True Grit (2010)
★★½ — True Grit (2010)
True Grit (2010) is the Coen Brothers' adaptation of Charles Portis's 1968 novel of the same name, a story centred on Mattie Ross, a resourceful and determined fourteen-year-old who hires a hard-drinking, one-eyed U.S. Marshal named Rooster Cogburn to track down the man who killed her father. It is, notably, the second time the novel had been brought to the screen: Henry Hathaway directed a 1969 version starring John Wayne, who won his only Academy Award for the role. The Coens have been vocal about adapting the novel itself rather than remaking the earlier film, which gives this version a slightly different flavour from its predecessor, leaning closer to Portis's dry, formal prose style in its dialogue and tone. Produced through Scott Rudin Productions, Mike Zoss Productions and Skydance Media, the film arrived in December 2010 to strong awards attention, earning ten Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director.
For Joel and Ethan Coen, True Grit represented something of a departure in setting, though the themes of chance, violence and moral ambiguity were entirely familiar territory. Their filmography ranges from crime comedies like Burn After Reading to the darkly funny and violent Fargo, and they returned to the Western form later with The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. True Grit sits somewhere between those poles: a genre exercise that takes its source material seriously and trusts its audience to follow a story told largely through conversation rather than action. Cinematographer Roger Deakins, a long-time collaborator, and composer Carter Burwell, another regular, both contributed to the film's period texture. The result is, on a technical level, polished but unfussy.
Jeff Bridges takes on the role of Cogburn, a part with considerable history attached to it given Wayne's association with the character. Bridges had recently won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Crazy Heart, arriving at True Grit at something of a career high point, and brings a rougher, more mumbling physicality to the role than his predecessor. Alongside him, Matt Damon plays Texas Ranger LaBoeuf, a preening and occasionally comic foil to Cogburn's gruff pragmatism, while Josh Brolin appears as the killer the group are pursuing, and Barry Pepper leads a gang of outlaws in a smaller but memorable role. The most significant piece of casting, however, is Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross, a then fourteen-year-old with no major film credits to her name, given the task of anchoring the entire picture. Whether that gamble pays off is central to how you receive the film overall.
The 2010 True Grit remake, directed by the Coen Brothers and starring Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn, is a perfectly competent Western. Handsomely shot, well-acted, and faithful to the spirit of Charles Portis’s novel. There’s no denying the craftsmanship: Roger Deakins’ cinematography paints the frontier in crisp, wintry clarity, Carter Burwell’s score hums with mournful Americana, and the dialogue crackles with the Coens’ trademark precision. Jeff Bridges growls his way through the role with grizzled authenticity, though he never quite eclipses John Wayne’s iconic (if more theatrical) Oscar-winning take. Hailee Steinfeld, however, is a revelation as Mattie Ross (steely, articulate, and fiercely determined) carrying much of the film’s emotional weight with remarkable poise for a debut performance. And yet… it’s just fine. It lacks the grit, unpredictability, or moral complexity that define the Coens at their best. The pacing drags in stretches, the stakes feel muted, and the whole thing carries a certain polite reverence that keeps it from truly gripping you. It’s a well-made museum piece, admired more than felt. Solid, respectful, and occasionally moving, but ultimately safe. A good Western, sure. Just not a great one.
What stays with me, having sat with this one for a while, is that nagging sense of a film that had everything it needed and still held something back. The Coens have shown, particularly in Hell or High Water, how the Western landscape can carry real emotional weight and genuine unease, and True Grit feels, by comparison, like it keeps the audience at a careful arm's length. There's nothing wrong with it, and I'd recommend it to anyone with an interest in the genre or the source material. But for me, a good film that could so easily have been a great one is always a slightly melancholy thing. Safe hands, safe film.
Rating: ★★½ | Year: 2010 | Watched: 2026-02-16
Trailer
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from Ethan Coen: Burn After Reading (2008) · Barton Fink (1991) · Fargo (1996) · The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
More with Jeff Bridges: The Last Picture Show (1971) · Surf's Up (2007) · Crazy Heart (2009) · Hell or High Water (2016)
More from the 2010s: Wonder (2017) · Beautiful Boy (2018) · The Witch (2015) · What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
More drama: Viy (1967) · Wonder (2017) · A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Beautiful Boy (2018)
More adventure: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · The Eagle (1925) · Louisiana Story (1948) · The General (1926)
