Cohen brothers restore a little of my faith in modern cinema

Rating: 8/10 (21 January 2008)

No Country for Old Men:
Been a Cohen brothers film I had very high expectations when I went to the cinema, and to be honest I haven't yet made up my mind.
The startof the film is superb, a mixture action, verging on gore, but always holding itself within the story rather than becoming just about the action itself. The casting of Javier Bardem was outstanding, his presence in every scene had you waiting for him too explode into another violent rage. But his character was filled with polar opposites, he would give people that seemingly had nothing to live for a chance of life while taking the lives of others that would seemingly have benefited more from his leniency. Tommy Lee Jones delivers a wonderful performance as the archetypal Texan cop who has seen it all and done most of it, whilst not been surprised or shocked and having an anecdote for every situation. If I have one quarm about the film it would be the under development of many of the main characters, Tommy for one but more importantly Woody Harrelson. I think this was the result of the fast paced switch between stories and focus on action at times rather than dialogue. The film built itself towards what looked like a climatic ending with the Hero and Villain on seemingly inseparable paths, but to most peoples surprise the ending was abrupt to say the least. Jones's speech to his wife/mistress at the end seemed to convey the inevitability of his own existence. I was sure that the film was leading towards a Falling Down ending with Jones and Bardem having a face-off, yet while this didn't happen I was still content when I left the theatre. My faith in the Cohen brothers has been restored after what can only be described as a two hour waste of my life in Intolerable Cruelty.