No Country For Old Men

No Country For Old Men (R)

Grade: C

• Directed by: Joel and Ethan Coen
• Produced by: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, and Scott Rudin
• Screenplay by: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen.  Based on the novel, "No Country For Old Men" by Cormac McCarthy
• Starring: Tommy Lee Jones (Sheriff Ed Tom Bell), Javier Bardem (Anton Chigurh), Josh Brolin (Llewelyn Moss), Kelly Macdonald (Carla Jean Moss), Woody Harrelson (Carson Wells), Garret Dillahunt (Deputy Wendell), Tess Harper (Loretta Bell), Beth Grant (Agnes), Stephen Root (Man Who Hires Chigurh)
• Cinematographer: Roger Deakins
• Distributed by: Miramax Films, Paramount Vintage
• Release Date: November 9, 2007
• Running Time: 122 minutes/2 hours and 2 minutes
• Language: English

"What's the most you ever lost on a coin toss?"

-Anton Chigurh

When I see a question like this posed to me, my instantaneous thought is to trading card games, such as Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh, since those are the things I've lost the most on when it comes to coin tosses.  Of course, when it comes to "No Country For Old Men" by the Coen Brothers, it's a completely different story.  Coin flips lose more than battles, they can cost you your life, but I'm getting ahead of myself. 

In the film world, few directors are more acclaimed and respected as the Coen Brothers.  They may not be a household name to the casual fan since they're not Spielberg or Lucas, but their films are just as good as there's.  Of course, it depends on genre and personal taste like everything.  The Coen Brothers films are usually a mix of being comedy, satirical, or thriller.  But then occasionally, they do "No Country For Old Men", which is a western, but really isn't since there are no saloons, no cowboys like John Wayne, and a villain unlike anything Texas has seen before.

Trying to describe a Coen Brothers plot to a film is like trying to have a quick walk through a maze; it just isn't going to happen no matter how hard I try because their films are hard to figure out.  Their plots start off making sense, but what their characters do during their films has you scratching your head, and saying "WTF"?!  This film is no different.  It starts off in 1980 with Llewelyn Moss coming across a drug deal gone bad.  Everything that went down there is over with, and he's about to leave, until he finds two million dollars in a satchel.  Like any normal person, he takes the money, but doesn't know that hitman and murderer Anton Chigurh is after him.  And on the trail of Chigurh is Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, leading to a chase that will lead to an epic climax.

My praise for the film starts with Tommy Lee Jones and Javier Bardem, who portray good vs. evil so well.  Jones is the sheriff who will do everything in his power to stop crime, while Bardem, who is Chigurh, does everything he can to wreck havoc, sometimes intentionally and other times not.  Bardem doesn't need an introduction since he's an accomplished actor, but this was the role that American audiences first really saw what he was capable of.  He was dangerous, yet an enigma at the same time.  And it's hard not to pay attention to his charisma and looks, especially with what he deemed "the worst haircut of all time".  Yet, we did pay attention, and because of that, Chigurh is one of film's great recent villains and performances, giving Bardem his much deserved Oscar.  Along with that, there's humor and tension in many scenes, keeping you on the edge of your set.

Even though I loved the performances in the film and the dramatic tension, there were many things I didn't like about it.  For one thing, as excited as I was for the film, I thought it dragged on a lot during certain scenes.  And when Llewelyn leaves the film for a time, the film just seems less interesting because the main character you've been following now is gone.  In a few films, like "Psycho", it worked cause Norman Bates was just as important and interesting, but as great a job as Tommy Lee Jones and Javier Bardem did, I don't think you can say any of their characters answered questions.  They just left me more confused, which was okay, but it left me feeling empty at many points during the film, especially the ending, which I won't even get into because it was such a letdown.

I know I'm in the minority giving the "No Country For Old Men" a C, but I'm doing it based on all the things I didn't like about it, and the fact that I have seen so many Coen Brothers films that I thought were better, such as "Fargo", "The Big Lebowski", and "The Hudsucker Proxy".  My grade is based only on the fact I didn't enjoy it, which is rare for me since usually I take everything into account when judging this film.  But you shouldn't think you won't enjoy this film, because if you enjoy the Coen Brothers, or just good, well-made films, this might be the one for you.  For me, this just wasn't, but it's clear the Coen Brothers are still on top of their game.