And There Are No Clean Getaways

Rating: Null/10 (4 March 2008)

'No Country for Old Men' does stay true to the tagline. We see midway through the film when Moss pays 500 dollar to buy a jacket to 'get away'. We see later on that Chigurh pays a large sum to a boy for his shirt after a possibly fatal accident. Being a fan of the Coens's movies, I was looking forward to this one. 'No Country for Old Men' is one of the darkest and most visceral films of the Coen brothers. One could argue that it has a lot more gore than 'Fargo'. However, this is no slasher flick with pointless excessive violence. It sticks to the main story without too many deviations (though some characters are pointless e.g. Carson Wells). It's got the Coen humour (which I very much enjoy) but I find it hard to compare to their other works. The use of camera-work and lack of colour and background score is effective. Actually it's pretty much got the ingredients of a great Coen movie. There are some brilliant performances. Javier Bardem is really menacing as Chigurh. The actor totally owns that character. I wonder why his role was recognized as supporting when the plot pretty much revolved around him. Kelly MacDonald brings a fresh contribution. The actress makes you forget her British origin and does full justice to the Texan Carla Jean Moss. Josh Brolin too gets a meaty role and the actor does an adequate job. Sadly, Tommy Lee Jones fails to impress and Woody Harrelson barely has a role of substance. Some of the dialogues are repetitive. To put it in one sentence, 'No Country for Old Men' is a dark unconventional movie about violence, murder, greed, escape, and destiny.