Old Men is Old Coen

Rating: 6/10 (22 November 2007)

The Coen brothers are on firmer and more familiar territory with this Texas noir based on the Cormac Mc Carthy novel. Trailer park resident Llewellyn Moss stumbles upon the aftermath of a drug deal gone bad in the Texas desert and makes off with the fortune in cash. A machine like but philosophical psychopathic killer is soon in pursuit. An aging sheriff takes up pursuit of both with little success as bodies begin to litter the territory.
The film is filled with some highly suspenseful moments and for the most part remains that way for much of the film. The pace maintains itself by shifting back and forth between three characters with a detour here and there to introduce other players and plot twists. The diversions and turns eventually become wearisome though and Country starts to slow down.
No Country is vintage Coen. After the Big Lebowski (a worthy follow-up to their masterpiece Fargo) the brothers seemed to have lost their edge with four lackluster efforts. Country recalls their superb earlier works such as Raising Arizona, Blood Simple and Fargo and therein lies part of the problem. A lot of Country has scenes and characters directly lifted from these works.
The Coen's are masters at oblique dialogue that gets to the heart of the matter and many scenes resonate with these elements giving them both tension and humor. Their originality and unpredictability of action and character can raise suspense in the most benign of settings. Their heroes and villains are complex. They are not 24-7 people of virtue or mindless cruelty. Their quirks flesh out and bring depth to their character thus increasing the possible directions of the plot.
Tommy Lee Jones as the Sheriff is a burned out Andy of Mayberry moving from middle age crisis to old age and the uncertainty of retirement, always a step behind the bad guys. Jones conveys his fatigue and dogged determination in a fine measured way. Josh Brolin is even better as Moss who goes to great lengths to hold onto the money. Brolin, who stole acting honors in American Gangster as a corrupt jersey cop does so here as well as a stoic Texan. Based on these two roles alone he could be Americas best working actor. Woody Harrelson is badly miscast as a contract killer in a throw away role.
What ultimately makes No Country for Old Men a disappointment is the handling of the villain, Anton Chigurh played by Javier Bardem. The film, grounded in a dusty realism slowly starts to fall apart as Chigurh moves across the landscape like Boris Karloff offing locals with an unconcealed customized weapon. Even after a dozen people have been eliminated by Chigurh you get the impression that only Sheriff Bell is looking for him since Chigurh has no problem moving freely about spreading mayhem. The fascinating character that Chigurh is (he seems to be searching for the meaning of life as well as the stolen money) at the film's beginning degenerates into a Schwarzenegian Terminator manqué by the final reel and this strains the credulity of the movie beyond its breaking point.
With Country the brothers Coen may be out of the rut that plagued there last few works but their wheels are still spinning.