"I've come to hire you, Marshall Cogburn, because people say you have true grit" - Mattie Ross.

Very few lines in a movie contains so much of what we movie goers come to expect when seeing a movie and in TRUE GRIT the expectations are well met.

Westerns are the fading genre,  hopeful stories of redemption and good vs. evil that capture in essence what is the real America (or United States for the rest of the world). Forget the economy, Obama and tea parties. These people are what started and made America great. Those rugged pioneers that traversed the wilds of indian infested frontiers in tarp covered wagons without Thera-flu to combat those hard winters or a Starbucks close by to contemplate on their existence. People forged by rough working conditions, hard liquor and guns. Yes, guns. Because without the firearms the west wouldn't have been "wild" at all.

Being able to survive these conditions made you tough, but also made you a self relying society destined for great things.

In those days your word and name was the only thing a man really had. Having "true grit" or unfaltering courage is what made you survive. But also is a lesson in values that many people have just forgotten these days because they don't need it anymore to live. The commitment to do something because it's right and not convenient is the whole notion of this film. One that the Coen brothers followed to the " t " in this remake. 

Now forget about the 1969 loved version with John Wayne. As great as the "dukes" performace was in that version this one guides itself closer to the book by Charles Portis. The Coen's get it right from almost every angle from staging, casting and tone. The Coen's have a long love affair with american culture and always do their stories right by historical and social commentary.

Where to start is very confusing because all parts that make this movie are equally good. But I would like to make our jump first into the visual. Cinematography makes or breaks a film. Period. You can have the greatest actors and script in the world but if the images you see don't mesh with the tone or the feel you've lost already. The scenery in this movie just does the simple thing of telling the story. You see the town - rough and busy and when you go into the unknown, in this case the indian infested territories or as known in screenwriting as "the underworld" you get a clear sense that you're not in Kansas anymore. The terrain you see is as cold and rough as the story it is telling. Brilliant work done here.

Now the choice of Jeff Bridges as Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn is good casting. You can appreciate his complete physical transformation. One look at this guy and you don't want him mad or offended or even drunk when crossing him (which he's always two of the three). Bridges portrayal of Cogburn is done in the right measure of experienced lawman, nostalgic crusader and all around loud mouth. His love for the bottle also makes one think that his glory days are forever gone, something we recognize at the end as just another ruse by the "rooster".

Another remarkable acting job is for newcomer Hailee Steinfield who plays the young Maddie Ross the girl that hires Cogburn to track down Cheney, the killer of her father. The performance is tuned in just rightly so that, in the hands of less experienced directors,  would had come off as a just a pesky brat. Also Matt Damon as Labeouf the Texas ranger that helps our heros and Josh Brolin as the outlaw Chaney do their part in supporting the movie. I might contest that the weakest link here is Brolin. Not that he did a bad job but just didn't come off as the menacing type you would think, maybe it was his intention but who knows. Also props to the rest of the cast who all in small and fun ways gave a great texture of western archetypes that well reflected society in those days. Not one drop of bad casting here... I tip my stetson to that.

The script keeps the pace well rounded and although if you've seen the pages of the shooting script some dialogue seemed a bit long at first glance, but it was very well delivered by the actors and again well paced by the directors. For those of the school of less dialogue is better go ahead, but in my opinion, where dialogue should be the length it needs to be to give the right idea or premise it works well here and again if done right doesn't bog down a film.

For everyone who laments the "newer" movies being made with cheesy special effects, lame cop comedies or absurd story lines TRUE GRIT is a little piece of "country" that gives faith to the movie making business today. I'm grateful studio execs didn't butcher this movie or requested a role for Justin Beiber and let an expirienced duo like the Coens do their thing. Hopefully after seeing this movie it might inspire all of us to tune into our own little pieces of "true grit" and maybe, just maybe make us become a little bit better.