Elegiac, spellbinding and breathlessly suspenseful... but the change of storytelling frame bothers me.

Rating: 7/10 (8 November 2008)

Sweeping, spellbinding thriller from the Coen Brothers of a double manhunt in 1980 Texas after a drug deal gone wrong - Involving a Vietnam vet (Brolin) discovering and deciding to run off with the drug money, a retiring sheriff (Jones) sadly and philosophically beholding the increase of violence in society, plus a psychopathic assassin (Bardem) in the most evil and enigmatic of villain shapes...
Deceptively simple set-up becomes an elegiac piece of film-making (with obvious nods to old-time westerns) in its soul, that injects breathless, unpredictable suspense even in it's quietest moments (in complete absence of a music score) and brutal, chair-jumping violence.
In typical Coen fashion, it's cast to perfection, stunningly shot with stylish, yet showy dialog, keeping their dark, dry humor intact. But it bothers me when such a successfully straight storytelling frame, unnecessarily changes direction 3/4 through, and so carelessly dispatches one of its main protagonists (and equally ditto with Harrelson's character) which leaves the last 20 minutes or so, needlessly protracted and losing crucial impact... I guess it must be the original story of the book it's based on, but I keep thinking: why, oh why couldn't they have stuck to follow a straight, shorter line to the finish, as in "Blood simple", for instance? For me, that would have truly hit the bulls-eye - we GET the contemplative message from Lee Jones' character, anyway...
Still packs one hell of a punch, with scenes never to be forgotten!
7 out of 10 from Ozjeppe