Not as good as some folks would like to think

Rating: 1/10 (30 November 2007)

First the good news, I did actually have to use a bit of brainpower while watching this, paying attention to each line and connecting the dots along the way. This was refreshingly non-Hollywood.
The actors did a decent job of making the cartoon characters into real people with lots of good line delivery, subtle expressions and feeling of realness. The style of the film was also a nice change from the norm, I liked the silences.
Now the bad news, it was still predictable (I knew that the movie would end after Tommy Lee Jones last monologue- don't ask me how, I just knew it).
About halfway through the film I realized that evil would win out since it played like a Steven Seagal movie in reverse (with an infallible anti-hero). Not impressive in the least.
Who was Woody Harrelson supposed to be? The Greek Chorus? His character was a waste of time.
Cliché after cliché characters (writers fault). Drug dealing Mexicans, bumbling deputies, smart sheriffs, clueless wives, nasty mother-in-laws. Yawn, when have I not seen all this before.
Did I just flat out disagree with the concepts behind it. Sure I did, cause I'm not addicted to TV news the way some folks are. In my experience the law enforcement actually works together and a person like the anti-hero would be called a mass murderer and hunted down. Suspension of disbelief only goes so far. It all points to bad writing. I'm sorry that someone was grappling so hard with the whole good vs. evil issue that they took the time to make something that is really a horror film into something it isn't.
Is it art? No way. Does it contribute anything lasting to society or it's genre? Not really, perhaps some technical movie-making stuff but generally no.
Don't waste your time on this one.