TRUE GRIT (Rated PG-13 for general & specific violent acts, scary threatening sequences): By now you are familiar with the fact that the movie is about a money-greedy young girl with precocious aims to avenge the murder of her father - and does, thanks to the aid of a "one-eyed fat man" and a Texas ranger, but only after a trek through Indian territory and a bout with the killer & his cronies through a couple of seasons in the rough.
You probably also know that this modern adaptation of Charles Portis' parodial Western novel had been made into a film in 1969, with the focus on Western star John Wayne - played with most of the humor squeezed out as a typical G-rated Western for its times - and now the Coen Brothers return to the novel to lighten it up in traditional sardonic style while returning the focus onto the obstreperous girl, also giving her a voice over narrative that begins & ends the film, as it follows her from a vantage point that places the other characters into the background.
Making comparisons & contrasts between the two films is a bit unfair: each was made to suit the audience of its times: the one as a vehicle for John Wayne in true lugubrious Western style, the other bringing more authentic life as a parody, as in the novel, and as compatible with the contemporary, cynical, tongue-in-cheek style of the Coens - and with Roger Deakins' digital color and wide screen landscape photography to enlarge it as befitting our big screen times.
So of course the characters would take on the tone of their times. Wayne's Rooster Cogburn (which won him an Oscar) was front & center with his heroic mix of bravado & macho know-how, softened slightly with a kind of Wallace Beery slurriness, while Jeff Bridges' Cogburn is less heroic, more churlish, and decidedly more content in his cups than in his brawls. Hailee Steinfeld, on the other hand, comes across much like the original Mattie Ross (firm-jawed Kim Darby), now with braids that hang halfway to the ground and with a delightful blend of kid & savvy adult. Matt Damon's Texas Ranger, incidentally, is more competent, less a foil to Wayne as was Glenn Campbell in the original movie.
In both cases, the spoken language of the times (formal, no contractions) renders a nice timely touch, while all the characters still sport the feel & look of the Old West.
Which version is best? Cinematically, each bears its ability to please in context with its times, with the latest version remains truer to the original novel. You pays yer money & takes yer choice. (Grade: B+)
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