Double Movie Review: 'True Grit' and 'The Fighter'

“True Grit”
Directed by: Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring: Hailee Steinfeld, Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper
Rated: PG-13

“The Fighter”
Directed by: David O. Russell
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Melissa Leo, Amy Adams
Rated: R

As is wont in the world of film, December has seen the release of some of the finest work of the year.

“Black Swan” came to town a couple of weeks ago, and now we are treated with the Coen brothers' remake of the Western classic, “True Grit,” and David O. Russell's unsettling “The Fighter,” a pair of movies that have deservedly made many critics' top 10 lists for 2010.

John Wayne wasn't really known so much as a great actor (see his performances in “Wake of the Red Witch” or “The Conqueror”) as he was an American film icon.

His one and only Oscar came in 1969 for his role as Marshal Rooster Cogburn in “True Grit,” Henry Hathaway's adaptation of the Charles Portis Western novel.

Now, 40 years later, Joel and Ethan Coen - in their inimitable and idiosyncratic style - have remade the classic and have managed to surpass the original.

Jeff Bridges takes on Wayne's role as the drunken, disheveled and curmudgeonly U.S. marshal and Matt Damon is Texas Ranger LaBoeuf, a role played by musician Glen Campbell in the original.

The “bad guys” are a motley bunch played with such aplomb you can almost smell them. Josh Brolin and Barry Pepper have the largest roles of the gang.

As good as everyone is, the real star of “True Grit” is 13-year-old Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross, the young and determined girl who hires Cogburn to track down the man who murdered her father.

The Coens have used the archaic dialect that was featured in the novel and have lifted dialogue verbatim in some cases. Roger Deakins' cinematography is as brilliant as always, and the Coen team make this unmistakably their own. For people who care about such things, there's at least one noticeable Coen quirk. In the original, Cogburn had the eye patch over his left eye. Here, Bridges wears it over his right one. Go figure.

In “The Fighter,” Mark Wahlberg plays the title character, but the linchpin role belongs to the nearly unrecognizable Christian Bale.

The film is based on the story of welterweight boxer Micky Ward (Wahlberg), who turned pro in 1985, “retired” in 1990, made a comeback a few years later and eventually became WBU Light Welterweight Champion in 2000.

Wahlberg looks every inch like a boxer and the fight scenes in the “The Fighter” are as realistic as any ever committed to film.

Micky is managed by his mom (Melissa Leo) and trained by his half brother Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale).

Dicky himself is a former boxer and was known as “The Pride of Lowell.” His biggest claim to fame is the fight when he went the distance with Sugar Ray Leonard and even knocked Leonard down. Some people to this day claim Leonard actually slipped but to Eklund it was a knockdown and a point of pride.

He retired in 1985 and became a crack addict. He was as “good” at that as he was at boxing; so much so that HBO documented his life for 18 months in “High on Crack Street: Lost Lives in Lowell.” Bale lost 30 pounds (and some teeth, by the magic of make-up) for the role and his performance is riveting, even if the character is sometimes revolting.

“The Fighter” ranks with other boxing movies (“Raging Bull,” “Million Dollar Baby”) but is ultimately about relationships among family and friends and business partners. Micky's relationship with his girlfriend - sensationally portrayed by Amy Adams - is a major plot point, and director David O. Russell captures the complexities of family when dealing with Micky, his mom and dad (dad is the voice of reason here), brother Dicky and seven sisters.

It's a great, if uncomfortable, movie and there's not a performance that doesn't ring true.

The December trio of “The Fighter,” “True Grit” and “Black Swan” will be heavily involved in several Oscar races.[[In-content Ad]]