Solid effort at a Cormac McCarthy tale

Rating: 8/10 (28 January 2008)

The characters in the movie were excellently portrayed by all actors. The only thing that keeps this from being a 10 is Tommy Lee Jones relationship to the main plot line. If the characters were better tied together I would have given it a perfect score, but there was too much left for interpretation by the movie goers. This fault aside, Bardem is clearly the muscle in the movie. Although his exact motivation appears to be money and greed, you get the feeling that there is something more primal to Bardem's path of aggression. Bardem's cool calculating ways are contrasted by Josh Brolin's gritty understanding of his precarious situation. The grit shown by Brolin is typical of the modern day southern Texan. Woddy Harrelson makes a bit more than a cameo appearance, but his small part accomplishes what the Cohen's intended. Bardem's confrontation with Harrelson shows just how competent the maniacal killer really is.