Confident Film-making From The Coen Brothers.

Rating: 8/10 (22 December 2007)

A man finds 2 million dollars in the desert, after a drug deal goes wrong. He makes the mistake of going back, and it soon chased by other men who knew about the deal. Now it's a game of cat and mouse between him and a hit-man hired to take him out, with the sheriff on both their tails.
The Coen Brothers are back to the big screen in this intense blood soaked thriller starring Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem in the lead roles and Tommy Lee Jones plays the Sheriff who's seen too much blood shed in his time. All three give stellar performances, but it's Javier who stands out in the mix, as the heartless psycho killer on the lose. The intensity in his voice is enough to make you squirm. His portrayal of the assassin looking for the money is frightening and along with Bill from the Kill Bill films, one of the best villains of the past decade. Tommy Lee Jones is perfectly cast, be it seems like no stretch for him. Brolin surprised me, he carried the film very well and did what was needed to be done.
There are bits and pieces of dark humour throughout the film, which is a great way to let you relax after the intense moments that are everything else. Even with the bits of comedy here and there, No Country For Old Men is the most mature piece of work from the Coen Brothers. So confidently directed there is no musical score throughout the film. Instead, we are taken directly into this world. We are no longer watching a film, we are apart of the cat and mouse game. Right from the squeaking of shoes on a tile floor of a man being strangled to the beeping of a transmitter signifying impending doom. There is no need for music, the performance speak for themselves.
There many intense scenes in this film, one in particular is when we do hear that beeping sound, we anticipate what's going to happen. Great visuals and sounds are used throughout this scene. Along with that audio sound is the visual. An unknown predator lurking in the shadows. We can't seem him, but we can see the bright light from his gun. The cinematography is beautiful. Right from the opening scene, we get a sense of the world these people live on. The open range of the desert.
The violence is grounded. You won't see people jumping through the air wielding two guns as doves fly away in slow motion. The villain uses a compressed air tank to break into rooms and kill innocent people. Not only does the villain kill the so called "bad people", but innocent bystanders as well. The man is so psychotic that he will decide your life by the flip of a coin.
With all the good must come the bad. The film is indeed very good, but it can't get over it's own praise. The fault with films like this is that is rarely lives up to it's praise. While this film is indeed good and one of the years best. I wouldn't ranked it up there with films like Goodfellas or Pulp Fiction. No Country for some reason sat odd with me as the credits were rolling. I liked it a lot, but I wanted to like it even more. There was one scene in particular that caught me off guard and I didn't really like, but I can't say what it is without spoiling the film. Also the ending, this is the big discussion of the film. Many people loved the film up until the ending. Well, throw me in the boat as well because I did not dig it very much. The last bit of the film seemed to drag on. The characters had nothing left to do, the story was over, yet the film kept rolling on. It seemed like it was trying to go for some closure, but never really gets there.
All in all this film is great and certainly in the top ten films of the year. But, much like the character who can't call the coin for you, because it wouldn't be fair, I can't "tell" you to go see this movie...you have to call it (or see it) yourself.