"...and then I woke up."

Rating: 10/10 (26 September 2008)

A film that lives up to its reputation and then some, "No Country For Old Men" is a revelation in modern-day Hollywood. No big budget. No special effects. Just raw, bleak film-making at its finest. The Coen brothers have done something here, arguably their best film to date. Quite really, this film blew me away.
In this film, hunter Llewelyn Moss finds a suitcase of drug money at the site of a drug deal gone bad between Mexican and American dealers. The American criminals then hire psychopathic assassin Anton Chigurh to kill Moss and retrieve the money. Meanwhile, Sheriff Tom Bell tries to put the pieces together, but is disillusioned by the truths of the present.
You see, this is not a simple cat-and-mouse chase thriller, nor is it a bleak and ultra-violent neo-noir. Instead, it is a wake up call to the world, the world of violence we live in now, where everyday somebody is killed without reason. Without sense. And the bad guys sometimes do get away with it. That is the sad part of it.
Before I'll get melodramatic, I'll start by saying that everyone's performances were superb, especially Javier Bardem. He deserved his Oscar. Anton is a relentless, merciless, twisted psycho that has absolutely no regrets and no hard feelings towards anyone, be it his client, his target, his target's contacts, his rival, or even a total stranger. He will just take your like even with pleas of mercy. His character Chigurh here represents the angel of Death, the Grim Reaper, who takes the "souls" of people who calls their fate. It's a mesmerizing and revolutionary performance, one that I dare to call one of the most sinister and deadly villainous performances of all time.
Josh Brolin is also excellent in his role as the protagonist, hunter Llewelyn Moss. He is a man who knows what situation he will get into, yet he bravely takes risks that may endanger his life, as well as the life of his loved ones. Moss character is brash, and attentive to the happenings around him. Brolin's performance was a vital key factor for this film's success and had Bardem not stole the limelight, Brolin would. This is his finest performance to date and I have yet to see him in bigger roles, much likely as President George W. Bush in an upcoming Oliver Stone biopic.
Rounding out the main cast is Tommy Lee Jones, playing the disillusioned Sheriff Bell. He is fed up with all the violence happening around him and seeks a way out of this. Bell represents the previous generation lashing out at today's level of extremism. We are tired, and we want to end it as soon as possible. But how is it going to end, we ask? It was Bell who said the "comment opener" at the end of the film, his voice and eyes filled with sad remorse and heartbreak, it just gets to you, knowing that you want something and you get the other way around. It's just heart-wrenching.
The supporting cast is also great, kudos to Woody Harrelson and Kelly McDonald for their great performances as Chigurh's rival hit-man and Moss' wife, respectively, and also to Garrett Dillahunt as the Sheriff's Deputy, providing little comic relief to this dark and disturbing drama.
Adapted from a Cormac McCarthy novel, the film's screenplay is also masterfully written by the Coens, with some of their trademark dialog in places. Their direction is much praise, from showing off the beautiful cinematography of the countryside, to what was one the Wild West; to a suspenseful nighttime silence in a border-town in the middle of the night. There are some violent scenes, and they are brutal and shocking at best. The film's slow pace is not a problem as it takes time to fully understand what is going on. Also, sparing the use of music is brilliant, it really sets up the tension and the mood for the film. The short music itself is haunting; Carter Burwell's themes are bleak and gritty.
In short, it's nothing more than a movie miracle. It deserved the Best Picture Win at the Academy Awards, and it definitely redefines the neo-noir thriller genre. It is a masterpiece, and one that may linger on freshly in some people's thoughts for years to come.
Overall Rating: 9.3/10
Delton