It's only the 2nd month of the year and already we have a film that can be assured of it's entry into the 'best films of the year' list that many critics will be marking up come the December of this year. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN is a great return to form for the Coen brothers after there recent and disappointing attempts at screwball comedy and remakes, UNTOLERABLE CRUELTY and THE LADYKILLERS respectively, and a superb masterful thriller. When hunter Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) stumbles upon a bunch of corpses and a case of money containing $2m dollars which he subsequently takes, in the middle of the unforgiving Texas heartland, he enters into an unfortunate and harsh set of circumstances that sees him on the run from a shadowy and almost unstoppable hit-man Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem). At the same time closely followed on there trail is Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones, a world weary and wise lawmen on the verge of retirement, who is hoping to find Moss before those that want the money find him first. The Coen's steady and smooth direction provide scenes of intensity and scenes carried along by the actions of the characters on-screen, as there are many scenes not featuring any soundtrack at all, only natural sounds. The characters are superbly played, Lee Jones, is excellent in his role as Bell, his face reads of weariness with the world and at a loss to understand the ruthlessness of today's criminals. Brolin is excellent as Moss, the luckless anti-hero, a decent guy who has made the wrong choice and has to go on the run, and finally Bardem is simply the personification of unstoppable evil, as Chigurh, along with the offbeat deliberate Coen influenced bad haircut, he cuts through the American heartland, with his weapon of choice (an airgun used to kill cattle, killing anyone who crosses his path and offering them a chance to avoid fate by calling heads or tales on a coin toss (the scene in the gas station where Chigurh makes the owner call heads or tails, is brilliantly written). Overall its a superb return to form for the Coen brother's and has much in common with there previous films FARGO and BLOOD SIMPLE, and also reminded me of the hard boiled thrillers of the 70's such as THE GETAWAY and CHARLEY VARRICK, which in similar terms to NO COUNTRY...used the desert landscape as a sort of modern day western setting. Also Roger Deakin's excellent cinematography perfectly captures the mood and intensity of the landscape and deserves any awards it receives. Overall an amazing and unmissable film.
Review of No Country for Old Men
