No County For Old Men

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

Thanks to my rather ribald fraternity days in college I once had the privilege of seeing an 18-inch-long turd with three evenly spaced rest marks that was lovingly encased in a polished plexiglass display case. That's a mighty big piece of shit -- but it is nothing compared to the crap that comprises the lugubrious re-telling of Cormac McCarthy's novel, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, by none other than the celebrated Cohen Brothers.

Oh Brothers, What Art Thou Thinking?

The same question should be directed to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Four Oscars -- including Best Picture of the Year and Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role? Jeez-oh-flip, BONZO GOES TO COLLEGE was more worthy of an Academy Award and Javier Bardem's cardboard character portrayal is so flimsy, it isn't even corrugated.


Interestingly enough, Mr. Bardem may not have actually appeared in this film. Reliable sources have told Needtovent that the undeserving Oscar-winning actor never showed up on the set and his place was secretly taken by his more-than-capable understudy, Johnny. Yep, Johnny -- there's no last name -- seen here in a rare file photo with his now-deceased mentor, Senor Wences. Well, that does explain things to some degree...


In today's marketplace an increasing number of feature films are shot on High-Definition Video and the common mantra is that the image quality is as good as if it were shot on film. Well, for some reason Cinematographer Roger Deakins, utilizing the excellent 35mm Kodak Vision2 filmstock, has managed to make NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN look like it was shot on a relatively cheap consumer-grade video camera. Talk about role reversal -- or should I say roll reversal?


Three things can be said that are complimentary. One -- Josh Brolin delivers a convincing performance as Llewelyn Moss. Two -- Tommy Lee Jones, as Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, is as solid as ever. Three -- the highly controversial ending works, and it works well. While the vast majority of reviewers simply didn't "get" the final scenes, the Cohens deserve recognition for a poignant and satisfactory denouement.

Having said this, I must add that the denouement concerning these particular old men also brings a much appreciated end to a motion picture that any self-respecting cineaste or AARP member will agree is a bigger flop than Dick Fosbury.

Oscar be damned.

Robert A. Nowotny

No Country for Old Men

The Cohen brothers came out with one of their best films period and showed they still have the chops to make movies like they did early on in their careers. This film partially brought the awesome Josh Brolin back into the limelight and even more so, gave us one of the greatest on screen villains of all time in the form of Anton Chigurh played brilliantly by then mostly unknown, Javier Bardem.

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Recommendations: High Plains Drifter , Dalkomhan insaeng , Dial M for Murder

No Country For Old Men (2007)

Listen people, the dream Tommy Lee describes at the end, explains the whole movie. Stop acting like you just saw a David Lynch film.  I’m not a big Coens Brothers fan, I like about 15% of their films so far, but this was fucking amazing! Probably because it was an adaptation and not a Coen original story.  Anyhow, who would have thought they could direct so stealthily? Javier Barden’s Anton Chigurh is the scariest mutha of any film ever.

no country for old men

No Country for Old Men.

Hmph. 

That’s what I said as the credits started to roll up the screen. 

Hmph. 

Javier Bardem is so icy cold he’ll give ya the chills.  It’s like he’d rather put a hole in your head than speak to you.  And in a lot of cases he does.

Josh Brolin is excellent as the unlucky son of a bitch who just can’t ignore the little voice in his head that told him to take that poor dying Mexican some water.

Tommy Lee Jones is Tommy Lee Jones.

This thing really plays like an old school western.  Beautiful, sweeping panoramas of the southwest that john ford would be proud of.  Gorgeous and essential to the story.

I kinda wish I hadn’t just bought it though.  It’s one of those I’ll probably never watch again.  If I catch it on HBO or something I might sit and watch for a bit. Because it is story telling at it’s absolute best.

It is every bit as riveting and captivating as There Will Be Blood.  That’s a movie that I probably won’t watch more than once or twice too.  Hard core, gritty drama isn’t exactly my favorite genre. 

It’s definitely an instant classic as far as all that goes.  It gets ten dead Mexican drug runners out of ten dead Mexican drug runners.

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Cal Reed

No Country For Old Men

They gave this movie Best Picture? Seriously? I thought it sucked. Hah! Turns out I don't like everything the Academy likes.



So, No Country For Old Men is directed by the Coen brothers who did O Brother, Where Art Thou? one of my favorite Goerge Clooney movies. But these guys have this thing of breaking the rules in film making by doing some really weird stuff that makes no sense but frequently gets mistaken for artistic brilliance.



No Country For Old Men is a crime thriller adapted from a book about a hunter played by Josh Brolin who comes across a heap of dead bodies, tonnes of heroine and 2 million dollars in what appears to be a drug exchange gone bad. He thinks he's struck gold and thinks he can keep it quiet. But a silent mercenary named Anton Chigurh is one his trail and the hunter is thrown into a deadly chase for his life.



I think No Country would have been great as an action thriller movie where there is just the blood and guns, but Best Picture? Are you kidding me? I mean, I loved the film for the most part. The whole manhunt between Llewelyn and Anton is filled with suspense. I get on the edge of my seat for a good 30 minutes of the film and what goes down in this film is really violent.



I loved the cinematography of the film just like how I love the cinematography in every Coen brothers film. The shots of the Rio Grande desert is breathtaking and should have gotten an Oscar for that. The editing of the film is really tight. It doesn't give you one moment to lighten up. The moment Javier Bardem starts killing people, things just go on one crazy roller coaster ride to hell!



And Javier Bardem! My God I worship this man. I am genuinely terrified by Anton Chigurgh, Jesus Christ this guy was scary. There is this one scene where he is choking a Federal Marshall with his handcuffs, the look that was on his face said everything about his character. There is no mercy in this man. He plays this spine chilling psychotic killer that decides the survival of his victims with a coin toss. Kind of like Harvey Dent but with a big ass gun.



And I'm slightly confused about his gun. So.. is it an air gun or something. Cause at the beginning of the film he shoots a guy in the head using nothing but air, which is friggin awesome. And he goes through the rest of the film killing people with that same gun. So is it an air gun or something? Is there such thing as that? Cause if there is.. I want one of those!!



So with so much great stuff to say about the film, why do I hate it? It was the ending. What the fuck was the ending all about. With about 20 minutes to go in the film, the Llewelyn & Anton story finished of in an unclimatic finale that we didn't even get to see cause it happened off screen. Then the film picks up with another story following Tommy Lee's character as he investigates and close the film talking about his dream that completely makes no sense.



Why? Why do they do this to me. They make a great movie that is genuinely terrifying, great suspense and a body count that can put all the Rambo movies to shame only to screw it all up on purpose at the end. What the hell is that all about? I get that the Coen's never do conventional films but this was just silly. It just get's me so mad that they made me love the development of the film so much and then ends it by spitting in my face.



You know what? For what it's worth, watch No Country for about 70% of it. The just tune out cause you'll really go "Whaaa" at the end. Best Picture my ass!

RATING: 6/10

NicholasC

Last updated: 2010-02-22 03:32:42 by user01

No Country for Old Men

Cormac McCarthy is an old crank. He may well be the William Faulkner of the 21st century, but he’s a crank. I read a lot of critics rhapsodise about No Country for Old Men when the hardback hit the stands, but precious few took note the book’s old-man-erisms: the crankiness, the misanthropy, the pessimistic certainty that only comes with old age – or youth. McCarthy’s world view is that the world is going to hell in a handbasket. In the Coen brothers’ adaptation of No Country for Old Men, doom is like a blanky that Javier Bardem’s character trails with him. You can ignore it if you want; talk all you like about the modern Western, but this movie is only, only about death.

At the start, Josh Brolin finds some money among a pile of corpses. Figuring this for a good omen, he takes the money, and runs. The money (as perhaps hinted at by the corpses) ain’t legal-like, it’s drug money. No sooner has Brolin appropriated it than arch-psycho Javier Bardem is dispatched to bring it back. Sherriff Tommy Lee Jones comes across the corpses (minus the money) and quickly deduces that a fool has taken what doesn’t belong to him. The rest is Josh Brolin thinking he can stop what’s coming, and Javier Bardem killing every living thing in his path.

The makers of this – the Coen brothers – have been off their game of late. When fans of Fargo saw Intolerable Cruelty or The Lady Killers, the general consensus was: “Argh!” Known for their perversity, their wit, their brainy brand of heartlessness, the Coens’ seemed to go soft for a year or two. Whatever the cause, their last two movies felt like anyone could have made them, or worse yet: like the Coen brothers made them badly. Thankfully, No Country for Old Men sees the Coens’ acting themselves again. There is heartlessness, there is cruelty, and nowhere is there a God.

As in the book, the man who scares old men is Chigurh. Javier Bardem plays him like the devil. The first time we meet him he strangles a cop. Chigurh is a man who, in every conversation he has, calmly weighs up killing someone. He is arbitrary death made flesh, and carrying a cattle-gun. Motiveless, Chigurh scares people because there is no reasoning with him. There’s a great scene where Woody Harrelson (about to be murdered) says to Chigurh, “You don’t have to do this.” And you watch Javier Bardem smile, as if to say, “Of course I do, of course I do.” And then he does.

Josh Brolin doesn’t have much of a character to play with, but he gives Llewellyn Moss a dignity that comes with toughness. Like most of the men in No Country for Old Men, Moss is a three-word-a-day type a’ guy, not given to soliloquies. What we learn of him we learn from his actions, which are practical. The rest we’re left to infer, but it’s enough to root for him. He has a wife, so he can’t be that bad a guy.

Tommy Lee Jones plays The Law the he always does, economically.

Texas, which should get fourth billing, looks like a place where the buffalo rot.

Kelly Macdonald, as Moss’s wife, is sweet and kind and utterly doomed.

As for Cormac McCarthy, I think he’d like this adaptation. The Coens’ have pruned Chirgurh’s more ludicrous speeches, and taken out the more blatant misanthropy, but it’s still a movie that spits on the modern world. You name me a character you like, and I’ll name you a dead person. There is no Frances McDormand at the close to tell us “there’s more to life than a little money.” McCarthy would never write a character like Fargo’s Marge Gunderson. He’s too much a man’s man for that. McCarthy’s is a world where words are chipped from men’s throats, and people die violently. No Country for Old Men is pure McCarthy – for better or worse.

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No Country For Old Men

Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, and Tommy Lee Jones face off in No County For Old Men. Easily one the top 5 movies of 2007, No Country For Old Men is an outright fantastic movie. The story centers on Lleweyln Moss (Josh Brolin), a poor hunter who stumbles upon a site of guns, dead bodies, and $2 million cash. Uncaring of how or why these things are here, Lleweyln simply takes the case and heads home. But little does he know that he is not the only person who wants this money. Moss has now been brought under the radar of Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), an insane, sadistic, psychopathic, emotionless serial killer whose weapons of choice are a shotgun and a pneumatic air gun, typically used to slaughter cattle. Chigurh will eradicate any human being that stands between him and his money. As the cat and mouse game plays on between Lleweyln and Anton, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) follows their every move, as he becomes witness to all the horrible things that Chigurh is capable of.

There is no such thing as a perfect movie, but No Country For Old Men comes damn close of earning the title. Joel and Ethan Coen have time and again proved themselves to be outstanding individuals when it comes to movie making. In their first book to movie translation, the Coen Brothers took Cormac McCarthy's novel and brought it to life with stunning force. The brothers directing is superb, as it is able to keep suspense and interest alive even during long intervals that are vacant of dialogue. The cinematography is brilliant and sometimes gorgeous, even when showing brutal and barbarous acts.
There is not a single performance in No Country For Old Men that earns negative criticism. Javier Bardem's performance as the insane killer Anton Chigurh is absolutely flawless, and the Oscar he won for the role is well deserved. Throughout the film, Bardem's calm, cool, and collected demeanor makes it all the more chilling to see him commit these terrible crimes. His mere presence on screen sent chills through my body and made the hairs on my arm stand on end. No Country For Old Men is not a horror film, but Bardem has managed to create one of the scariest movie villains in history. Josh Brolin gives a very strong performance as Lleweyln Moss, the hunter who unknowingly walks into the storm that is Anton Chigurh. Working exceedingly well with the Coen brothers directing, Brolin's performance makes you feel the fear that his character is enduring as he fights to save his life. It's a shame his performance will receive little recognition in comparison to Bardem's outstanding showing. And what is there to say about Tommy Lee Jones, who is always exceptional in basically every role he undertakes. (The exceptions being the Men in Black movies and Man of the House, which he probably only did because he must have been drunk. That's the only possible explanation.)

No Country For Old Men is put simply one of the best films I have seen. It's haunting brilliance makes you realize that it is impossible to tell what is behind every corner, and what awaits you isn't always pretty. Many people will criticize the ending of No Country as being anti-climactic and disappointing. Well I criticize those people of being unimaginative and close-minded. I admit, at first I was upset by the end, but later on as I thought about it more and more, I realized it really was very fitting and quite satisfying. Sadly, many people do not watch movies to think, because they are simply trying to find instant gratification and want everything spoon fed to them.

At roughly 2 hours in length, No Country For Old Men never ceases to be exciting and will definitely keep you on the edge of your seat with suspense. The only regret I have was not seeing this film in theaters. My Rating: (10/10)