good 'ol boy finds money in a suitcase along with some dead bodies and gets more than bargained for

Rating: 8/10 (25 March 2009)

i've read the book before i saw the movie and although upon my first viewing of the film i i was pleasantly surprised that the coen brothers kept close to the plot only to add action to the story (the second shoot out- with chighur getting hurt), i later thought that this movie oversimplified the ideas present in the book and flat out got rid of most of the themes, thus making it a really cool meaningless movie with elaborate structure that...well, doesn't stand without the meaning that Cormack McCarthy put into the book. McCarthy masterfully set up a story for 2/3 of the book and tied it up, and the last 1/3 of the film used the story as a metaphor for some for America's biggest virtues ,vices, fears, traditions and history. but none for that was present in the film. cinematography is great, acting is superb (although i think Wilkinson deserved best supporting actor nomination along with Michael Clayton for best picture, or there will be blood a second for me and viggo mortensen for best actor....blah blah blah). so the film was well made, but compared to the book, it was, politely speaking, shallow.