CAST OF TRUE GRIT 2010 MOVIE
CAST OF TRUE GRIT 2010 UPDATE

Great cinema simply proved beyond its grasp.

Compare it with a Coen masterpiece like No Country for Old Men and you’ll see what I mean immediately: There’s more suspense, mystery and poetry in the scene when Javier Bardem flips a coin and orders the gas station owner to “call it” than in this entire picture.

CAST OF TRUE GRIT 2010 MOVIE

It’s a good look for him.) are wild west fun but hardly classic movie moments. Their manhunt has its highpoints-a run in with cohorts of the fellow they’re tracking and a shoot out with a notorious gang (Barry Pepper plays its leader and, I swear, looks like he’s had plastic surgery to turn him into Harry Dean Stanton. One minute he’s spying on the young girl as she sleeps and pervily speaks of “stealing a kiss.” The next, he’s the Dudley Do-Right of the bunch, singing the praises of his carbine and spouting the Ranger motto like a tumbleweed boy scout. The problem is they seem to have been unable to make up their minds as to just what sort of character that should be. He’s game and does his darndest to embody the character the Coens want as a foil to Cogburn. Newcomer Hailee Steinfeld more than holds her own as Mattie Ross, the Arkansas 14-year-old who hires Cogburn to bring her father’s murderer to justice.Īccompanying the pair on their perilous trek through Choctaw territory is a Texas Ranger named LaBoeuf and played by Matt Damon. The actor plays the irascible lawman and drunkard essentially as an older, grumpier version of the country singer and drunkard Bad Blake, the role which earned him his Oscar in Crazy Heart just last year. Jeff Bridges’ iconic Dude, for example, is in no danger of being eclipsed by his capable but familiar Rooster Cogburn. In each case, the performances they give this time around pale next to work they’ve done in the past. And then there’s the cast, several members of which have appeared in previous Coen productions. The heavily styled dialogue, as adapted by the brothers, preserves Portis’ odd formality (in the 1870s the contraction evidently had yet to be invented) but, again, mysteriously drains all but trace elements of the author’s wry wit.

Likewise, Carter Burwell’s score is a thing of transcendent, evocative beauty.

True Grit is something to see even if every minute of it isn’t necessarily worth watching. Cinematographer Roger Deakins is a high priest of his profession and, after so many collaborations, can probably pretty much read the fraternal filmmakers’ minds. Not that the Coens haven’t assembled an A team on all fronts. This is a film with its share of nice touches, yet one which fails to rank with the brothers’ truly top notch stuff. Confoundingly, the book’s dark humor continues to elude attempts at screen adaptation. The Charles Portis novel on the surface would seem ripe for the brothers’ patented plucking and yet, while they make a movie more suited to our time, it must be said they haven’t quite made one likely to outlast it.

CAST OF TRUE GRIT 2010 UPDATE

The villains are not mustache twirlers, but desperate and violent men, living at the furthest fringe of civilization.It goes without saying that Joel and Ethan Coen’s update of the 1969 western which earned John Wayne his solitary Oscar represents a departure in approach, interpretation and tone. The John Wayne film had stars, but this version has characters, like Colonel Stonehill (Dakin Matthews) and the Bear Man (Ed Corbin). The Coens, on the other hand, do a better job of conveying the prairies and hills of Oklahoma, and the beauty of a nearly pristine wilderness.Īlso, the casting is impeccable all the way through. in Colorado, but that is close enough),and it shows. The older version was shot mostly in Southern California (Well, actually Ouray Co. How is this film better than the 1969 John Wayne Classic? Three major things: plot pacing, supporting characters, and scenery. If you don’t see the point of films about the frontier, then this will probably elude you. Who Won’t Like This Film? That’s a tough question, but it’s an awfully American film. Who Will Like This Film? Anybody that likes Westerns, this is a fine addition to the classic canon.

Cast of true grit 2010