Great start; dismal ending.

Rating: 7/10 (15 May 2008)

Here was a movie with great potential and lived up to it until about the last half hour. Where do I start? This movie had the potential to be a great movie but lost it in the last half hour. First of all, Josh Brolin was the star of this movie and should be first listing. He played a great part of a simple but witty and sharp cowboy.
Tommy Lee Jones downplayed his role and was not at his greatest as a mopey Sheriff. His role didn't affect the movie as any actor could have portrayed this character. He did have a couple of good lines though. And his star quality did help the movie as he does have a great presence on screen.
Javier Bardem excelled at his role with a stunning performance of a ruthless and truly psychotic with just a hint of and I mean hint of humanity.
You will love the first three quarters of the movie. Brolin played his part to perfection and I really liked his character.
Where did Woody Harrelson come from? He appeared near the end of the movie and had 3 scenes and was killed-off. I must say though, he played an excellent character and is a very good actor. His facial expressions at the time of his execution were superb.
Here is where the movie bombs. The movie spends all of its time building the character of Brolin "Llewelyn" and is then killed-off. Huh? At least if you are to kill him off, show it! Put some meaning to it. Just don't show him dead. You spent the whole movie building his character and then kill him off without any experience for the audience. Basically, you just sh#t on the movie.
The director let this movie die. I don't know what he was trying to do. I don't know if he was catering to Tommy Lee or what but he just couldn't put it together. Maybe it was time constraints but the movie was cut short with quicky solutions. Its almost like he spent to much time on the beginning and ran out of space and had to make a quick exit.
Viewers should not let this or other movies get away with it and give ten stars. This movie is not a 10 star movie!!
The premise of the title, I guess, must have moved this movie but Jones' character was not strong enough or created enough to propel the title. The title premise should have been a side thought.