A wonderful film with a weak ten minutes or so near the end

Rating: 9/10 (1 January 2008)

I enjoyed this movie. I thought it was one of the best films of this year. Hands down I would give it the same grade I gave The Departed last year. It would've been a 10 and therefore better than The Departed, which I also gave a 9, if the final confrontation involving Josh Brolin's character hadn't felt rushed and sort of anti-climatic. I won't talk about that scene because it would be a spoiler for those who haven't seen it yet, but I can still give a quick synopsis of the story.
A man named Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) is out hunting when he stumbles upon a massacre. We soon discover that the massacre was caused by a drug deal gone wrong. While doing a search he discovers a satchel of money and takes it home. Not long after he is hunted by several different parties who have been hired by the real owner of the money. Their job is to return the money and kill whoever has taken it. One of these men is the ruthless and psychotic Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) who is relentless in his pursuit of Moss and the stolen money.
Most of the story is a cat and mouse game involving the two people above, but there is a third party who is out searching for these two as well and he was not hired by any drug dealer. He is the local sheriff named Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) and you can see by the creases in his face and the sadness in his expression that he has lived a hard existence as a sheriff who has come up against way too much evil in the world. This character is used in a sort of minor role which helps the narration of the story and allows us to understand how much harder life has become in a world filled with corruption, greed, and murder. Some people might have found it a little distracting because of how the plot absorbs you into the two main characters only to pull you away whenever Bell takes center stage, but I found it to be a major addition to the story. Bell may not be the main character, but his role adds structure to the depth of the plot and helps explain why the movie was titled as it was. This is a depressing and sad movie, but that is what it was meant to be.
The acting in the movie is top notch, and the pacing is frantic and moves relentlessly forward just like both Moss and Chigurh. One does everything he can to save his family and protect his self, while the other pursues menacingly and seems completely unstoppable. One thing that bothered me a little about all this is that nobody ever seemed to hear anything while all this violence is going on, but that is only a minor complaint that probably can be explained to the point that people really don't want to get involved anyway. It fits the profile of the storyline so I'll let it go. However something I cannot let go is the final showdown as stated above. I was expecting to see more than what was given, and the film didn't seem to offer a closure. As I left the theater I thought of another movie that I liked that had and ending that offered no closure as well. That would be the fantasy drama/science fiction film Donnie Darko. The scene with the Bell character at the conclusion was fine because it helped to explain what the movie was hinting at all along, but I couldn't accept that last confrontation involving Moss. After all the fantastic build up and great suspense which glued me in my seat for most of the film, I just couldn't accept the final battle as it was. So yes I felt a little cheated, but I will still give this movie very high marks for being creative and making itself feel genuine even though there have been many other movies just like it. I will also add that Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh gives us perhaps one of the greatest villains ever created since Hannibal Lecter from Silence of The Lambs. Also the lack of a music soundtrack is perfect for this movie. Natural sounds are the only thing needed because they make the film seem more realistic. A soundtrack for a film like this would've just been a distraction.