A masterpiece, albeit a flawed one

Rating: 9/10 (27 September 2011)

No Country for Old Men is not necessarily the Coen Brothers' best movie, I consider Barton Fink, Fargo, Miller's Crossing and The Big Lebowski better. However it is a great movie, I'd go as far to say it is my definition of a flawed masterpiece(the only other movie I've given that definition to is The Magnificent Ambersons). So why do I call it a flawed masterpiece rather than a masterpiece full stop? Well actually right up to the last twenty minutes, the film was the latter rather than the former. If the last twenty minutes had not felt like a completely different movie, it would've stayed like that. As is the case with all the Coen Brothers' movies, No Country for Old Men is very well made with impressive cinematography, editing and settings. The story is compelling, the direction superb and the script most of the time taut, funny, thrilling and exciting. Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones are excellent in this film, but if I have to give an award to best performance of the film, it would be Javier Bardem in a villainous role that is menacing and chillingly effective. Overall, a great movie but due to the final twenty minutes it just loses out to that extra something. 9/10 Bethany Cox