No Country for Old Men [Blu-ray]

 

 

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This is not an easy movie to watch - it is rife with tension and gore - but it is a thought-provoking one. With stark and bleak realism, it shows what can happen when criminals clash with other criminals, law-enforcers, crafty wild cards, and naive bystanders sucked into the criminal vortex. It shows what can happen when a relatively good man succumbs to the temptation to take an illegal route out of poverty, and, crafty though he is, finds himself up against a diabolically smart and ruthless sociopath - someone not likewise burdened by such distractions as a conscience or concern for loved ones. It shows how utterly cold a sociopath can be, and what a trail of destruction he can leave in his wake. Nothing is glossed here. The good guys are not better shots. Bodies do not conveniently disappear. Killings are not veiled or glorified or antiseptic, but graphic, tragic, and messy. Unlike so many action movies, this one does not lean on a punchy soundtrack or quick scene changes to heighten its impact. Rather, it moves in relative real time, and its quietness and its unblinking stare at events are quite dramatic enough. The ending is atypical, too - more of a whimper than a bang - and I think that to be disappointed by this is to miss the movie's point. In this movie, brutality is not depicted as rollicking entertainment, but as the messy, ugly, unfair, disgusting, and just plain depressing thing that it is.

***Spoilers Within***

Oscar ceremonies are sometimes dominated by one or two films because the opposition is weak, but that definitely wasn't the case in 2008. Nominees included No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Juno, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Ratatouille, Once, The Bourne Ultimatum, Into the Wild, Atonement, Michael Clayton, Eastern Promises and American Gangster.

I was torn at the time because I couldn't decide whether I wanted There Will Be Blood or No Country for Old Men to win for Best Picture. In hindsight, my two favorite films from that year are Juno and No Country for Old Men. I think the Academy got it right for once by awarding No Country for Old Men the Best Picture Oscar and Daniel Day-Lewis Leading Actor.

So why do I think that No Country for Old Men deserved its win?

The film contains so many strong elements. It gave us three memorable characters and expertly combined their three viewpoints to give us a compelling story. Roger Deakins did another wonderful job showing us the bleak Texas landscape, while the direction and writing were both superb.

Llewelyn Moss (Brolin) makes a discovery while hunting for antelope. After tracking an injured animal, he finds what appears to be the result of a failed drug deal. Five trucks are surrounded by corpses and he deduces that the last man standing would have looked for shade. He eventually locates the final corpse and finds a case containing two million dollars. Moss lives in a trailer with his wife and the money represents a chance to completely change his life.

The most interesting character is Anton Chigurh (Bardem). We see him captured by police at the start of the film, but he escapes and kills a deputy in the process. He is extremely violent and his motives are unclear. At times he appears supernatural in the way he evades capture. Is he supposed to represent Death or the Devil? Bardem makes Chigurh one of the most memorable villains ever to appear on screen. There's a scene which rivals Tarantino's farmhouse scene in Inglourious Basterds in terms of tension. Chigurh has a conversation with a gas station owner and it ends with a coin flip. The scene is both absurd and chilling at the same time. We know what's at stake.

The other major character is Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Jones). He's old, wise and extremely competent. Some of his choices show that he's more concerned with self-preservation than pursuing criminals, but he somehow gets the job done. One of his strengths is the ability to reconstruct crime scenes. He has a dry sense of humor and uncanny instincts.

The first part of the story focuses on Moss. He's an experienced tracker and a Vietnam veteran and we see him trying to evade pursuit. At first, he doesn't know who will be coming after him, but eventually learns that it's Chigurh. Instead of simply leaving the country, he decides to face Chigurh himself. That might seem to be a stupid choice, but Moss does have some intelligence and appears able to take care of himself.

Chigurh also seems highly competent and we get the sense that he's being doing what he does for a very long time. His pursuit is relentless. When he is injured, he's able to take care of his own wounds. He does bleed, but there's still the sense that he either is, or he at least represents, a supernatural force.

I won't reveal any more of the plot. I have heard two complaints about the film. One is the level of violence present and the other is the unusual ending. I think the ending is partly showing how unpredictable life can be, but I understand the complaints. I thought the ending was appropriate and my only regret was that I couldn't watch these characters for longer.

No Country for Old Men is many things. On the surface, it's the story of an extended chase. The Coen brothers said that it is a story of a good, evil and something between the two. Moss can be perceived as good or evil, but he's definitely committing a crime.

Some of the scenes require us to pay close attention to the events and contain very little dialogue. It reminds me of the opening sequence in There Will Be Blood in that way. It succeeds because of the writing and the tension that's present throughout the story. If you enjoy thrillers, this is one of the best I have seen.

The Blu-ray presentation is just about perfect. Every little sound comes across clearly and the Texas scenery looks breathtaking at times.

An unstoppable psychopath moves in a straight line through his personal list, flipping coins to determine the fate of his victims, while seeking a hidden fortune in this Coen Brothers film classic! It is up there with the best of them in the violent, fast-moving, suspense category. Woody Harrelson makes a surprise appearance as a smooth-talking Texan bounty-hunter hired to take down the infamous "Chigurh!"

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5.0 out of 5 stars Of what is past, or passing, or to come
Being the arthouse cinema fan that I am, over the last 10 or so years I would occasionally watch a Hollywood movie for entertainment, but I gave up any hope of seeing anything... Read more

Published 18 months ago by Oldthinker

5.0 out of 5 stars Very effective thriller
The story opens in the desolate west Texas countryside, as Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) stumbles upon a drug deal gone bad and makes off with a suitcase full of money. Read more

Published on May 7 2009 by Kona

3.0 out of 5 stars Great movei, but....
Just a note to any Canadian Amazon purchasers on the Blu-ray special 2DVD package....there is a code you need to access the digital copy of the DVD included in the package,... Read more

Published on April 21 2009 by Doug Mclellan

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfection
This film is a pure joy to watch violent, tense, funny. The acting is superb, the writing is top notch and the directing is some of the Coens best work. Read more

Published on April 9 2009 by Tyler J. Smith

5.0 out of 5 stars No Country For Old Men
I am a huge Coen brothers fan. I am trying to collect all their movies and have most of them now. It you like dark humour, abit of questionable footage, you will love this movie... Read more

Published on April 3 2009 by Patricia M. Waddell

5.0 out of 5 stars Flip A Coin......,
This film was a real treat and something that I wanted to watch for quite some time because I admire Javier Bardem as an actor. Read more

Published on Sep 27 2008 by Jenny J.J.I.

2.0 out of 5 stars Did They Run Out of Money or Time
Interesting movie. Two stories being played out at the same time. One modern and violent, the other old and slow. Read more

Published on May 20 2008 by AJ Tours

4.0 out of 5 stars West Texas never looked so menacing
It's easy to see why this won best movie of 2007. It's the kind of movie critics salivate over, the same way they salivated over Fargo, what with the great acting, atmosphere,... Read more

Published on May 3 2008 by Matthew King

2.0 out of 5 stars A cheap Fargo knockoff
A pointless program with pointless scenes starting from nowhere and going to nowhere. This could pass time but it has no social redeeming value. Read more

Published on Mar 31 2008 by bernie

3.0 out of 5 stars What the F#%K!?!?
About an hour into this I turned to my wife and commented that it may well be the most tension filled movie I'd ever seen. Read more

Published on Mar 26 2008 by Elvis Bowmont

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