True Grit- Rating 7 out of 10
Out of all the December movies being released I think I was most anxious to see this one. Big fan of the original released in 1969. Hard to compete with the first one since that was the only film John Wayne won an Oscar playing US Marshall Rooster Cogburn. This version is more of a retelling of the book (by Charles Portis) than a remake of the movie.
In case you have seen neither version of this movie. A bad man named Tom Chaney kills a good family man. When the law does little to bring him to justice his spunky twelve year old daughter (Mattie Ross) hires the drunken, fat US Marshall to hunt him down. A Texas Ranger joins force and off they go.
Jeff Bridges does a good job as Cogburn. Matt Damon is a pretty good actor and is likable as the Texas Ranger with the strange French last name LaBoeuf. Josh Brolin is okay as the bad Tom Chaney in a roll that could have gone to anyone with what I'd guess to be less than two minutes of screen time. It's little Hailee Steinfeld that steals the show as the young Mattie Ross. She is perfect in her smart talking little girl that is afraid of no one.
The movie drags in a few places and the ending is a little hokey in parts. This keeps my rating lower than it should be. Overall I'd still highly recommend this movie if you like Westerns at all.
After watching this movie I had to find a copy of the original True Grit with John Wayne. Amazing what a journey that was. Blockbuster didn't even stock it. Went to Wal-Mart where the kid in the DVD section said he had never heard of True Grit and barely knew who John Wayne was. Seriously.
ReplyDeleteFunny how movies you saw many years ago seemed so great then you watch them again and they are not nearly as good as we remembered them. The original is still a good movie. But I would have to say the remake is definitely better. I will change my rating from a 7 to an 8.