A Re-make, A Western, A Good Movie. Review on True Grit Movie

Intriguing as it may sound, True Grit is a re-make of a 60's movie by the same name starring John Wayne. While Wayne drove the first time this movie(based on a book) was made, the real star of this movie is a 14-year old by the screen name of Mattie. The actor who assays her role is Hallie Steinfield. And the screen burns with her acting and the way she delivers her dialogue. The star who the movie is about is, however, Jeff Bridges, and he enacts the role of Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn, a US marshal recently demerited by the American court for being too trigger happy while on the job. His character is fleshed out terrifically, though, and it really seems as though he is made of TRUE GRIT.

Okay, about the movie. Mattie's father is murdered in front of her by his own employee Tom Chanee. She seeks justice for this, as it has been denied to her in the usual manner of law-police-judge etc. She decides to hire a US Marshal, but she will have none but the best. Cogburn is an aging marshal who is being tried for having killed the last of his criminal victims supposedly in cold blood. Mattie goes to the trial to look at and decide if he would be the right person for the job she has in mind, viz., to find, apprehend and bring back to the court of law the man who killed her father,

A third person enters the story, another marshal Le Bouef, played fantastically by Matt Damon. He is also chasing the same criminal, albeit for different crimes.

The story, then, is about these three protagonists, and how they chase Tom Chanee across the wild west. The various twists and turns that the story takes brings out the talent of these three fine actors, and it appears that the true grit of not just Jeff Bridges, but also Damon, and Steinfield, are tested equally.

Panoramic views of the open country, excellent cinematography, editing that is crisp, and conversations that are raw and draw the viewer in, are some of the strong points of this movie. In the process of trying to seek retribution for her dead father, Mattie too grows up in more ways than one as she grapples with an insufferable, hard drinking old reliable Cogburn and the young, impetuous and sharp shooter Le Bouef; as she learns that shooting a pistol or a rifle is no easy task; as she sees people being killed and blood being shed as the movie rushes to a climax; and as she sees her horse being put down; and as she, having grown up into her forties, tries to trace Cogburn and learns some bitter truths.

See this movie. In Mumbai, it is running at Metro Big Cinemas, where I saw it.

Basic Details: Duration: 110 minutes. Producers: Coen brothers,  Executive Producer: Steven Speilberg.