I originally gave the newest film from the Coen Brothers four out of five stars. It’s strange, but I seem to be falling more and more for this film as it ages in my mind. It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of the two-headed director made up of the aforementioned siblings. I think that at first glance I was actually rating this film not on a scale of five normal flick stars but on more of a personal Coen stars system that exists primarily in my own head. Four out of five Coen stars is pretty damn good actually. If the film would have had any other director’s name after the ‘film by’ credit, I’m sure it would have earned a full five from me. This is a really great film and it holds up quite nicely compared especially to the rest of what’s come out this year. I can’t really help the fact that I go into every new Coen film expecting to be completely blown away. In recent years especially, I would say we now have two masterpieces out of their previous four films. “No Country For Old Men” was my favorite film of ’07 and “A Serious Man” was my second favorite film last year and my third favorite of the entire decade. These guys have set their own bar pretty high and with every new piece, they have a lot to live up to. That being said, this was a good Coen Brothers film and a great western. Well now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s get into some specifics. 
This film, first of all is a great performance piece. Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn was just a big and brazen as you would expect. His mannerisms and gruff mumbling carry the weight of every ounce of whiskey and every roll-your-own cigarette his character has consumed throughout all his previous years. Somehow still, damaged and broken, he remains undoubtedly larger than life. His was the third best performance of this film.
At first glance, the greatness of Matt Damon’s performance could easily be overlooked. His character, La Boeuf is the perpetual odd man out. While the other two are given a constant flow of sharp dialogue, he is much more reserved. He is even somewhat goofy, in a very puritanical and honorable Boy Scout sense. Damon’s performance was pitch perfect. Its success depended on all the little things he did so well. I had heard he was good before I saw this but the more I think about, this was probably his best performance to date.
To say that thirteen-year-old Hailee Steinfeld’s Mattie Ross was the breakout performance of the year is a ridiculous understatement. She was flat-out, hands-down, end-of-discussion amazing and her performance was not only the best in the film, it was simply the best part of the film. She issued every snippy bit of wit with perfect rhythm and determined conviction. It was as if she were the long lost lovechild of a nun and a metronome. The most amazing part of this was how she was able to pull this off without ever once seeming the least bit precocious.
Roger Deakins’ cinematography was great as usual, although not as obviously great as some of his previous work. This film seemed to demand a much more subtle look than something like “Road To Perdition” or “The Man Who Wasn’t There.” That doesn’t mean this film was without technical achievement. Several scenes were shot with extremely low light and a candle projecting dancing shadows on a wall or perfectly framed wide angle scenery of the terrain and the subjects contained in it.
I must say that I would have liked the subtlety applied to the camera work to have been equally applied to the score. Carter Burwell’s music was not bad at all, just too baroque and grandiose than I thought the mood of the film asked for. I guess that was the idea though. This film was essentially the telling of an almost mythical story from the memory of fourteen year old girl. Damn it, I think I’m already talking myself out of that critique too.
I think it’s worth noting that this was the Coen’s first Spielberg produced film. I’m also a fan of Spielberg and I’m not exactly sure if he influenced anything particular on this movie but there were a few things that I don’t think I’ve ever seen in a Coen film. I don’t recall ever seeing the use of a blue screen or CGI in any of their previous work, and I can’t say I was a big fan of its use in this film. In the case of the CGI, I’m not really sure how they could have gotten away with doing it any other way but it still seemed to be a bit distracting to me. I think the blue screen sequence was meant to induce some sort of dream like visual but again, it didn’t really work that well for me. This film also contained a very non-Coenesque epilogue. It worked out pretty well; it just wasn’t how I am accustomed to seeing a Coen Brothers film end.
I should also mention how darkly humorous this film was. This, most definitely was something I’ve grown to expect from these film makers. Goofy character quirks and generally weird happenings along with matter-of-fact violence are the typical garnishes that always seem to accompany the main course of Coen plot. So with that, I will conclude that this may be one of the, if not the most crowd pleasing films in the entirety of the Coen Brother’s repertoire. It seems to be closest thing to a strait genre film that they have done since “Intolerable Cruelty”…… and most of us have long since forgiven them for that one.
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