True Grit update

A while ago I mentioned that I was reading the novel True Grit and was a fan of the original film, which I watched when I was a child. I also mentioned that I probably wouldn't be watching the remake of the film as I couldn't see how the original could be improved. Well, on the flight back from holiday I had the opportunity to watch it and decided to give it a go.

I've heard a few things about the new film and they can all me summarised as saying that it was a more faithful telling of the story than the John Wayne version. After watching both, and reading the book, I have to wonder if those reviewers knew WTF they were on about! Yes the new film is good, but it's no where near as good as the original. And as for faithfulness to the book? Well with the exception of the ending, the original film is far closer to the book (typically word for word). While watching the remake I kept asking myself time and again why had they changed this or that, or why had they completely rewritten the story in parts?!

If you have a great novel that you know works well on screen, why do script writers seem incapable of leaving it untouched? Maybe they decided that they had to make the new film different enough from the original so people wouldn't think it was a scene-for-scene copy. But in that case, why remake it in the first place? FFS people: if an original film is good enough, leave it alone and learn to produce some original content for once! And for those of you interested in seeing the definitive film adaptation of the book, check out the John Wayne version.