A Masterpiece of the Modern West

Rating: 10/10 (7 January 2015)

A drug deal gone wrong, a pile of bodies, and two million dollars of missing cash; such are the things that many a gangster film, gritty cop movie, and shoot-em-up have been made from. And in the hands of Joel and Ethan Coen, it provides the perfect material for one hell of a modern day western.
By the time hunter Llewellyn Moss (Josh Brolin) finds the money, he's already seen the bodies and the drugs. He knows the stakes, and he knows that certain people will not rest until they recover that money. But how could he know that he'd be pursued by a man like Anton Chigurh. Chigurh (Javier Barden) is one of the deadliest, most merciless, and downright craziest men you could ever. If you present even the slightest inconvenience to him, he will look you in the eye, talk to you as calmly as if you were talking about the weather, and gun you down without a second thought. Sometimes he doesn't even need an excuse. He's the kind of person that bodies just seem to materialize wherever he goes, and if he's looking for you, you might as well already be in the ground.
Of course with all these people dying, it won't be long before the law get's involved. Enter Sheriff Ed Tom (Tommy Lee Jones). He's seen just about everything in his long years as county sheriff, and it doesn't take him long to figure out that Llewellyn is in way over his head. Now he's in a race to see if he can catch up with Llewellyn and the money before Chigurh can.
As you would expect from the Coen Brothers, No Country for old men is an intricate, compelling, and somewhat strange tale. Under their direction, what might be merely a simple chase movie takes on a higher level of complexity, as the characters try to outwit and stay one step ahead of each other. This movie also knows how to play its cards close to its chest. It withholds enough information to keep you guessing, but never so much that you become frustrated. It should be noted that the Coens really have a way with dialog. I haven't seen a script with this much restraint since The Magnificent Seven. There's not a single unnecessary word in the entire film. When the characters do speak, their words are full of wit and personality. For instance, when Ed Tom here's about the three men gunned down in a cheap motel room, he refers to it as 'natural causes.' "Natural for their line of work."
Or take Chigurh's exchange with the convenience store clerk. On the surface, it doesn't seem to have any connection to the rest of the movie, or even to make sense, but looking deeper you realize there's a sinister subtext to every word, one that gives strong indication of just how screwed up it is inside Chigurh's head. And the final scene, which I will not reveal, is pure Coen. It's deep, inscrutable, and completely unexpected. It reminded me very much of Copula's The Conversation.
No Country for Old Men is a dark and violent film, with no interest in imparting morals or providing happy endings. It's not the kind of movie you want to pull off the shelf when you need an escape. But it is also a powerful and engaging film that you will not soon forget. Here the Coens have given audiences one of the most chilling pictures of evil in many years, along with their best movie since Fargo.