"True Grit"

Hey guys, and welcome back to Part 2 of our Double Feature. Today, we get to play catch-up with the end of last year, when we saw a Western get released to the market. I mean, it's not like westerns...

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What do you mean, it passed 100 million dollars while I was away?

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Oh, awesome! It's still in theaters then!

*one viewing later*

Okay, I managed to get caught up on a movie I missed when the Holiday season started. So without further ado, here's part two of today's double feature...

True Grit

Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) is hunting down Tom Cheney (Josh Brolin), the man who shot and killed her father over a horse and two gold pieces. To do this, she enlists the help of washed up marshall Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), and the two of them go to find Tom to bring him to justice with the occasional help of Texas ranger La Boeuf (Matt Damon).

And... that's about it. There's this rather simple plot for us to go around, and there is something that could make it fall apart. And with how much it concentrates on its two main characters talking about random things, it could have fallen apart.

Fortunately, the characters in question are some of the most incredibly engaging characters I've seen in movies. Each character has such an incredible personality that what could have been boring becomes easily as enjoyable as the shootout scenes that are featured throughout. The multiple conversations the characters have are never boring, and as a result once we get the more intense scenes later on, we hope that Cogburn and Ross will be able to overcome whatever it is that's hit them.

And in this movie, you have to cast just the right people to make it interesting. And again, the casting choices are absolutely brilliant. Jeff Bridges is virtually inseperable from Rooster Cogburn. Forget what I said about his incredible performance in Crazy Heart last year: this is the role Bridges was born to play. Damon also lets a personality shine through in La Boeuf, and Brolin is incredibly capable of making himself the slimiest man in the west. But the one who deserves most praise out of the cast is Hailee Steinfeld, who always steals the show whenever she so much as opens her mouth. Mattie Ross is a character who has to exude an incredible amount of confidence and authority, has to act super intelligent for her age, and match up to the adults-- all this, from a 14 year old girl. Many child actresses probably would have been unsuccessful at this, but not Hailee Steinfeld. She is able to exude an air of confidence and authority that never falters under any circumstances (not even when someone's pointing a gun at her), and she steals our attention whenever she's on screen.

So with excellent casting and engaging characters, True Grit is an incredible movie on its own. Yes, I'm aware of the fact that it's a remake of the John Wayne movie, but on its own the Coen Brothers' vision is incredible thanks to characters that we actually come to care about.

4/4

A must-see picture of the year.

This is Herr Wozzeck Reviews. I'll see you guys next time.