Pointless and Revolting Depiction of a Corner of Hell

Rating: 1/10 (28 October 2008)

What is wrong with the Coen Brothers? If they are so clever, then why don't they do something pleasant? True, they are brilliant, talented, witty, but then so was Goebbels. This is a totally pointless, meandering tour of a seedy corner of Hell. Yes, there are fine performances. Tommy Lee Jones is a perfect joy to watch, his droll manner, his fabulous accent, his presence, are welcome even in such an evil film as this. Kelly MacDonald, who was spellbinding in the excellent TV series 'State of Play' (2003), is compulsively watchable and effective here. If you like convincing portraits of Satan, then by all means give an Oscar to Javier Bardem. Josh Brolin is earnest and convincing. Woody Harrelson is fascinating as always. Everybody is good, but the film is wicked, disgusting, offensive, and should never have been made except perhaps by Hell Productions Inc. The story does not even get anywhere. What is clear is that the voters for Academy Awards who have become so decadent and morally rotten and corrupt as to give this film Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Script, are prepared to glorify pure unadulterated evil on the screen, evil which has no redeeming qualities other than black humour, evil which does discredit to the film industry, corrupts the public, spreads despair, and corrodes the soul. Someone should take the Coen brothers out back and do the right thing, and as for the Academy voters, they should put their heads down the toilet bowl where their taste is to be found, judging from the way they voted, and drink what they evidently crave. Is this what we have come to? Complete, mindless, aimless, decadence? Violence with no point? Psychopaths for breakfast? Are our tastes so jaded that a series of brutal and bloody murders by a madman is all that is left which can titillate us? I say shame on all who made this film, shame on all who voted for it, shame on all who have praised it and given it awards. Do we really wonder how we have now had the Great Worldwide Economic Collapse, when this film and its enthusiastic welcome prove so conclusively that it was preceded by the Great Moral Collapse? All those rogue traders, short-sellers and hedge fund lunatics who are destroying lives by the millions through their greed and immorality are the very same people who watch films like this and love them. This film's success proves that there are no standards or values left. Pardon me while I vomit on screen in glorious technicolor.