From a classic western novel, the Coens have fashioned a western in the classic mode. Not only does it have the drop on the 1969 version, it’s the first great movie of 2011.
It's robustly played and ravishing to look at, with its bullish inhabitants and glorious, bleached-bone cinematography. But its furniture is almost too comfortable and too lovingly restored, and it is left to Damon to provide the tale's one properly unruly ingredient as the florid, preening ranger.
The Coens have reunited a great text with its original meaning, a minor miracle in an industry where the opposite is the norm.
The Coens are respectful of the material and they show great restraint in keeping their trademark sardonic humour at bay. Instead they deliver an artfully re-envisioned western of brutish characters shot in sun-bleached cinematography to tell a tale not easily forgotten.
Terrific: tough, exciting, funny, gorgeous and bewitchingly acted, this is darn close to perfection.
It may seem a bit mannered at times, but it does befit the rather gruff grandeur of Mattie and her half-man half-whisky US marshal, as their relationship gradually metamorphoses from a business transaction into a surprisingly moving paternal bond.
We end with a sense of two gifted filmmakers lavishing their gifts on renovation instead of innovation.
Like a home-made quilt, a lot of effort and love has gone into this film, and it’s a real pleasure to snuggle into.
This True Grit is a very impressive piece of work, beautifully photographed by Roger Deakins, and if you had never seen the original, it might be getting even higher praise.
True Grit is less than the sum of its parts. It meanders along, convinced of its own idiosyncratic suavity, never venturing out of its makers’ comfort zones.
From the cinematography to the music, this is gorgeous cinema in every regard, and a sparkling script delivered by exceptional actors provides some of the best moments you’ll see all year.
Superior western, with flaws.
True Grit is a slow-burning, respectful version of a great novel that is entirely commendable in its own right. However, its hard not to conclude that the John Wayne version was a good deal more fun.
It's fast-paced but elegiac, violent but stately and exciting but measured.
The original netted John Wayne his only Oscar as Rooster Cogburn yet the Coen Brothers' remake betters that film in every way by feeling both modern and timeless.
The most formidable Western since Unforgiven. The Coens take the old terrain seriously, and that's why it's such a rattling pleasure – with grit and with gravity too.
True Grit is a harsher, more sombre film than the Wayne version, the tone chillingly wintry rather than gently autumnal, the music less jaunty, more religious and pastoral. It's also funnier, yet never inviting the description "comic western".
True Grit: Sharp shooters draw the best out of the West
The Coens and their regular cameraman Roger Deakins make the physical backdrop as potent as John Ford and Anthony Mann’s widescreen landscapes. True Grit is perhaps the brothers’ most straightforward and classically-made movie.
Film preview: Coen brothers' True Grit
True grit: Jeff Bridges interview
True Grit: Back in the saddle
With True Grit, the Coen brothers have given the western back its teeth
The Coen brothers: the cartographers of cinema
Joel and Ethan Coen on 'True Grit': We completely ignored the original
Jeff Bridges may be Hollywood royalty, but deep down he's just The Dude
Interview--Jeff Bridges on his role in the Coen brothers' True Grit
Meet the teen queen of the new wild west
True Grit: Rooster to teh rescue
True Grit: Coens are still calling the shots
New True Grit owes nothing to John Wayne, say directors
Interview: Jeff Bridges on True Grit
True Grit: A road movie without roads
Coen Brothers: Why Oscar hope True Grit is biggest hit
General release. Check local listings for show times.
RSS feed of Cinema reviews