If you’re a fan of the Coen brothers, then you’ll love this movie.   In many ways it reminds me of Fargo (1996).     The basic premise of the story is that a cowboy, Llewelyn Moss played by Josh Brolin stumbles onto a stash of cash after a major drug deal goes wrong in the desert.    All the drug dealers are dead, so who’ll notice?    Oh I’ll tell you who’ll notice – that’s Anton Chigurh played absolutely perfectly by Javier Bardem.     This guy is one of the most intensely terrifying characters I’ve seen in a movie in a long, long time.     So throughout the movie, Anton is hunting down Llewelyn and the suitcase full of cash.     Make no mistake going in – if you want to see the “good guy” win in this movie then you’re in for a rude awakening.

I have to admit that I’ve never seen Javier Bardem before.    How the Coen brothers found him – I don’t know, but boy am I glad they did.    Of course their writing and directing can’t be overlooked – it was dead-on.  

The entire movie is filled with tension, but unlike so many other movies who build tension by quickening the pace, this movie uses character development and the skills of the actor.    Case in point: there is one scene that had me on edge with fear and pity all at the same time.    [Anton’s in a gas station out in the desert and after fumbling around with a few snacks, he goes up to an old man behind the counter and flips a quarter.    With a deathly stare, he tells the old man to call it.    The old man steps back a bit, and asks about the stakes.    Anton maintains his stare and tells him again to call it.]    You know if the old man calls it wrong that he’s dead.    And you know he senses the severity of the stakes even though Anton never tells him - you can see it by the fear in his eyes.    That scene was absolutely heart stopping.

The acting, writing, directing and settings were just about as good as a movie can get.    My only complaint about the movie is that I would have liked to have seen the shootout that kills Llewelyn.    In a way, I think I understand why they chose to shoot that scene the way they did.    It keeps the viewer off balance, where you don’t get to see everything that happens – much like real life.

Of course I also have to mention Tommy Lee Jones who plays ranger/sheriff Ed Tom Bell.    His part is to chase down Llewelyn and try to arrest/save him before Anton gets a hold of him.    He never directly crosses path with Anton and ends up too late to save Llewelyn.   I think the character’s real role in the movie is to show the differences between generations.   After all, the name of the movie is ‘No Country for Old Men’ – meaning that they can’t keep up with attitudes and violence of a generation they can barely understand.

Again if you’re a fan of Fargo or Blood Simple (1984) then you MUST SEE this movie.   On my scale of 1-5 with 5 being a great movie, I’d give ‘No Country for Old Men’ a very robust 4.5.

Click the images below to order this movie or the other two movies referenced in this review from Amazon.com.

 

Until next time, if you find a suitcase full of money surrounded by dead guys, take my advice and just pass it by.   J/W