A very different film

Rating: 8/10 (18 September 2011)

IMDb Top 250: 123 If you read the user reviews for this film, the majority are either 1's or 10's. No Country for Old Men is a very love/hate film. You either get it, or it sucks.
Following a man who finds $2 million dollars, the man who wants to find him, and the men who want to find the second man, there are many stories told with different frames of mind. A survivalist, a cold blooded killer, and the level-headed lawman who finds it hard living in that day and age. The plot has issues, like how the killer can always find his man. You have to put pieces together and make assumptions.
No Country for Old Men is beautiful. Gorgeous long shots of the Texan land are a treat. The first act is breathtaking.
I can't lie, it was hard to understand the accents. But the dialogue is clever, with a several laughs, helpful for such a serious film. There's practically no music, and in the odd case it exists you don't even know it.
Javier Bardem is terrifying as the psychotic Anton Chiguarh. His spaced-out face and weird hair make his presence unnerving, as well as his iconic cattle gun. Very deserving of his Oscar.
Then there's the ending, so spoilers from here. I hated the end, and thus the film, when I first saw it. But now I realize that the point is, like the tagline, there are no clean getaways. Sometimes the bad guys do get away, sometimes the hero does die. That differentiates No Country for Old Men from the vast majority. While the very end is anti-climatic, if you can accept something different, you'll come to appreciate the ending.
No Country for Old Men is excellent. A great technical film, beautiful and brutal with great performances and an ending not seen very often awaits. I can't say it's the Best Picture, as I liked There Will Be Blood better, but a very worthy candidate. Have an open mind. 8.3/10