In the old West, a young girl seeks to avenge her father's death after he is killed by a hired hand. Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) tries to hire the former U.S. Marshal "Rooster" Cogburn (Jeff Bridges). Although Rooster is now a lazy and washed up alcoholic, he once had a stellar reputation that Mattie believes can serve her. It is only the temptation of money that convinces him to join her in her search of her father's killer, Chaney (Josh Brolin).
A Texas Ranger, LaBoeuf (Matt Damon) is also on the trail as Chaney's also killed a Texas senator. Although LaBoeuf tries to join forces with Rooster, Mattie refuses as she wants Chaney to hang for her father's murder, and not on a technicality for the Texas killing.
Through an adventurous and sometimes humorous roadtrip, the three cross paths in their mutual search. Rooster redeems himself and grudgingly comes to accept Mattie's faith in him. Mattie also proves herself worthy with her unrelentless vengeance and physical daring.
I would say this is not a typical Coen brothers film, as it is quite an old-style western. It is not flashy, there is not slapstick humor, and I don't recall, other than Bridges and Brolin, anyone else from the band of Coen regulars. It doesn't have the wacky humor or whimsy of their comedies nor the foreboding of their dramas. They've done a remake before, The Ladykillers (writing and directing), and with the upcoming Gambit (writing only), it will be interesting to see what their track record will be on the remake front.
With this film, I don't think they really brought anything new or individual of themselves into it. If I hadn't known they did it I would not be able to tell from watching this film, as like I said it has no individual style to tell it as a Coen film. Although they had the advantage to modernize the storytelling or the film visually, this felt really old fashioned but not brought up to date.
I thought the language, taken mostly from the book, is a little florid for an old style western. I don't know if these types of words are things John Wayne would have said or frontier people of that time would have said. It is more like a romanticized western like from those dime novels of western adventures they had back then.
Hailee Steinfeld speaks her lines well, considering the flowery and unnaturalness of her words, and I think also conveys Mattie's book learning with believability (she quotes and seems to understand legal terms), as well as her character's maturity and gumption. Mattie does many physical feats that makes her frontier-capable, and gives an overall sense of practicality that children probably don't have anymore.
Jeff Bridges was good, I think he was better in this character than in his Oscar-winning role in Crazy Heart. A bit unbelievably Matt Damon I guess was supposed to be playing a guy in his 50s (Mattie reflects 25 years later that he should be close to 80, although Rooster Cogburn's gravestone at that time says he is 80 too). He is playing the same sort of Damon character from comedies and LaBoeuf serves up a lot of the humor of the film. Both these male characters seemed to have lived long, spouting and perhaps embellishing their traits, and you question whether either of them live up to their stories (they do, in spades). By their actions and their seeming unkillability they embody a romantic notion of Western men.
Josh Brolin I don't think really deserved third billing considering he is not in the film much and also doesn't act much. For all the stories said about his character and how many people he killed and robbed, he wasn't much to look at. Barry Pepper as another gang member does a better job of creating a distinctive character despite his also small role.
The ending to me feels too tied up, almost a deflation or wind-down after the thrilling action of the rest of the film. Mattie as an adult reflects on Rooster's end but I think I would have preferred Mattie as the child to have narrated the film and have it seen from her eyes. The adult version didn't add anything for me.
It is indeed a "comfort food" film. This remake will please older audiences who like old fashioned Westerns; overall I liked it but it definitely was not challenging like the Coens' previous film A Serious Man. I don't walk out of this one with any questions.
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