Moody, Dark and Grim

Rating: 8/10 (16 January 2008)

Coen Brothers created a moody film with a very grim, dark theme that will haunt its viewers who fully capture the meaning. The eerily grim mood is sustained from the dead desolate landscapes, minimal dialogue, sinister characters and a far from Hollywood ending that sustains and enhances the mood and resonates after the viewing.
The theme is that of the inevitability and randomness of death which is metaphorically represented by Javier's character that is more grim reaper than human, he stops at nothing and frighteningly appears out of no where. He is big, brooding, socially odd, cold, warped, eerily calm and apathetic yet confident in his power and his fear. His abnormal peculiarities become apparent as he interacts with people, the weapon of choice and his hair style. His interactions allow us to somewhat get into his warped yet interesting brain and to somewhat learn his philosophy behind his motivations.
Containing a Hitchcockian style suspense for our times is where this movie shines. The suspense is due to the hauntingly menacing character and the modern, masterfully executed suspense scenes that were reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock.
Extremely careful attention must be paid to Tommy Lee Jones' character since he expresses the ideas of the movie and challenges the audience to understand his mumbling southern drawl or dialect. .
The story is about someone finding some money and a psychopathic killer that wants to get the money back killing some people that get in his way. And that is it. There are holes in this meager plot and it is unclear what exactly is going on at certain points. Also, belief has to be suspended as to how these people always find each other in random locations. But the movie is not so much about the story as it is about the mood and the theme. You will either ill-fatedly cross death's path (metaphorically represented by Javier's character) and die, or you will eventually die anyway from growing old. Â– Bleak.