A brutal, dark and violent masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (19 January 2008)

No Country for Old Men shows us again how good Ethan and Joel Coen can be. Much like their earlier films (Blood Simple and Miller's Crossing), No Country for Old Men is a slow moving, character-driven, dark, brooding and violent film filled with some of the greatest recent performances I can think of. This movie is probably one of the most unconventional movies I've seen this year and the only one to leave me speechless.
I won't explain much of the plot apart from the basics, as watching the movie without knowing much about it is ultimately more rewarding in this case. Basically, a man stumbles across $2 million near the Rio Grande and afterwards is pursued cross-country by a madman hell-bent on getting the money.
Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones are our three main actors and each give a distinctly different but amazing performance. Josh Brolin is Llewelyn Moss, the man who finds the money and needs to get far away. He is the protagonist and carries the majority of the movie on his shoulders. We feel for him and his greedy mistake, and as he develops into a man unwilling to go down without a fight, he only manages to up the ante for himself. Brolin indeed excellent and this is the best thing I've seen him in and this role will no doubt land him more lead roles. Javier Bardem is the villain Anton Chigurh, a ruthless and frightening individual who will stop at nothing to get the money. He is a force of nature, seemingly devoid of any morals but who strangely sheds tears in a couple of scenes in the movie. Bardem is so scary and I haven't seen a performance this good in a long, long time. I hope he is recognised for this movie and his villain is the truly the human form of evil. Tommy Lee Jones is more of a support but provides the audience with the most to think about. His many humorous but philosophical musings are always interesting and never dull.
The Coen's must also be applauded for their directing and writing skills, truly magnificent and talented, these two are! Of particular note is the use of absolutely no music throughout the entire film, it provides such an atmosphere and in fact heightens the tension of many scenes. The ending is the part of the film that caught me completely off-guard, though, as it is very abrupt and rather depressing. This doesn't make the film bad, however, it is just saying that the good guys don't always win and not everything is as neatly wrapped up as you would like it. Despite the numerous reviews which trash the ending, to me it perfectly fits in with the tone the Coen's were trying to achieve.
Overall, No Country for Old Men is the best movie of the year and a must-see. Truly stunning.
5/5