Review: No Country for Old Men

Josh Brolin (looking a little like a young, dark-haired Nick Nolte) plays a pretty regular Texan guy (the film is set in the 1980s, for who knows what reason) who one night stumbles upon the remains of a drug deal gone wrong. Dead bodies, a truck-full of drugs, and a suitcase full of cash. He stupidly and impulsively takes the latter but finds himself paranoid in anticipation of the original owners coming after him. Meanwhile, hulking Javier Bardem (with big dead eyes) plays Anton Chigurh, a soulless killer (‘unstoppable force of nature’ might be more exact) who wanders around Texas killing anyone (with a tank of compressed air as a weapon!) who fails to win a coin toss. Tommy Lee Jones is the local sheriff whose jurisdiction both of these cases falls under, and who is laconically lamenting the increasingly unseemly state of the world. Woody Harrelson has a minor part as a bounty hunter who thinks he’s a badass and thinks he knows Chigurh better than anyone, and Kelly MacDonald is Brolin’s wife.

Another supremely overrated, unsatisfying Coen Brothers (“Fargo”, “O Brother Where Art Thou”) movie, this sometimes well-done 2007 crime-thriller boasts top performances and a memorable villain, but it’s far too slow-moving, and the story and the way it is told are disappointing and meandering. I’d advise the Coens to stop editing their own films, for starters. One important character’s death is appallingly done off-screen, making me extremely angry, as did the ending for that matter. I also think there are too many story strands. Brolin is tops, but the film should’ve just focused on Jones and Bardem (even though the former’s scenes tend to slow everything down). Some scenes and characters are entirely superfluous (notably Corbin and Harrelson, the former’s one big scene goes nowhere real sssloooowwwww). The latter two problems are critical, because the meandering nature of the film takes away a lot of the power and tension from the thriller aspect of it all. ****MINOR SPOILER WARNING**** The fact that none of the three main characters share a single scene with one another, certainly doesn’t help build tension or interest (It’s a really stupid idea, in fact). ****END MINOR SPOILER**** Still, Bardem’s Oscar-winning performance and physical presence keep one watching, and Jones is well-cast too. Terrific Roger Deakins cinematography too, helped no doubt, by nice scenery.

Once again, I’m left unmoved and mostly unimpressed by the Coen Brothers and their quirky crime tales. Scripted by The Coens from the Cormac McCarthy novel, I think there was potential for a really good film here (everyone else loves it). As I often say though, this isn’t that really good film.

Rating: C+