Alex: True Grit (2010)

          True Girt is another example of why movie trailers are not to be trusted. Everything about the True Grit trailer pointed to it being the best film of the year. COEN BROTHERS. WESTERN. JEFF BRIDGES. MATT DAMON. ADORABLE GIRL. JOHNY FUCKING CASH. My friends and I, whose opinions appear in this very space, were positively a tizzy about the movie and the sheer brilliance that was going to be shoved down our eyeholes. Sadly this was not to be.
          The movie focuses on Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld), a 14-year-old girl looking to avenge the death of her father. The story begins with Ross arriving in a rural western town to settle the affairs of her family, and to begin her personal vendetta against her father’s murderer, Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin). Ross is a fast-talking, intelligent girl able to outwit the adults who insist she is too young to go out into the country hunt a man wanted across the states and territories of what was at the time the Southwest. To help in her quest she enlists U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) a ruthless old man and drunkard. In town she meets Texas Ranger Laboeuf (Matt Damon) who is looking to bring Cheney to justice for a crime he committed in Texas. The three set out into the impossibly vast country looking for the criminal.
          And if you’ve seen any movie, ever, you should be able to piece together what happens next. The three bicker. Laboeuf leaves. He gets in trouble and Ross and Cogburn save him. Cogburn reveals that he really is an old drunk. Laboeuf leaves again. Every scene telegraphs what is about to happen and the entire script fits into the simplest plot the Coen Brothers have ever put to film. There is no discussion of morality or depth to the story like in the duo’s previous western, No Country for Old Men. The three heroes set off to catch the bad guy, and then, 90 minutes later, they do.
          The simple nature of the plot, however, does not make the movie bad. Bridges and Damon give excellent performances and Steinfeld stands with them unflinchingly. The dialogue is the best you will hear this year outside of the Social Network. The threesome throw complex zingers at one another for the duration of the movie and the chemistry between them, particularly Bridges and Steinfeld, is entertaining to watch. The Coen Brothers captured the setting with respect and admiration of the vastness of the West. Other westerns and Red Dead Redemption glorify sleeping out under the stars and getting everywhere by horse back, but True Grit accurately captures the anxiety that stems from the fact that the only law in the country is the gun you have and your ability to shoot it straight. The compete isolation that the characters feel after they left town is shown by the actors and captured the directors. I find that world absolutely terrifying, but that’s only because I’m a wimp. I would not last a day in the Wild West.
          Sam said it best on facebook. “True Grit is a very good movie, a great Western, and a mediocre Coen Brothers film.” If you want to spend your 10 bucks on an enjoyable movie with great performances go see True Grit. But the fact is that, even though it could have been, and even though I wanted it to be, True Grit is not the best film of the year.