Fascinating, controversial, the anti-Western

Rating: 9/10 (28 December 2007)

Watching this film at a multiplex was an absolutely fascinating experience. After wading through the crowd of mouth-breathers knocking down the doors for Nicolas Cage's latest "epic", I was transported (with very few other audience members) to the rapidly eroding Southwest of the early '80s. Much more than simply a chase movie, the Coens (with brilliant source material by Cormac McCarthy) have made a wistful homage to the Texas of an earlier time, when people respected the law, their elders, and each other, even as greed, drugs, and mindless violence begin to overtake the culture. Powerfully acted, particularly by Tommie Lee Jones (in probably the sparest performance by a lead actor in, well, forever) and Javier Bardem as the monstrous Anton Chiguhr, a man who simply embodies menace. A lot of folks, looking for the standard good-guy-wins-bad-guy-loses Hollywood malarkey, will hate this film, particularly the ending. That's OK, though- there are plenty of choices for them. This was a movie for the rest of us; it's a miracle it got made.