The Coen Brothers are not to be pigeon-holed. Their last 4 movies were a ridiculous re-make of a classic comedy, a 4 Oscar-winning tense and thoughtful modern western, an exercise in paranoid chaos incarnate, and modern allegory for the book of Job. Now they're doing a classic John Wayne flick and making it, well, Grittier.
The brothers are always character driven which is what makes even my least favourite of their films better than almost any other films. This is probably that least favourite (of the ones I've seen), however the characters are delightful. Haillee Steinfeld plays Mattie Ross, a tough as nails young girl who won't take no for an answer. She knows what she wants and she gets it. Jeff Bridges plays Rooster Cogburn, an alcoholic bounty hunter who's rival/counterpart in this film is Matt Damon's LaBeouf, a chatty and cocky Texas Ranger who, despite a knack for getting himself in trouble, is an honourable sort of fellow. All of them are after Josh Brolin (quickly riding up my favourite actors list) who plays the villainous (and terribly stupid) Tom Chaney.
A few people I know - including some I saw it with - found themselves bored and frustrated at it not being more of an action movie, but the action is in the right places: It's called pacing, something people rarely have patience for anymore. Thank you Coen Brothers for caring.
The movie is up for a lot of Oscars and it might win some of them too. It's the chemistry that makes this movie magic. The banter, the hate, the rivalry, the love. And best of all, every major character - even the outlaw Lucky Ned Penner, and, stranger still, Mattie's horse) display true grit, fighting hard and admirably for whatever goal they set out to achieve, even to the point of danger, or even death. And there's something might admirable about that.
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