Review: True Grit

Guest reviewer AYM reviews True Grit with lots of flair and colour; Enjoy!

The Coen brothers have their own movie genre. Their sensibility is best described by an attitude that considers the word 'American' to be an ethnicity. This thick American paint they coat on ideas and plots from other sources (The Odyssey, heists in '60s London, Cormac Mcarthy's darkness) to make successful movies (O Brother, Where Art Thou, The Ladykillers, No Country For Old Men). In, True Grit, however, the brothers overreach. They dare to remake Wayne, but the paint does not stick.

"They dare to remake Wayne, but the paint does not stick..."

True Grit is a story of revenge. The opening scenes subtly show the crime that has been committed, and soon we experience the awkward acting of Hailee Steinfeld, in the role of the fourteen year old bent on revenge, Mattie. The Coen Brothers badly blend the naivety and inexperience of the character with her grit and determination for revenge. Scenes alternate between Mattie outwitting a cunning trader and her lack of knowledge of a variety of issues.

Mattie hires Rooster Cogburn, a bounty hunter. She is given a choice of possible hunters, but picks Cogburn because he has the reputation of not bringing his targets back alive. Cogburn is introduced in a courtroom scene that sets the tone for his one dimensional character. Constantly drunk, gun-happy, and periodically trotting out worn one-liners concerning the bravado associated with skipping the thinking and pulling the trigger. I'll admit Jeff Bridges snugly fit into the character, and uses each of his one liners to extract guffaws from the audience. However, those laughs are the kind that go on longer than they should, and end with a deep sigh.

A twist in the story occurs when a Texas Ranger named Laboeuf (Matt Damon) enters the bounty hunting game. Laboeuf and Mattie have a troubling set of initial interactions, which are heavily tinged with attempted violence and sexual undertones. That Laboeuf moves from such a creepy person to heroic rescuer at the end of the movie, speaks volumes about the story's schizophrenia. Laboeuf and Cogburn start their adventure together, and are joined by an indignant Mattie, angry that she had been abandoned. The trio hunt for Tom Chaney, the subject of Mattie's revenge. A set of cowboyesque adventures ensue, with heavy doses of Confusion and Black Humor (two of the Coen Brothers' specialties).

The worst aspect of the movie is its ending, which packs into the last minutes, a minor misadventure, a final resolution, and a flash forward conclusion.

"...there is nothing more to do than (truely) grit your teeth, and wait for the movie to end."

Overall, the movie is undecided as to what it wants to be. Unlike Unforgiven, Eastwood's masterpiece post-modern Western, it does not address the Western genre. It also fails to be an entertaining Coen Brothers movie. Other than a few laughs, and a stark portrayal of the state of Native Americans (the audience gasped at the non-gory cruelty shown to them), there is nothing much to do than (truely) grit your teeth and wait for the movie to end.

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