True Grit VS True Grit

I just watched the original True Grit (hereby known as ‘O’) and boy, it does not even compare to the new True Grit (hereby known as ‘N’).

The main difference was the acting. O’s Mattie was whiny and very annoying. Sure, she still had that tough-girl attitude, but her acting was nothing to N’s Mattie. N’s Mattie was tough and serious. In O, Mattie’s acting has no emotion, and related to a broadway star. However, Mattie in N was deep and emotional. You could see her feelings by just looking at the way her eyes squinted. That’s why Hailee is nominated for an Oscar.

Let’s not forget out friend Marshal Cogburn. If you were to just look at the two, Jeff Bridges definitely blew John Wayne’s appearance out of the water. Jeff looked much more like a rough and tough guy. And please, Jeff Bridges acting was amazingly better than John Wayne. The way John yelled “YAH!” to get his horse moving was just sad. His emotion was fake, whereas Jeff had deep emotion and a scruffy voice to boot.

Now N definitely changed the script a bit. I heard a lot of N’s lines that were pulled from O, and the stories were almost the same; key word ALMOST. N’s scene where Cogburn was riding Mattie to get her arm looked at on the horse was much more meaningful. The dramatic value captured the audience, and when Mattie’s arm came off, that was powerful. Little Blackie getting shot and her arm coming off showed her the sacrifices she had to make to avenge her father’s killer. I also liked how N brought the old Mattie into the picture. A bittersweet ending. O wasn’t as good. I mean, the horse ride at the end was short and meaningless, and Mattie didn’t even get to kill Tom Chaney! She didn’t lose her arm either, and no older Mattie was shown.

I shouldn’t have to even compare the soundtracks. O’s was the typical 60’s western soundtrack, and frankly, it was a little too upbeat. N’s soundtrack was a movie soundtrack. Enough said. It doesn’t even compare.

Some of you are probably reading this and thinking “That girl needs to keep her mouth shut. The original True Grit was made in 1969 and they didn’t have our technology back then.” blah blah blah. Well, I’d just say that O relied on ALL dialogue to guide the movie and N combined cinematography and dialogue to tell the story. You can’t make a movie without the art of camera movements.

My final result: New True Grit beats out Original True Grit. Go see for yourself.