will not rest until she sees Chaney dead. But in order to kill Chaney, she needs to hire a man who has what they call "True Grit". So the man she hires is the drunken, messed up Rooster Cogburn, who also happens to have killed tons of people. So the two set out to find Chaney, but soon become a threesome when a Texas ranger named La Beouf tags along to find Chaney, but for his own personal reasons instead.

Now this movie's been getting a lot of speculation lately, mainly because nobody likes a remake of a classic movie. Well I never saw the original 'True Grit' with the late John Wayne, but I will surely try to see it during my free time in the coming weeks. People have been telling me that John Wayne cannot be replaced or have one of his movies become remade. But from what I heard and saw, Jeff Bridges brought his own sense of originality to the role of the Drunken Cogburn that is surely one of the best played roles to be seen in film this year, which actually brings me to my next paragraph.

So what made this movie click was the two main performances from Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld.Well there are two words that can only be said about these performances: OSCAR NOMINATION! Yes that's right, I said it. Jeff Bridges nails the part of a drunken US Marshall with both serious and comedic terms that made the whole theater laugh out loud at some points. Unfortunately, I haven't seen movies like The King's Speech or 127 Hours this year, (rated R) so i don't know if Jeff Bridges will win the Oscar this year like he did last year with the acclaimed Crazy Heart, but this movie definitely gives him a sure-fire nomination. In fact, I wouldn't mind seeing Jeff Bridges getting a two for one nomination for this movie and Disney's TRON: Legacy. But the performance I believe should WIN is Hailee Steinfeld in the Best Supporting Actress category, where she was spot on as Mattie Ross, whose character is basically a 30 year old woman trapped in a 14 year old's body, hypothetically speaking. Out of all of the characters in this movie, Ms. Steinfeld here should be the one to take some gold this year. The rest of the main players were teriffic in this movie, but nothing compared to Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld's performances. You have to see it to believe it.

There were many ups for me seeing this movie. 1.) It was my first Coen Brothers movie ever: 2.) this was my first Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, AND Josh Brolin movie in theaters, which all the more made the movie more enjoyable: and 3.) the movie was FREE! I'm glad that this movie was my first Coen Brothers movie, since the movie was both gritty and terrific for what it was. I'm actually glad this was my first Coen Brothers movie mainly because this is a supposed different turn for them, so I'm glad I was apart of a bunch of college kids/adults to see it. I would also like to point out that this movie was enjoyable because it had incredibly disturbing/disgusting parts involving gun-shots, severed body parts, pulling teeth out of a mouth, etc. I had to turn away at these parts since they were so hard to watch. But overall, True Grit was truly good.

So what is to say about True Grit? I mean, calling this movie a Western won't do this movie enough justice, even though it's main genre is Western. I'd call True Grit the following: a Comedy, Brutal, Disturbing, Bloody, and a Western, or A.B.B.C.D.W. for short. For those who like any of the giving words mentioned, True Grit is the perfect choice for a Saturday night. But I would like to mention, and this is a rarity to me, this movie isn't really something to be seen over and over again, sort of like Inception. One viewing was good enough for me. Surely I would be curious to watch it when it comes on TV, but that's about it. But overall, True Grit is one of the must see movies of the holiday season, an excellent film, and something that I think the late Wayne would've been proud of. So, do you have True Grit? You tell me.