True Grit - Review

This is the first film I've seen since probably the King's Speech where I leave a highly-acclaimed, Oscar nominated film fairly disappointed. True Grit, I'm just gonna say it, was boring. Now, in terms of westerns, I've seen some more recent ones like the remake to 3:10 to Yuma and even more modern interpretations of them like Hell or High Water and have left very satisfied. True Grit, on the other hand, I can see that the Coen Brothers knew what they were doing when making this movie. Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and especially Hailee Steinfeld all give amazing performances and their dialogue is witty and very well executed. The plot is also very simple and easy to understand. Hailee Steinfeld's character needs help to bring in the man who killed her father and she goes to a bounty hunter, Jeff Bridges to do it. No confusion what-so-ever right? Well, this is where I am lost. As I am watching this movie I think to myself, "Why am I not invested in this?" Sure, the movie is pretty slow, but I've liked slow movies in the past, even Westerns. To be honest, I can't really put my finger on why this film didn't work for me, but it just didn't. That's what makes movies unique. Some movies will stick with some people for a lifetime while it may put others to sleep. So as for a recommendation goes, if you know what you're getting into (a very slow western with lots of talking and no big action set-pieces) and you like those types of films, then True Grit is a good choice. As for me, I won't be watching it again anytime soon.