No Grit

Rating: Null/10 (28 August 2011)

To me, the contrast between this film and Joel and Ethan Cohen's newer film "True Grit" is as far apart as you can get. Maybe technically, they both succeed. But movies are about story-telling first and foremost. This movie fails on many levels from a story-telling perspective. It fails to deliver a complete story, fails to inspire, has no moral compass, and ultimately just sells us short as movie-goers. What do I mean "sells us short"? I mean the movie-makers show us scenes we don't need to see (such as shots of dead dogs), and don't show us scenes we do need see *** spoiler alert *** ... (such as what how our hero and villain meet their final fate). It is startling how my criticisms of this film are polar opposites of why I applaud Joel and Ethan Cohen's newer film "True Grit". Both are basically Westerns, but True Grit has a complete story, full character development, and is deeply rooted in morality and courage. It is everything this film is not. That's why I say "No Country for Old Men" has "No Grit".