A movie about someone who *was* the best... retiring...

Rating: 8/10 (1 February 2008)

This movie is a lot of imagery and metaphor. But make no mistake, it is all about Tommy Lee Jones' character.
Jones' character is a man who is the exact opposite of the antagonist. The antagonist, Chagur, is a master of killing. The ultimate comic book villain. Death incarnate. Jones plays an aging Superman. Someone who was a master at catching comic book villains back in his day.
However, in the end, Jones' realizes that even though he is Superman... that he is old and probably would die trying to catch Chagur... who is probably the strongest super-villain he's ever come across. So rather than try to catch Chagur, Jones' character decides to retire. Ultimately, to be haunted by dreams of a protagonist who should have died chasing evil... and chose not to. Jones turns from a powerful Superman into a gutless coward.
As I said before, there are tons of cool allegory in the movie. Even without it, the story is good. I only give it an 8 due to the ending, though. The movie really ended when Jones' character decides to retire. Perhaps the Coen brothers thought that showing how evil (Chagur) continues after good dies is important... but I didn't think it was necessary. Still a decent movie, though.