It's a masterpiece.

Rating: 10/10 (22 January 2014)

I read all of these one star reviews and you have to wonder, have any of these people ever read a great book.
The Coens think their audience is intelligent. What a sin in world where a Michael Bay picture grosses a couple hundred million and makes no demand that you use your brain ever.
I recall a complaint about this movie from a friend. They didn't like that the good guy dies and the bad guy gets away. There is no good guy or bad guy in this film. Tommy Lee Jone's character is the closest thing to a good guy, but he is an observer and has absolutely no impact on the story.
Our, "hero" is not a good guy. He is a guy that attempts to steal 2 million from a drug cartel. This is always a bad idea and his actions tempt fate and put the people he loves at risk. Our, "bad" guy is not a guy, but a force of nature. He is every hurricane, tornado, earthquake, stray bullet from a drive-by, and he is a 1,000 man deep army for the drug cartel. He is death, and if you see him, you are dead. A ghost that flips coins if you meet by chance or chases you to your end if you get in it's way.
Our hero also thinks you can show compassion in a game where there is no tolerance for compassion. A simple gallon of water, a kindness, is his undoing. He doesn't understand the rules of the game.
The title is a big clue too.
This is a film about fate. How it may find you if you are hiding, but it will certainly find you if you tempt it. It's about knowing your place in the world. And by the time you notice there is no place for old men in the new game, you are the old man. But the game never changes. You do.
The script is as tight and as perfect as anything I've seen in years, and I try to see every movie of note. And the cinematography is flawless and endlessly interesting.
The violence is there for a reason and has to be there. "A Clockwork Orange" distracted you from today by pretending this was tomorrow. "No Country", uses a similar device in some respects. The horror of cartel crime circa 1980 is nothing compared with today. Only maybe we are not really looking, then or now.
There is so much more. But I think you have to want to find it.
I do find it amusing to think of this movie as a little bit of a response to the main theme in, "Barton Fink", for the Coens have made a big, "wrestling picture" this time.