Realistic, Bleak, Depressing and the Most Realistic Psychopath Put to Film.

Rating: 10/10 (29 May 2019)

No Country for Old Men isn't a traditional story by any sense of the word. And it's better to know that going in. If you are looking for a happy ending with character development and a three act structure this movie is not for you. The story follows three main characters: Llewelyn Moss (played by Josh Brolin) who finds a drug deal gone wrong then takes the money then runs, Anton Chigurh (played by Javier Bardem) a psychopath who hunts down Llewelyn and the stolen money and Ed Tom Bell (played by Tommy Lee Jones) a local sherif who try's to catch Chigurh before he catches Llewellyn. The film is essentially a game of cat and mouse with each character trying to stop the other. But by far the most interesting of the lot is Anton Chigurh. He slowly stalks his pray like a horror movie villain out of a slasher. He is cold, emotionless, ruthless and extremely dangerous. In any scene he is in you sense that all the other characters he meets might not be alive by the end of the film. He seems more monster than man, never stopping no matter whats in his way. The Cohen's and legendary cinematographer Roger Deakens film Chigurh as if he were Frankenstein's monster and create some truly brutal and haunting yet beautiful shots. One of the most interesting things about the film is how it handles death and violence. The Coen brothers don't indulge in it and never try to make it seem cool. It is often quick and ruthless and over in seconds or is skipped over entirely and the results and aftermath of the violence is often the only things viewer's see which gives the film a sense of realism. The film is extremely tense and although some will complain about the film's ending looking back and re-watching it you see it couldn't have ended any other way and is actually quite poetic.