Overrated and Disoganized Disappointment

Rating: 4/10 (1 February 2008)

I watched this movie because it was the pick to win the Oscar for Best Picture this year. I don't get it. I did not like it. It was very long and episodic. While there well-shot individual scenes, yet with no coherence in its totality. It seemed to be about this guy Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) who stumbled into a bag containing two million dollars, and how this money turns his life topsy-turvy (I know, we've seen that before). But somewhere down the line, it lost me as to what it was really all about.
The violence is too brash and in-your-face, yet numbing and gratuitous. These scenes are largely due to one man, Anton, played by Javier Bardem, who really very creepy in his crazed killer role. He went to town with it, and is considered a lock for the Best Supporting Actor prize. While I was very distracted with his weird hairstyle, he was successful in developing tension in every scene he was in. He was especially effective in the quiet scenes like that with the gas station owner, the wife of Moss, and even that with a miscast Woody Harrelson. The question always comes up in your head--will he shoot them or not?
The Texas accents are too thick for me to understand the dialogues clearly, and that further reduced my full understanding. That entire mumbling monologue of Tommy Lee Jones at the end was such a major anti-climactic let-down for me.
I liked the Coen brothers' work with "Fargo," that actually succeeds despite its unusual premise. But this one is very disorganized in its direction. This was exemplified was that strange decision was having a main character die off-camera. Why? It felt like you just wasted your time following his actions and decisions, just to have his character snuffed out so suddenly and anonymously.
In general, I was very disappointed with this one. Maybe too much high expectations led to my reduced appreciation. Definitely, this was not how I felt after watching "The Departed" the other year. I knew right away that film was a winner. This one, I don't think I would even have the patience to watch again.