Stream it now No Country for Old Men 2007

 

For the first three quarters, this Coen brothers movie is a tense cat and mouse between Bardem and Brolin. For me it's as well executed a chase thriller as I've seen in years.

Bardem plays an insanely memorable villian pursuing Brolin and a briefcase full of money. It's tight, suspenseful and doesn't rely on flashy quit cuts to generate excitement. The Coens technique this time is "invisible" and assured. Along the way there are a dozen or so minor characters - a trailer park manager, a gas station owner, a woman lounging at a pool, etc.- that all leave a strong impression. I can't remember a movie with this many exceptional "little" parts.

But then, around the 1 1/2 hour mark, the film gears down abruptly, and I do mean abruptly, into a more cerebral meditation on evil, and the pull of the past- a far begone moral past, glimpsed briefly through the foggy mists, the dewey dews and the misty mists, far ago, long away like sands through the hourglass, these are the days of our... ahh, nevermind. It gets deep, I'll leave it at that.

I don't think this part of the movie works as well as the rest. I know the Coen brothers were remaining true to Cormac McCarthy's vision in the original book - I get that - but I'm not convinced it's very cinematic. Tense and exciting but ultimately puzzling.

I liked how this movie was exactly like the book. The scenes of absolute quiet are how I view the context of the book. Javier Bardem was amazing in this movie, and I also was excited to see Woody Harrelson in this movie because he is a very talented actor.

I am gonna be honest and say that when I watched it, I only semi-got the ending. I didn't see the connections between the dreams of Tommy Lee Jones and the characters of Josh Broslin and Javier Bardem. Only noticed them once I searched them up so that I could understand them (let's face it how many people saw the connections?)What I did get was that the they sort of explain the fact that TLJ, an old police man, can't really do much about these new wave of criminals who don't really give a shit 'bout anything, and who kill for the simple reason of joy. I fucking loved this movie and the ending didn't bother me like it seems to have bothered other people, I didn't mind it. I still prefer "Fargo", "Miller's Crossing" and "The Big Lebowski" over this one, don't ask me why I thought this one was one step from perfection 'cause I myself can't work it out. I have to say the crew did a fantastic job at acting, pretty much all of them. Also, make sure to watch this movie twice, it becomes funnier!

It seems like the Coen brothers just can't go wrong, one of the best movies I have ever seen. The contrast between good and evil is represented in an unsettling, thought evoking thriller which in some parts is quite gruesome but did not flaw the movie or the plot.

While there may be "no country for old men", there is at least proof that there are brilliant movies for everyone, and this film in particular is that proof.

Based on the book by Cormac McCarthy, No Country tells about how crime will never be fully stopped and as police men age, their chance to try to make their city a better place slowly degenerates: They are not as necessary as they wish to be.

Tommy Lee Jones plays Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, a cop that is soon to retire, which is supposed to happen after Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) is caught. Well, at the start of the movie, he is very well caught. But Anton makes his grizzly escape and he is again on the run. Once he finds out that his two million dollars is missing, he goes out on a bloodlusting rampage, which apparently does not seem to faze him one bit.

Enter Josh Brolin, who plays Llewellyn, an everyday guy who finds a scene of dead drug dealers, and an easy two million in a briefcase. He takes off with this money, and he is soon to find out just who he is up against.

While this chase takes place, Bell and his buddy cop are busy trying to keep up with this, retracing their every step.

The beauty of this movie is that it is more than just a crime movie; It is more than a thriller; It is more than a story. This movie is a two hour metaphor for many things. Anton is essentially the angel of death, and Llewellyn Moss is, as stated, just an everyday, normal guy. Bell is not only a cop, but he is all of us when we age. If you watch this movie and take note of every single symbol, you may be shocked to see how well taken care of this story is, which are kudos to both Cormac and the Coen brothers, as this film couldn't take place without its well thought-out story and its delicately treated cinematography.

The acting is very well done, especially on Javier Bardem's part, who practically creates the decade's incarnation of Hopkin's Hannibal: A character so chilling and so fear-inducing, yet he could not care less about what he does. His slight glances and slow, awkward pacing to the sound of the audiences' heartbeats raise hairs as a lack of music does not prepare any of us for the worst. There is no warning flag. The tension is thick enough to become its own skyscraper; one in which we are stuck at the top of and there is now way down.

Would I consider No Country For Old Men to be overrated? Absolutely not. Not only will this film be remembered, it will be studied. This film is very well one of the best of the two thousand decade. When Anton threateningly asks "Do you see me?", while the accountant on screen wishes he did not, we as an audience are glad we did from the first minute to the end.

Final Rating: 9.8/10
Keep An Eye Out For: Procedures Anton takes when he kills people. More wonderful symbols for you to decipher!

Spoiler Alert!

Due to my praise and cricisms of this film, certain key parts of the plot have been explored and commented on. No I didn't dislike the film, on the contrary, I admired it and "loved" it, if that is possible for this genre. You knew from the begining with that red, blood like image coming over the walking Anton and that soundtrack. You knew this film was something very special.

Bottom line though, this is sort of along the lines of a Rambo film. Notice the similarities. Rambo, ex-Vietnam vet. Anton, ex-Nam vet. Rambo, resourceful, stealthlike, killing machine. Anton, resourceful, stealthliike, killing machine. Rambo, on a rampage and a renegade from his military "employer". Anton, on a rampage and a renegade from his "employer".

The only difference is the nationalities of the two, haircuts, and choice of weapons. Money is the reason for Anton's actions in this plot, whereas the returning vet Rambo can't return to being a civilian, hence his violence.
Rambo however is more sensitive, if thats the word, than Anton. This is a major difference between these two outlaws.

That said, as much as I "liked" the film, on reflection I am still not certain if it was credible. An insane plot actually. A stunner no doubt and I was super impressed. My first Coen brother film by the way.

Now for the hard part.

The very end of the film didn't need Bell in retirement explaining dreams of his father. It was good to watch, but really, the end of the film for me would have been Anton walking away from those two kids.

This character "Anton" (a Vietnam vet with all the tools) goes around killing anyone and damn near everyone he meets for no apparent reason other than he can, and there are no real consequences whatsoever. He's described in the film as a ghost by the sherrif Bell (Tommy Jones), who had a pretty easy role to play when you examine it (sorry Jones fans, of which I am as well).

Jones, while often poker faced in many films, was deadpan supreme in this one. He sat around a lot and philosophised through the entire film, to the point ad nauseum and then retires due to being ground down by all the crazy violence in Texas.

Does anyone want to stop this rampaging Anton besides Harrelson and Brolin? Dead bodies lay all over the place, officers too. Bodies pile up and we finally have a report back, far into the film, on the cause of death of a second victim. This film should be called Justice Takes a Holiday!

Or is this film's point that the Antons of the current crime world are unstoppable and more ruthless, as alluded to at various times in the film? This is the message this film sends. If so, plainly it does so in exquisit fashion.

As for our "tireless" sheriff, he chats around town, reads the paper, as this Anton nut goes mowing down officers, strangers, etc. with a silencer shot gun or that air bottle. Most of the killings, to his defense, happen outside his jurisdiction. As a matter of fact, there are so many jurisdictions involved the FBI should have been on this killer early (the DEA is involved by the way, but to no effect).

By the way, in the opening scenes, why did the first strangled officer trust Anton in handcuffs? Anton just calmly comes from behind him. Pretty gruesome piece of filming nevertheless. Horrifying actually.

I swear, while initially impressed by the cinematography, the film was so over the top in the storyline. Woody Harrelson, to me, is pretty woody. He did ok in Cheers as a dim witted country boy, but this character he briefly portrays as a super cool dude out to get Anton is almost laughable.


Also, Anton would not have known where to find Moss if he hadn't stumbled on Moss's phone bill in the trailer. Without that, Anton would still be looking. How fortunate was he in that scene?

Anton is made to appear ghostlike and uncannily lucky in tracking Moss, transmitter not withstanding. Moss, a Vietnam vet and no shrinking violet vows to make a special project, as he says, out of Anton in the telephone contact. That did it, I figured that was bravado beyond the pale. Moss really did not know who he was fooling with, as Bell confides in his wife, Carla (Macdonald). A fine scene played by her near the end too.

And the lock Anton punches out with that air "gun". I have worked on deadbolts and the cylinder doesn't just pop out like that. On car doors its possible, but not motel door deadbolts or handle locks. Of course, I saw it coming when Moss makes the mistake of sitting in front of his motel room door. His undoing was the flying deadbolt! Sadly predictable.
Even modest quality motel and hotels have steel doors by the way. Another reason to avoid cheap motels.

If Moss had not mysteriously (he had millions) picked cheap hotels there would have been security cameras all over the place and far more secure doors. I know, I stayed 11 years on the road in a job that took me from one hotel to another. Anton should have been busted after the first couple kills from a review of the securtiy videotapes.

I could go on and and on, but the credibility of this tale is too incredible for me. Still, it made for some gripping entertainment and I do not fault anyone for liking it, as many have.

I plainly knew Anton would overcome Moss and anyone in his way. It was just that predictable. The ending, however was so appropiate. This surreal cat of 9 lives guy gets undone by a traffic accident. How fitting, but this isn't the first movie to use the technique.

Moral of the story? Leave a crime scene alone.

The Coen brothers are one of the best directors still working (It's hard to tell, between Mel Gibson, Christopher Nolan , Scorsese and The Coen Brothers, who is the best) and they prove they are masters in film noir, making the experience so interesting that can bypass some screenplay mistakes, deserving 100%.

We follow a story of Llewelyn Moss (Brolin), who discovers the remains of several drug runners who have all killed each other in an exchange gone violently wrong. Rather than report the discovery to the police, Moss decides to simply take the two million dollars present for himself. This puts the psychopathic killer, Anton Chigurh (Bardem), on his trail as he dispassionately murders nearly every rival, bystander and even employer in his pursuit of his quarry and the money.

The acting is this movie is absolutely fantastic, from Bardem ,Who deserved the Oscar (And is really the best performance in the film), to Gene Jones, who is the gas station proprietor, that is in that intense coin toss, that both ,Chigurh and him, knows that they are betting for his life. Or Woody Harrelson, who plays a charismatic investigator, that pays attention to minimal details. And Tommy Lee Jones, that is a sheriff, who is constantly suffering from all the disgrace that he is seeing (Who Remembered me of Morgan Freeman's character in "Se7en").

The Screenplay mistakes that I referred in the first paragraph, is that if sometimes they use Chigurh to show how disgraceful our world is, but in other times they discuss the authenticity of that case, and how unusual it is, so it's a little controversial, but like I said, it doesn't stop this movie from deserving 100%. Some people told the accident in the end of the movie was pointless, but I think it was there to show us that, even an intelligent and meticulous psychopathic killer, is subject to unforeseen, and is vulnerable to accidents.

Verdict: This proves again that The Coen Brothers are extremely talented directors, by giving us a masterpiece of film noir.

Ps: Note that this review is bigger than my last ones, so tell me how do you prefer it, Longer reviews or like the last ones?

Really crappy ending that is insanely overrated.

An absolute classic. Everything you love about the Cohen brothers is here. Now if your not a Coen brothers movie fan, than youll probably not be a fan of this flick. But if you are, youll love it. Right at the beginning, the movies kicks into high gear with javiers character brutally killing a police officer. And the action never seems to die down. There are even parts in the movie that dont have dialogue for about a 5 min period of time, but you wont even notice, youll be on the edge of your seat. One thing that seems to be controversial is the ending. When you first watch it, you will be disappointed. But it stands for something. Its the answer to Tommy Lee Jones' question of faith and religion.This is one of my favorite movies at the moment and with an amazing cast and great script, any Coen brothers fan will absolutely enjoy it!

No Country For Old Men: a haunting, flawless film

There are no clean getaways. And so it is.
This is the simple but meaty tagline for this film, and this is really what this Coen masterpiece will give you, crafted by a brilliant filmmaking.

The first reaction that I had after watching this Coen masterpiece was, puzzled on a positive note. It left me thinking what had really happened after a worthwhile suspense watch, occurred in a span of rush.

This is not your ordinary action, robbery, rubbish film, considering there are a lot today. This film has a lot of violence that was portrayed in a classy, unorthodox and technical manner, mostly by for me, my most memorable villain of the decade, Anton Chigurh played by the academy award nominee Javier Bardem.

The film is not easy to watch, especially if you're not a fan of watching sudden riveting bullets to someone, hard cash stacks for a reason to hunt, and some cold heart assassins mangling each other. The Coen brothers introduced another way on how to story tell a gruesome distress film in a heavyweight flawless manner.

The story revolves mainly about two cat and mouse character, Llewelyn and Anton. Llewelyn played by Josh Brolin, a steadfast hunter for many years, finally had his big break by discovering a 2 million stash of cash that he got from a group of dead drug runners a decided to keep it. At first without his knowledge, he was hunted down by a psychopath killer in the form of Anton Chigurh who was at the same time after the cash and him just for a kill. From there on, a seem like cat and mouse hunt built in among the two.

Javier Bardem portraying Anton Chigurh is just phenomenal to see. His character Anton as merciless as he is even plays the life of his victims by a toss of his coin, telling them to call it and take their chances.
The setting was made in a bleak and cold atmosphere that utterly showed to each character as well, to say that it was filmed in New Mexico.

This film will absolutely be one of my favorites of all time. Having said that I'm a big Coen fan way back before, I firmly believe that this is their best film by far. The scenes, the lighting, the editing, everything, it's almost perfect that I'll have the license to describe it as a modern day masterpiece.

Just don't question the ending, cause if you do, well, you do not know the Coen style.

Also on the film are: Tommy lee Jones and Woody Harrelson.

Produced by Paramount pictures and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. The film is based on the book of Pulitzer Prize winner Cormac McCarthy.

9.5/10