Fact: I love the Wild West. I have a cowboy hat from a dude ranch in Colorado i seriously considered wearing while i wrote this. Alas, I am not wearing the hat, because it is 1am and i am lazy. But I am listening to the credits track from Red Dead Redemption, which counts for something. Anyways, where was I... oh right, True Grit. I'm happy to say i was not disappointed by this movie one bit. After all, it did have Jeff Bridges, Josh Brolin, and Matt Damon, and its hard to do wrong with a cast like that.
Now before i get going on any of them, i have to give credit where credit is due and congratulate Hailee Steinfeld on an excellent performance. Now, from what I've gathered from my minimal capacity for research, this is her first major motion picture, and I must say it looks to be the start of a great career. She is a very convincing actress and held her own with her major league co-stars. Alas, i now must dissect her character, Mattie Ross, as is my way. Now while the character of Mattie Ross, a young, well-educated girl who wants to avenge her father's death, is one i can completely get behind, it just didn't seem to fit the context. In that time period, in somewhere like Arkansas, there are not many who can acquire that sort of higher knowledge, and it would especially be difficult for a girl from what is not a wealthy family. I'm sorry but suspension of disbelief only goes so far, and the odds are stacked against this one.
Next up is Jeff Bridges, if only because i want him to be the second character examination, just like he was for Tron: Legacy (hooray for consistency!). Bridges plays the overweight, drunken federal marshal Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn. This is, without question, my favorite character in this film. Throughout the film, he is amusingly oblivious to how much of a drunk he is, and how out of shape hes gotten over the years. He is a worn down, fat, and downs whiskey like its water. In fact, the majority of his scenes he's either drinking whiskey, or smoking a hand-rolled cigarette. However, when it counts, he comes through, which in a way puts him into a traditional role. The man who was great, but is now a sort of disheveled drunk, but deep down is still a hero. Now I'm sure thats a standard character, I've definitely seen it before, but i can't think of what is called. Primarily because now it's 2am.
Next in line is Matt Damon. Well what can i say about Damon that hasn't already been said? Probably nothing. So let us move on to Texas Ranger La Boeuf, Damon's True Grit character. Once you wrap your head around the idea of Matt Damon as a Texas Ranger, the role actually goes pretty well. Damon does his usual impressive job, although i must say La Boeuf did lack a humor possessed by the rest of the cast. La Boeuf is a pretty basic, mildly egotistical character, confident in his superiority over Cogburn (Bridges) and pretty much every other character in the film. All in all, not a very substantial character in the least, who spends most of his time arguing with Cogburn over nothing in particular.
Now Josh Brolin's performance threw me off the most. It isn't that it wasn't good or anything like that, it's simply that i expected more of him. For as central a character as he played, he got a surprisingly small amount of screen time. Brolin did great work with what time he had though, portraying the mildly unstable Tom Chaney, who murdered Mattie Ross' father. He is also the antagonist around whom the story revolves. In a sense, given how important a character he is in comparison to the extent of his actual appearance, he is almost as much a plot device as he is a character, serving as a premise for the other 3 characters to get together and providing a purpose to their shared journey. Even so, Brolin gives his typical strong performace, and if i didn't know better, after this movie i would have no trouble believing Josh Brolin could go around killing people for stupid reasons. But he is thankfully a very talented actor instead of a murderer. and if by chance, he happens to be a murderer on the side and is reading this, your secret is safe with me Mr. Brolin please don't kill me.
tl;dr:
Plot: 7.5/10
Acting: 9/10
Soundtrack: 6/10
Effects: 9/10
Overall: 7.8/10
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