one of the most overrated films of the year

Rating: 6/10 (11 December 2007)

This was a movie I was initially going to avoid because I had seen the trailers so many times and was less than thrilled. However, after hearing a great review from one of my best film friends, who's opinion I respect highly, I thought what the hell I'll give this a shot.
I'll admit I really enjoyed the the first half of the film up until the confrontation between Anton and Llewelyn where they first set eyes on each other. I loved the fact that no music is used, and I love that we know so little about the main characters as we go into the film, yet the acting and dialouge is done so well, although dialouge is sparce in this first half, that the characters all seem like very real people. Some of the tension in this first half is almost unbearable (in a good way). When we are at the second hotel and the tracking device starts going off and Anton walks right by the room as we hear the beeping. My god, I could barely sit still. And then the way the rest of this scene plays out as Llewelyn runs to the passing car, and the driver get's shot in the throat. Wonderful.
However, after this confrontation, what happened to the tension? I was no longer gripped to my seat as we go and clear up subplots with Woody's character, that I could care less about. Does this tension compare to that of our protagonist's? Not even close. Yet you think that all this is building up to a final confrontation between Llewelyn and Anton, especially when the two talk on the phone. But no, this never comes. The next time we see Llewelyn, he is dead on a hotel floor. Along with his death goes the energy that kept this film rolling. I'm not saying that seeing this confrontation between Llewelyn and Anton is necessary, but there still needs to be away to keep the conflict rising, which the Coen brothers I guess forgot to do here.
Instead we're left with a confrontation between Llewelyn's wife and Anton and some old food for thought from Tommy Lee Jones. Yeah, I liked the confrontation between Llewelyn's wife and Anton. But was it as good as the confrontation between her husband and Anton. Nope. I feel the Coen brothers were trying to emphasize the point of there story in this second half. Having to do with both fate and pure evil. Anton embodies both these things seeming to be a soulless monster who is on a mission that he has no control of. I've heard many praise his character saying that this is a great character study of a person who embodies pure evil. Well I have seen plenty of horror films where this character is represented as well, only Anton talks and gives a voice to this evil. And it's almost as if we know what he is going to say, that is exactly what any character of pure evil would say. And after all this we're left with Tommy Lee Jones little speech at the end. I had almost completely checked out at this point. Not because I wanted to (I guess it was fate) but because THE MOVIE no longer gripped me. I only caught bits and pieces of Lee's speech once again talking about fate, and then I was happy to leave the theatre.
Sure this movie has themes of how money can make you cold and dead to life, fate, and pure evil. But is this done in a new refreshing way. No. Does it stir my mind in a different way. Nope.
I have seen most of the Coen Brothers film, and I'm left disappointed almost every time. I think they are two of the most overrated directors that are alive today. I'm not saying they make bad movies, because they don't. It's only that I feel too many of their movies are heralded as genius when they are only in the category of good. This happens to be another one of them in the good.