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Critics Consensus: Girded by strong performances from Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, and lifted by some of the Coens' most finely tuned, unaffected work, True Grit is a worthy companion to the Charles Portis book.
Critic Consensus: Girded by strong performances from Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, and lifted by some of the Coens' most finely tuned, unaffected work, True Grit is a worthy companion to the Charles Portis book.
All Critics (270) | Top Critics (49) | Fresh (258) | Rotten (12) | DVD (2)
The Coen brothers' excellent western True Grit is a second and rather different version of Charles Portis's novel, rather than a remake of the 1969 film that brought John Wayne an Oscar as the one-eyed bounty hunter Marshal Rooster Cogburn.
This True Grit is a very impressive piece of work, beautifully photographed by Roger Deakins, and if you had never seen the original, it might be getting even higher praise.
It could be the Coens' most straightforward film, but it's also one of their best.
The old-school American western was not dead, it seems. It was just playing possum, waiting for the Coens to come along and rouse it.
The tense verbal comedy of Mattie's early negotiation with a Fort Smith merchant should win you over to this movie's high linguistic wit.
Nothing very startling happens, but the Coens have a sure hand, and Bridges, in the old John Wayne role, plays a man, not a myth; you can sense Rooster's stink and his nasty intelligence, too.
Without comparing the film to John Wayne's original of 1969, the Coen's version stands on its own with noteworthy performances by Jeff Bridges and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld.
What we get is a more faithful, near-pitch perfect adaptation of the original text which narrowly misses out on being classifiable as a Coen classic.
It's very much in keeping with the Coen policy of turning out great, rich, bloodsome stuff in a casual or even stealthy way, without much pomp or clamor.
True Grit is a masterpiece that should win over the most dedicated Duke die-hards and introduce a new generation of boys (and girls) to the gritty thrills of the Wild West.
Henry Hathaway's 1969 adaptation was highly faithful... The Coens' movie is less faithful than Hathaway's but stronger - the production, by their regular team, is formally superb - and weirder.
Disappointing overall, though entertaining at times, True Grit isn't exactly the Coen brothers best movie but they get an A for effort.
Out of all westerns I've seen (being only 3) this is probably the second best to me (Cowboys and Aliens being my favorite,) Its extremely well acted, the action, though very little, is still very well done, also the comedy is also pretty funny, though some of the comedy comes from how random some of the scenes are such as the bear guy. The film is also much like a horror movie, with some pretty brutal deaths and some pretty graphic frights like some hanging man they have to cut down from the trees. The one flaw I dislike about this movie is that Jeff Bridges is very hard to understand in a lot of moments in the film (Thank God for Subtitles on DVDs.) But overall this is a fantastic film.
Super Reviewer
Wonderful direction, strong performances from all, and beautiful cinematography add up to a great modern Western from the Coen brothers.
A mesmerizing epopee that evokes the true grandeur of classic Westerns, with a beautiful melancholy score, well-developed characters, a magnificent cinematography, endless memorable lines and top-notch performances, especially from Bridges and Steinfeld.
Top to bottom a solid retelling of the classic. The Coen Brothers do a wonderful job and Bridges and Steinfeld shine. I havent seen the original in years and have never read the book. But this an amazingly good film.
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