The Coens are back - 'No Country...' - A mini masterpiece!

Rating: 9/10 (14 February 2008)

The long awaited new Coen brothers movie 'No Country For Old Men' is a mini masterpiece!
Josh Brolin (Planet Terror, American Gangster, In The Valley of Elah, The Dead Girl) is Llewelyn Moss, an everyday guy who while out hunting stumbles across a scene that has gone horribly wrong. He discovers a case of money which he takes and proceeds to become the films kinetic energy, pushing it onward. Javier Bardem (The Sea Inside, Collateral, Before Night Falls) as the mysterious Prince Valiant coiffured villain Anton Chigurh (pronounced Sugerr) feverishly seeking its return, flipping coins along the way, is brilliantly menacing. Tommy Lee Jones (In the Valley of Elah, The Three Burials of ..., Double Jeopardy) is the soulful, philosophical Sheriff Ed Tom Bell carrying the morals of the movie while Woody Harelson (Cheers, Natural Born Killers) plays a bounty hunter, Carson Wells, who joins the hunt to catch the relentless Anton.
'No Country...' is very noir'ish in its aura, It is put together in a most interesting way in what feels like a compilation of short stories. This opus is very scenic in that when there is a vista or some kind of landscape to capture, you feel its vastness, and when it is a confined space you are made to feel the claustrophobia. In 'No Country' you feel the heat of Texas, feel the tension when it is closing in, and you certainly feel the pain when it hits... But it also contains a sprinkling of the Coens trademark dry humour in well chosen places throughout. Well worth a look.
This notch in the Coen Bros' belt is easily better than Intolerable Cruelty, & Lady Killers - but they are a 'different kettle of fish' really. 'Old Country...' is the type of film that the Coen Bros are more known for and maybe 'expected' of them. It is 'Blood Simple' mixed with 'Fargo' and perhaps a tiny pinch of 'Big Lebowski' thrown in.
Don't ask me what I mean by a 'mini' masterpiece. Maybe I don't feel confident enough to say Masterpiece. Or maybe in my 'heart of hearts' I do not think it is totally deserving of this title, time will tell (some are stamping it a classic even now). But I can say it is a great yarn, some great action is install for you, terrific tension, acting (Brolin, Bardem, & Jones, Brolins wife, and mother-in-law), and overall... its certainly well worth a look!!
'No Country For Old Men' is an A+ cinematic experience.