Last week I watched a film I’ve been meaning to watch for a while:
True Grit (2010)
I’ve actually never seen the original version of this movie (much like The Magnificent Seven) but I’d heard the remake was good - and being a Cohen Brothers film I figured it must be worth a watch.
If you haven’t seen it, it stars Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski), Hailee Steinfeld (Bumblebee), Matt Damon (The Bourne Identity) and Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men) among others.
Here’s a short, sweet and to the point synopsis courtesy of IMDb:
“A stubborn teenager enlists the help of a tough U.S. Marshal to track down her father's murderer.”
As you’d expect from the line up everyone in this film does a great job, but it’s the 13 year old (at the time of shooting) Hailee Steinfeld who shines. She’s brilliant and way more talented at that young age than she ought to be.
Jeff Bridges is great (in everything) and Matt Damon is good too, playing a character that’s quite different to anything else I’ve seen him play so far.
I was surprised to find that Josh Brolin has such a small roll in this movie. When you consider he’d had a starring role in the Cohen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men (2007) just a few years earlier, it seems unusual that they’d use such a prominent actor for a part that a number of smaller actors could’ve played. That said, as you’d expect he puts in a decent performance as the movie’s villain.
I’m thinking I should watch the original now. Not only to see how they compare but because it never seems right to only watch the remake of a classic film.
Both movies are actually adaptations of the 1968 novel of the same name written by Charles Portis.
All in all an enjoyable movie that’s worth watching for Hailee Steinfeld’s performance if nothing else. 👌
Seen it? Let me know what you think.👇