Another thing I loved about True Grit: how anticlimactic it felt when she finally encountered Chaney. That's how it often is IRL: in such situations you expect the breakout behind you of symphonic brass blasting in a minor key, but they can be (perversely-disappointingly) ordinary-seeming and then when it's over you're like "That's it?" Of course it ended up gratifying, but I loved that they sidestepped presenting it in an emotionally conventional, "I want my father back, you son of a bitch" way. (Not that the latter wasn't astoundingly affecting and memorable -- it's just nice to see them insist on a realistic treatment even at the expense of possibly "disappointing" us.)