This trailer for 'True Grit', alongside those such as 'Clash of the Titans' and 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy', is a sum of various parts that is, in some respects, greater than the whole. It is very strong and evocative two minutes and thirty seconds that I feel, in a way, is let down by the final product (which to be fair is till a good film just not as great as the trailer promises). Anyway let's move on to the analysis. The trailer opens with a voice over and a series of shots that have, within seconds, established our lead's characters name and reputation, for being a badass one-eyed US Marshall with a large tally of men he has shot, and even killed. Following the studio logos, a steam train passes from right to left to reveal an establishing shot of a desert town, cementing the impression that this is set in the Old West, while the following dialogue introduces the character of Mattie Ross and her problem that only Cogburn can resolve. Her lines and the scenes that accompany them are an effective introduction to the plot and even the film's chief antagonist.
The trailer works so well due to the soundtrack choices, with the first half of the trailer accompanied by a dark, foreboding track with intense percussion and a Western feel that works brilliantly to set the stage for the second half that is scored by Johnny Cash's excellent rendition of 'God's Gonna Cut You Down', that is interrupted by a short series of scenes that introduce a major disruption to the equilibrium of the characters and Rooster Cogburn's oath to correct things, before throwing us straight in to a sequence of various clips from the film. The trailer climaxes with a brief epilogue in which an injured man pleads with Cogburn for mercy, before he replies "I can do nothing for you, son" and a gunshot marks the end of the trailer with the film's release date and the solitary word 'Retribution' acting as a tagline that guarantees that Cogburn will get his revenge. Overall, the trailer is successful in balancing a dark thriller vibe with a film set in the Old West, with a few moments of comedy scattered in. The emphasis on the accolades awarded to the film's cast and crew (with the distinct exception of relatively unknown, at least then, actress Hailee Steinfield - who would actually go on to recieve an Academy Award Nomination for her role in this film) is a successful attempt to present this as a film of the highest caliber, deserving of the audience's time and money.