Good Start, Bad Middle, And, Eventually, Naptime

Rating: 4/10 (1 December 2007)

I loved Fargo. It's on my own, personal Top 10. So I was very interested in No Country.
The film starts out really promising. Local hick (Josh Brolin) stumbles upon the bloody remnants of a drug turf war, and slinks away with a satchel of cash. Creepy hit man (Javier Bardem) hops on his trail. Long-in-the-tooth sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones) tries to head them off before carnage ensues.
For about the first half, the film has great promise. Some of the sneak, counter-sneak scenes between Brolin & Bardem (like the give-and-take around the cheap motel) are suspenseful and tense. The Coen brothers start to build intrigue upon intrigue within the drug gangs themselves, leading to some real promising encounters at the end of the film.
Unfortunately, the Coens let this film fall apart. For some reason, they take the focus off the criminal suspense and on to Jones' Sad Sack character. All we end up hearing is his moaning about how "it's so hard to be a sheriff these days". They then let the interesting hit man plot die abruptly, suck all the energy out of the film, and it dies a quiet death. I actually fell asleep during the last ten minutes or so waking up during the closing credits.
The Coens really lost their way on this one. It almost looks like they got bored with the film and wanted to wrap it up quickly or something. Why they drone on about retirement, I don't know.
All in all, a poor attempt from otherwise capable filmmakers. 4 out of 10.