True Grit Movie Review

**Disclaimer**  When I watch a movie, it's never because of who directed it or who acted in it. I watch stories being played out for me, and it means very little to me who is playing the part or who told them what to do. With that being said, any movie review I write is based on the story I've witnessed and the way it was played out.

I think Young Guns is the only other western I've seen from beginning to end, until today. Young Guns was all right but True Grit was exceptionally entertaining. The story was interesting, the characters were real enough to pull on my heart strings.

True Grit is the story of Mattie Ross, an intelligent and witty fourteen year old, and her search for the man who shot and killed her father. The story begins with Maddy making arrangements for her father's burial and settling some business. Here we learn that she's sharp tongued and quick minded and has little trouble getting what she wants with her persistence and follow through. I loved her. If I could be fourteen in the 19th century, she's the one I'd want to be. When she approaches Rooster Cogburn, the over-weight alcoholic U.S. Marshall, to enlist his help in tracking down Tom Chaney. She wants to see him hanged for the murder of her father. And she means it.
Mattie is opposed by LaBoeuf, a Texas Ranger on the hunt for Chaney because in addition to Mattie's father he also murdered a Texas senator. LaBoeuf believes that Chaney ought to be taken back to Texas for a trial and punishment in Texas; Mattie still wants him punished for murdering her daddy in Arkansas.
Cogburn doesn't want to help Mattie, says he doesn't want to be a babysitter. LaBoeuf does want to help Mattie, but doesn't want her to interfere with his month's of work finding Chaney and taking him back to Texas. And that's how an adventure happens.
This story is kind and thoughtful, but also ruthless and bare. I feel like the reality of the setting, the clothing, the dust, the poor treatment of the indians and the value of a dead body really made the story feel more powerful and the attachment to the characters seem more true.
It didn't make me cry, but it did invoke my emotions. I felt worried about Mattie, and even stupid old Cogburn.

If you've never seen a western in the theater, this is a great start. If you've not seen a western since Young Guns, this movie is a must. I feel prepared now to watch 3:10 to Yuma and the one about Jesse James and the coward Robert Ford or something like that. Go see True Grit. You won't regret it. Best two hours I spent all weekend, I'd say.