True Grit
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper & Hailee Steinfeld
Director: Joel/Ethan Coen
Rating: 4/5
It's been three years since the huge success of No Country for Old Men back in 2008 - going on to win Best Picture at the Oscars - but Joel and Ethan Coen return to the Western for a remake of True Grit.
Following the murder of her beloved father, 14-year-old farm girl Mattie Ross hires the grizzled Marshall Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn (Bridges) to hunt down the killer - the infamous 'gun for hire' Tom Chaney (Brolin).
Only a man with 'true grit' can bring a lawless man like Chaney to justice and the Marshall may be a slave to the bottle, but he has killed many outlaws before and appears to be just the man for the job.
But once on they're on the road, the Marshall's destructive behaviour begins to test Mattie's faith, that is until they're joined by Texas Ranger La Boeuf (Damon), who it seems has an agenda of his own.
The Western may not be as popular a movie genre as it once was but with movies such as this you can't help but wish that there were more of them around.
The Coen brothers have done it again as they capture the spirit of the old west but bring the genre into the 21st Century.
While the movie has a great script and looks fab, the Coens use the harsh landscape and scenery to beautiful effect, it's the cast that really are the heart and soul of this movie.
Hailee Steinfeld is a young talent that we should all be getting very excited about as this is a bold and ballsy debut performance.
She commands the screen and your attention with every scene and it's hard to believe that this is her first movie.
She banter well with her more well established co-stars - which come in the form of Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon - standing her ground and never being eclipsed by the superior experience.
Bridges is perfectly cast as Cogburn the U.S. Marshall who spend just as much time drinking whisky as catching criminals.
He brings humour to the movie as he is just as laugh out loud funny as he is deadly. He spars well with Matt Damon's La Beouf - the talkative Texas Ranger who wants to snare Chaney for himself.
The Coen's could so easily have made this movie an all out gun fight but instead this is a character driven piece - and is so much the better for it.
It's a coming of age movie for the central character Mattie Ross who rides across plains and through forests to avenge the death of her father.
While Cogburn and La Beouf are looking for some form of redemption and find it in this little girl.
Sadly Josh Brolin and Barry Pepper are used very little in the movie which is a major shame as they are a pair of fine actors.
True Grit is a Western for the modern era and is a movie that is essential viewing for all film fans.
True Grit may be a well known novel and movie but the Coen has taken this story and while remaining true to it have made it their own.
This is a gritty and violent movie on the one hand while being funny and fabulously entertaining on the other.
Keep you eye out for Hailee Steinfeld as she has a very promising career ahead of her!!
True Grit is out now
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw