Times have changed for the Coen’s. The days of them producing one classic film after another with original storylines of their own appear to have vanished. The Man Who Wasn’t There was the last Coen original storyline that really worked, but that was six films ago. In recent years their best films have been adaptations of novels, such as No Country for Old Men and now True Grit. For my money No Country had a lot more depth than True Grit, though I’ve only seen the latter once.
However, there’s nothing wrong at all with making a highly entertaining western with great performances, funny dialogue and great action scenes. Even if all their films from here on are adaptations, if they’re up to this standard then we can look forward to some great films.