thefriedgold

True Grit (2010)

Directed by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen

Starring Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Hailee Steinfeld

True Grit is a remake of a 1969 John Wayne film with the same name. I don’t usually watch remakes before I have seen the original however not really being a fan of Westerns I gave this a go, mainly due to it being Coen brothers film. Most films they have directed and produced have bought something different yet at the same time have some of the same constants. The dark humour, the bold characters and the main focus on strong accents/ the way certain characters speak.

In True Grit there was an element of humour but not much. It was a more serious Coen brother’s film with the main focus being on the story. Jeff Bridges in the role of Rooster Cogburn had this strong and sometime unidentifiable accent which definitely goes with a typical Coen film. However the star of this film was Halee Steinfeld in the role of Mattie Ross. It was her story of wanting to avenge the murder of her father and hire someone to capture the killer so he can be put to justice, and that is exactly how it played out. She was the only character I cared about, the rest were just a bit weak.

I don’t think it helped that the film was very slow in places. Although it looked fantastic and had the typical Western setting there didn’t seem to be enough gun fights or bar fighting, the kind of things I would expect from a western. Maybe these types of films are just not for me but I wasn’t a fan. Any fans of westerns may like this but I’ll let you make that choice.

Film Fact

In order to get the most effective voice after biting his tongue, Matt Damon tied a hair tie around it to talk as if he had no tongue.