Oh no! Here comes another Hollywood hack remaking a classic that doesn’t need to be made. Whatever happened to the original stories that used to litter our cinemas? John Wayne must be rolling in his grave blah blah blah…etc etc.
If this is the dim view you take on The Coen Brothers’ adaptation of Charles Portis’ 1968 novel of the same name, congratulations, you are an idiot. And not just any idiot, the kind of idiot who’s looking forward to Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and that’s some thundering idiothole.
Anyway, True Grit stars 14 year old Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross on a mission to hunt, find and kill Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), the man who double crossed her father before kicking him off. Her mother is crippled by grief and the burden of looking after her young children so the wheelings and dealings are left to the scarily headstrong and efficient Mattie. She enquires about who can help her track down the elusive Chaney and chooses the gruff, drunken, awesomely named and not at all hygienic Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) from a short list.