No Money For Old People

Rating: 8/10 (23 June 2008)

This movie is weird because: the acting and casting is great, the characters are great, the cinematography and filming is gorgeous, the absence of a soundtrack works in the film's favor, and the dialog and writing are great too; and yet the film is not particularly rewarding.
If you want clean conclusions or breathtaking innovation to enjoy a movie, look elsewhere because this movie doesn't have either of those. I found myself thinking of "Way of the Gun" or even "U-Turn" a little bit, for the locale, style, colors, and writing. Of course those movies didn't have the substance or character depth of this one, and maybe they were a little more openly violent, but this movie is obscenely violent too. This one's just more accessible because it's so minimalist, professional and easy on the eyes. Fair enough. Mondo points for environmental realism and aesthetic perfection found here.
A weird thing in this one is how the violence is shown to be grotesque for its nonchalance, but then there's this odd dark sense of comedy that creeps into certain scenes; like the way the killer Chigurh is careful about getting blood on his boots/clothes or asks people for information. Maybe it was the film-maker's intent, but those little flashes of dark humor make the movie even more depressing.
Chigurh started to seem way too much like the T-800 in "The Terminator" (the first one). You know, he just logically does things that are useful and accessible to him, without any emotional feedback. It works and is scary, but when he goes and does the whole self-surgery thing after being injured, the parallel is too obvious (intentional?). Also, I know the absence of a background makes Chigurh mysterious, but where does his wealth of knowledge come from? Who let him accumulate medical knowledge so that he could operate on himself? That just seems kinda far-fetched. Like, he didn't just decide to go killing one day. He is a freaking emotionless drifter who goes from point A to point B with random incentives that mean nothing! Chigurh is an archetype of contrast to society in general. He's an outsider not just to the West Texas locale, but to human beings of all stripes. Still, I felt like he was a bit too cartoon-ish, not in his actions, but in his mannerisms and motivations.
The other two male leads in this film are more interesting REAL characters. Haha, there certainly is a tough-guy, salt-of-the-earth, grizzled-badass theme going on here! Hence I suppose it is rather interesting that the directors do not play the character contrasts out as one typically sees them in westerns or crime films. In fact, many of the most climactic scenes here are not even shown. A Coen Bros. special twist!
"No Country" is very good, but is typical of Coen brothers films, blending a few genres (typically crime, comedy and western) and doing it with substance and style. They do it here, but not with the same degree of success or originality of prior films. It's just masterful craftsmanship, rather than brilliant creativity. And I feel as if the open-ended nature of this movie makes people give it more artistic credibility than they should.
7.5