TRUE GRIT 3.5***





“True Grit" 2 is the Coen Brothers' most heroic, straight forward tale yet from a long line of outstanding movies made by them .The original "True Grit" took liberties with the book. The Coens' remain true to the original book storyline, In the first "True Grit" John Wayne won his Academy Award for playing his larger than life self as Rooster Cogburn, an aging U.S. Marshall, with ease and grace. Contrastingly, Jeff Bridges authentically inhabits Cogburn as the drunken broken down man coming to terms with his own mortality, who still possesses the remnants of “true grit”. Mattie, a very smart and shrewd 14 year old girl, hires him mainly because she sees the “grit” in him.. Young Hailee Steinfeld is a revelation as Mattie. Steinfeld and understatedly and wonderfully captures the spirit and character of Mattie . She is no nonsense and razor sharp. Matt Damon solidly plays the somewhat pompous Texas Ranger LaBoeuf—the Glenn Campbell role in the first movie. Damon shows again how versatile he is as an actor. He is with Cogburn and Mattie off and on during the hunt for Chaney and at the end.
Mattie seeks vengeance for the murder of her father by Tom Chaney ( Josh Brolin) who hastily fled to join up with outlaw Ned Pepper and his crew in the Indian Nations . Mattie aims to see Chaney hanged in her home state or brought back dead. Mattie often has Cogburn and Le Boeuf on their intellectual heels, but she is beholding to them for her very life. And the unlikely trio find danger and surprises on their journey, and each has his or her "grit" tested.

“True Grit” crackles and pops across the sweeping vistas of the Wild West, a time where the frontier actually existed, where young girls could pursue their father's killer in the name of revenge, and a time where a U.S. Marshall could be judge, jury, and executioner without any real appeal. The Coen Brothers have crafted a Western adventure that is everything a great Western should be . They take us back to a simpler time, where men roamed the wilderness and where things were either good or bad, and it is this simplicity that makes “ True Grit “the superb achievement that it is. And Coen Brothers fans will not be disappointed because this film very definitely has the Coen touch and feel to it.


This is one of the best films of the year. However, the PG-13 rating is somewhat misleading as it is on the very cusp of being rated R for the violence.
Clark