A girl and a gun - sans irony.
Given that, it must be said that their latest entry is deeply disappointing. Devoid of the moral complexity of No Country for Old Men or the ironic wit of Burn After Reading, True Grit is a consistently predictable Western on par with the worst cowboys-and-indians dross of the John Wayne era. All gun fetishisation, thinly drawn caricatures and grating score, the film amounts to little more than an unduly nostalgic homage to an overrated genre.
There are some redeeming features. The dialogue, for instance, is enjoyably old-West-ish, and there are a few moments in which the film threatens to become interesting. These, however, are quickly squashed by waves of rousing music and crowd-pleasing violence.
There are several possible explanations for the state of True Grit: firstly, that it is secretly a huge pisstake, kind of like Australia or the Westboro Baptist Church; or, more plausibly, that the Coen brothers have been simultaneously possessed by the ghost of “One Shot” Beaudine. If the latter is the case, viewers ought to exercise care and treat future Coen output with due caution.
Directed by Ethan and Joel Coen
Starring Hailee Steinfeld, Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon
RATING:
★ ★
