No Country for Old Men Reviews

[Highly rated reviewer]

A major disappointment

Was really expecting something special, even though, let's face it, the Coen's can at times be overrated.

Far too slow,not that gripping, with a pointless ending.Don't bother.

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[Highly rated reviewer]

Mesmerising thriller that see,s the Coen brothers back on top form

It’s good to see the Coen brothers dealing with material they are comfortable with after the mis-step that was “The Ladykillers” Here they adapt Cormac McCarthy’s novel and it brings to mind two of their real triumphs -”Blood Simple “ And “Fargo” in that they are stripped down thrillers .Like “Blood Simple” this is set in a small Texan town and like “Fargo” it has one character as it’s moral centre , wondering what the hell the world is coming to as chaos and death swirl around him.

Its 1980 and Vietnam vet Llewellyn Moss ( Josh Brolin) is out hunting in the Texan desert when he comes across the scene of a drugs deal gone wrong. There are trucks and bodies everywhere and one of the trucks is loaded to the gills with drugs. He finds a survivor who asks him for water but then comes across a set of tracks and blood stains leading away from the scene. Moss follows the trail finding a body and a suitcase full of cash. Taking the money back to the trailer he shares with his wife Carla Jean ( Kelly McDonald) he then makes a massive mistake. Riddled with guilt about the survivor he heads back to the desert to give him water only to find he has died and worse someone else has returned to the scene and don’t seem to pleased about him being there, and just to exacerbate his predicament they have found his vehicle and can therefore trace him.

Of even greater concern as if this wasn’t enough is the suitcase contains a transponder and the man tracking him down is relentless psychopath Anton Chigurh(Javier Bardem), a man sporting a disturbing haircut , a pneumatic air gun and a propensity for deciding whether people live or die with the toss of a coin. On the other side of the moral divide is Sherriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), a man nearing retirement and baffled by the escalating carnage around him.

Moss thinks he’s smart enough to outwit Chigurh and as the bodies pile up the two indulge in an escalating cat and mouse game into which also steps the more reasonable hit man Carson Wells(Woody Harrelson).Meanwhile Sheriff Bell is always a step behind and also realises that Carla Jean may just be the key to bringing in Moss and stopping the killing.

The pairing of McCarthy and the Coen,s works a treat. His stripped down and dry dialogue dovetails well with that of the Coens, fitting in with their dust dry humour ( When his deputy observes that the drug battle scene is a mess Bell reply’s “Well if it isn’t it’ll do till one gets here”) and they seem able to get a credible handle on his characters. In that they are aided by some admirable performances with Brolin, Jones, and Kelly McDonald( Her Texan accent is very convincing ) but its Javier Bardem as Chigurh who really stands out. By slightly reining in his performance as the inexorable killing machine Bardem makes him far more sinister and believable. His cold calculating manner is eerily credible but he is also someone who as Wells points out “He’s not like you, he’s not even like me“. When Bardem is on screen I guarantee you will not look away and will hang on every word.

Like most truly outstanding cinema the Coens brothers film has things going on way beyond what you may see on the screen. It’s a film about the capriciousness of fate, about how tiny choices can have devasting consequences. Some see Chigurh as the human embodiment of death and there has been much postulating on events in the movie with several theories spinning around about Moss’s fate and even that of Bell . So even though it works wonderfully just as a pure thriller( You are genuinely never entirely certain which way any scene will go) No Country For Old Men is a far more potent work than that.

The final scene lifted entirely from the book has Bell reciting a monologue that if anything shrouds the film and it’s conclusion in even more doubt and fog. Whatever your opinion of the films themes and the fate of the characters one thing cannot be denied. No Country For Old Men is exemplary film making .If there is a better movie released in 2008 we will have been blessed…..fate this time , will have been on our side.

Totally over-hyped!

The acting is fantastic, and the film is nicely shot. However, the storyline is very slow moving, interrupted only by the occasional action scenes and some very strong violence. There were loud gasps and laughter of disappointment at the end of the film as many in the ('selected preview') audience clearly felt that the film ended without the story coming to a point.

[Highly rated reviewer]

slow

this filmm was so slow to get to any of the action that i had to leave the cinema cause i was so bored

WTF!!!!

On the whole very disappointing. I was looking forward to seeing this film based on very positive press reviews.

The first two thirds are very good. Some of the dialogue, such as the scene where the world-weary Sherrif and his Deputy survey the carnage of the drug heist gone wrong, is outstanding. There are moments of real tension. The cat and mouse game between the two principal characters is truly gripping in places. BTW Kelly MacDonald's accent is impeccable.

But, What the heck happened in the third act?? As of the point where the story reaches El Paso the story goes into meltdown. The Coens lost it. Doesn't reach any kind of point. There is no satisfying conclusion. Didn't like the direction the film took. I left the cinema feeling positively ROBBED. Also, Javier Bardem is a good actor but let's face it, anyone can play a total psycho, and while it was a competent performance I do not think it is Oscar worthy. He was just a killing machine. I didn't get any depth from the character.

[Highly rated reviewer]

no country for old men

I can't believe that this incredibly tedious derivative sub-Peckinpah mess has drawn all the praise that it has received. I can only suppose that the Coens are now considered beyond criticism. This is one of the worst films I've ever seen

[Highly rated reviewer]

boring.

my opinion can b summarized in one sentence: THE WORST MOVIE I HAVE EVER SEEN!

[Highly rated reviewer]

No Country for Old Men

I'm not a big fan of the Coen Brothers . I think that a lot of people say they like their movies because it's fashionable to do so. It's what i call' The emperors new clothes syndrome'.

I didn't like O Brother , where art Thou . I thought Fargo was overrated , despite a great performance from William H Macy and i quite liked The Big Labowski .As for The Lady Killers , what were they thinking ?

Despite my reservations of the Coens i went to see No Country for Old Men with an open mind and at last i have found one of their a movies that i love!

The story begins when Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) finds a pickup truck surrounded by a sentry of dead men. A load of heroin and two million dollars in cash are still in the back. When Moss takes the money, he sets off a chain reaction of catastrophic violence that not even the law - in the person of aging, disillusioned Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee-Jones) - can contain. Moss tries to evade his pursuers, in particular a mysterious Hit man ( Javier Bardem) who flips coins for human lives.

What is different from this than most of the other Coen Brothers films is the Humour - Or lack of it in this case . This is a dark , disturbing film that very rarely tries to be be funny and to be honest does not need to.

There is absolutely no music in it whatsoever , not even any backing music and that was an inspirational decision by the Coens . You hear every foot step , every heavy breath taken and and every click of a gun and it makes you feel that you are living the nightmare of everyone that has the misfortune come across the deadly Anton Chigurh .

There are brilliant displays from Tommy Lee-Jones , Josh Brolin and Kelly MacDonald but the outstanding performance must go to Javier Bardem because without that portrayal of Anton I'm not sure this would have been half the film it is.

The ending is strangely abrupt because that's the way the book ends but i feel the last scene could and should have been cut or shown earlier .

As for the nominations for Best film at the Academy Awards next month i have only seen No Country for Old Men and Atonement of the films nominated. Although i loved this film , Atonement deserves the Oscar.

8 out 10

[Highly rated reviewer]

Where the Hell is the Ending???

What an ending - WHAT WHAT WHAT - i can only hope that the ending is being released separately!!!!!!!!! The ending, or lack of one, beggars belief...............

No Country for Old Men

This is an incredible film. There is an undertone of tension running through it that keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout. Javier Bardem pulls off an amazing performance as the impossibly menacing and psychotic hitman and is so scarily dangerous he's practically inhuman.

The people who have reviewed here, saying that the film is boring because there's not enough action/killing, obviously missed the glaringly obvious atmosphere of impending danger that makes it so exciting, possibly because the film was a bit beyond them. Predictable killathons like Rambo 3 are probably more up their street. Anyone with half a brain will love this film.