In the world of Coen

Rating: 5/10 (10 January 2008)

Half way into this movie I was still positively upset that this was probably going to be the first time I would ever actually enjoy a Coen movie. We all like what we like but none of their prior movies (And I did see them all) did anything other for me than bore or annoy.
Of course I should have known better because the very reason the Coen productions annoy me is that none of their movies take place on earth. No-Country-for-old-Men turned out to be no exception. Far from it even.
Somewhere in a paralleled universe there is a little blue ball of mud and water that looks very much like our own planet. The difference between our world and this one is a difference in certain laws of logic.
On planet Earth as I know it, if a dude in scene 1 would tell a dying Mexican to go fork himself when he's asking for water, walking away with 2 million dollars with no expression on his face, he would probably not have problems with his conscience a couple of hours later only to fill up a cannister of water and go back in remorse. On my world, if a cop would be killed, there would probably be a thorough investigation (even in Texas). But not in the world of the Coens. If a man with a funny hairdo would walk around a town or a motel with a 90 inch hand-cannon with a strange aluminum front, people on earth would call the police. But not on planet Coen. The list goes on filling up a roll of toiletpaper if one would take the time.
And there you have it. Where in normal films one is required to suspend some disbelief, in this movie you'd have to let it slide altogether. And that is exactly where the movies for me quit to entertain. They annoy more than they amuse even though set-designs, acting and cinematography are almost always on par with any quality movie or even above.
And like this wasn't enough to cast serious doubt on this production, they put in a terrible anticlimax of an ending...dared but ultimately flawed and annoying. -SPOILER-START- How they expected to get away with showing a movie for 1.5 hours, closely following the protagonist, and having him being killed off-screen in a 12 second scene, is beyond me.-SPOILER-END- And since when is mumbling some cod-philosophical verbal diarrhea a good replacement for closure in a movie which desperately needed some sensible conclusion? I know that the entire theater I watched this movie with felt exactly the same about this. Everyone was going 'huh?', 'This is it?' or started apologizing for picking the movie to the people they were with or even started arguments with employees of the theater. Everyone felt unanimously cheated. And this set against the incredible high praise this movie has received, makes absolutely no sense.
If I had to judge the movie based on the first half of it, it would have scored a 7,5 in my book because it was all delivered convincingly and graciously although a bit meandering at times. But such a lousy and unsatisfying ending should not go unpunished, especially in the reviews of the movie-critics who write their reviews for the moviegoers and not for themselves nor their peers nor the Coen Brothers.
5/10