Reviews

What the Coen Brothers have done with the 2010 True Grit is make a Western for the ages. Old-time cowboys and the Wild West come alive once more in this beautifully shot, brilliantly cast, classically told Western. Infused with humor and lifting a large portion of the lyrically magical words straight from Portis' book, True Grit is a real departure for the Coens in terms of tone, but it's truer to the traditional Western than any film of the past 30 years. True Grit's got hangings, shoot-outs, bad guys who shoot first and good guys who let their words do battle before resorting to firearms. True Grit is a Western steeped in the grand tradition of the genre, a lushly photographed love letter to bygone days when cowboys had swagger and true grit, and colorful outlaws often met their maker at the hands of vigilantes.

By Rebecca Murray, from About.com

What makes True Grit a new classic for the Coens is the way the brothers absorb the unfairly unsung Portis into their DNA, like they did with Cormac McCarthy in No Country for Old Men. True Grit is packed with action and laughs, plus a touching coda with an older Mattie, but it's the dialogue that really sings. Great filmmaking. Great acting. Great movie. Saddle up.

By Peter Travers, from Rolling Stone

In some ways, much like Charles Laughton's Night of the Hunter, which the Coens quote both musically and visually, True Grit is a parable about good and evil. Only here, the lines between the two are so blurred as to be indistinguishable, making this a true picture of how the West was won, or -- depending on your view -- lost.

By Manohla Dargis, from The New York Times