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RE: It's very common to underestimate a Coen bros film on first viewing

Posted by Dalton on December 24, 2010 at 16:12:43:
Like most remakes, I found it ultimately pointless. The facile moral lessons are the same as the original and just as apparent. If you found deeper themes, you failed to point them out in your response.

The problem is "True Grit", even if it is a fine novel, really isn't a strong story as cinema. There is not enough time to fully explore and flesh out characterizations as there is in even a short novel and the straight forward linear plot is tedious, episodic, and relatively uneventful. Neither movie is head and shoulders above the other, much less among the great Westerns, but at least Wayne made the skimpy story entertaining along the way. Can't say the same for Bridges.

In the pre-feminist late 60s, audiences could take more away from the story in terms of its unique portrayal of a determined, strong-willed and intelligent young woman in a male-dominated western setting. But subsequently this conceit has been done to death. I don't understand why the Coens feel they had to remake this story when aside from slightly different tone and a more authentic aesthetic, it remains at its core virtually unchanged and unimproved.

Sorry, I don't hold either version in very high regard. In my opinion, the original at least is better for its lack of pretense. The new one gives me the same sort of feeling I got from watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. So much talent and artistry wasted on such a trivial story...