Brilliant

Rating: 9/10 (29 January 2008)

Texas, near the Mexican border. Just a normal day in a normal little village near the desert. Until a guy runs into a number of broken cars with a number of dead bodies near them. He knows taking the bag of money, a lot of money, isn't the brightest idea. But he does it anyway. And from there things start rolling.
Soon the stories of a number of people will start to collide at various points. And as expected from the Coen brothers these stories stand out on their own and work out amazingly well when brought together. Added to that the long slow shots and the effect is a mesmerizing film that captures one from the start and just flows by naturally, never ever conflicting with reality so much that it becomes a film. It might be just the tale you get told by a broken man at a bar instead of just something that happens on the big screen.
Some characters could have done some better if they had gotten some more screen time though. For me the role played by Woody Harrelson falls a bit short - but more because of the few appearances he has than because of anything else. But for the rest all is well. Everyone is doing a fine job at putting down the characters they play.
9 out of 10 encounters with all the wrong people