follow the bloody trail

Rating: 9/10 (11 March 2015)

A violent cat-and-mouse story about an underemployed Vietnam vet (Josh Brolin) who is chased by a determined hit-man (Javier Bardem) after coming across the bloody remnants of a drug-deal-gone-wrong and two million dollars in cash somewhere in the desolate west-Texas borderlands. The opening twenty minutes or so, in which Brolin, who is out hunting antelopes (?) and discovers the crime scene, are simply mesmerizing. Bardem's relentless chase to find and kill Brolin and recover the money is what the film primarily focuses on, and it brings out both his and Brolin's characters, which are both fantastically well- acted. The chase straddles the Texas-Mexico border, somewhat reminiscent of Walter Hill's awesomely good "Extreme Prejudice". There is a philosophical angle, from the novel by Cormac McCarthy, that the film is based on, that makes this notably more than mindless action, but that creates an ambiguous conclusion that challenges the viewer's expectations.