Mediocre

Rating: 5/10 (1 September 2010)

The film, as shown above, is often called a thriller or Gothic, but neither term really applies. It's not Gothic because it is too tied to the earthen landscape, and it's barely a thriller, because, well, it's so predictable. It's simply a monster movie- a bit more realistic than the Hannibal Lecter/Freddy Krueger sort, but not much. One wonders what the film would have been like if the assassin Chigurh had been more like the hit-man character played by Forest Whitaker in Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai, Jim Jarmusch's underrated film about an assassin, which is also one of the most realistic depictions of organized crime on film. R, perhaps he could be more erratically real, like Johnny Boy, Robert De Niro's psychotic character from Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets, another realistic depiction of organized crime. Instead, what does Chigurh offer besides The Terminator and The Joker? Yes, another Batman foe, Two-Face's obsession with coin flipping to decide whether or not he commits murder. Perhaps in his construction of the novel, McCarthy thought that this device was somehow deep or profound, that it lent Chigurh the status of cosmic force of nature, but what it really did was explicitly tie the character down to a comic book level realism. And, incidentally, Two-Face was played by Jones in 1995's Batman Forever.
But, to get back to the point I raised, the film is SO predictable. Do we not know how Chigurh's victims will end up? Do we not know that he will escape at the end, despite the bone of the car crash tossed in to make it seem like cosmic justice will out? Do we not know Moss is a dead man? That is wife is also a walking corpse? That Sheriff Bell will prove as incompetent as he is apathetic? And, I earlier mentioned the overrated Thomas Paul Anderson film, There Will Be Blood, but since both films so posture themselves on 'depth' in dealing with their amoral characters, it's a wonder why so few critics took these films to task for never truly delving into that amorality. Great, amoral characters- see Films, Slasher (20th Century). Yawn. Yet, of the two films, and even laden with its own considerable flaws, it still has some occasionally interesting moments wrought by the acting abilities of Daniel Day-Lewis (although that film's lead character is not amongst his best). Is there a single character in this film with a fifth of the complexity of Lewis's Daniel Plainview, even considering how thin that character is developed? No. Simple. No. And that is the same answer to give to the query over whether this film is worth rewatching.
On to the DVD features. There are three disks- one to download a digital copy onto one's PC (thanks, I'll pass), then the disk with the film. Unfortunately, it lacks an audio commentary. One of the prime things a DVD has in its favor, as a mode of visual art, is the ability to feature commentaries on films, and barring a Woody Allen-like decision yo always forego such, it is incumbent upon DVD companies to include such, especially to supplement mediocre films like this. The disk also has a good making of featurette, a film on working with the Coen Brothers, and a small piece on Tommy Lee Jones' character. The final disk has a bevy of features: a tongue in cheek featurette shot by Josh Brolin, and a slew of clips regarding the promotion of the film over several months- from interviews to book store appearances to radio interviews. All in all, a decent bonus features package. But, the lack of audio commentary is glaring.
As for the film itself, on the technical side, the cinematography by Roger Deakins is solid to good. At times the views of West Texas are very Antonionian, whereas, at others, little is made of perspective, framing, and editing. Carter Burwell's scoring leaves no impression, one way or the other. The acting is rather pedestrian- from the stilted Bardem to the so laid back he's barely acting Jones to the solid Brolin. And, as I opened this essay by stating, some things are better excerpted. This film's trailer is proof, for it is engaging, unlike the film. The last 15 or so minutes of the film, after Moss's death, are utterly superfluous, for they add nothing to the plot, which is the primum mobile of the film. The film would have been much better had its rather incisive portrayals of small town Texans and their quirks been given more screen time, and then a reduced scenario of the drug chase, with more realistic characters, were added to that brew. But, alack, this might require work, and thought, and too often, in Hollywood (including the vaunted Coen Brothers) these sorts of things simply cannot be bothered with. Instead, the small time characters flit in and out of this film with such rapidity that they are lucky that a few of them rise above stereotypes. Fair enough, I guess, if you consider film a business first. I consider it an art first, so be equally fair and give the Coens the same in return as they gave to their screenplay: don't bother with their film. After all, your time and money are as precious as any film investor's. No?