Minority Report on Majority Favorite

Rating: 8/10 (10 February 2008)

No Country for Old Men was an engaging and interesting film, but I was not as taken with it as most seem to have been.
Plot-wise, it is primarily a chase film. Llewellyn Moss (Josh Brolin) having made off with found drug money flees; psycho-killer Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) chases him; Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) chases Anton; Carson Wells, (Woody Harrelson) in the employ of the money side of the drug deal, chases the money; drug dealers chase Llewellyn. Can Moss get away with the money? He concocts a devious scheme for hiding the cash, but is not clever enough to figure out soon enough how Anton can find him so easily. He is smart enough to know his wife will need protecting but then sends her to a place where she is certain to be found.
Anton is a bad-hair boogie-man, in the mold of Jason, Freddie or Michael Meyers, maniacally intent on retrieving his money, determined to kill any who have wronged him or even to have gotten in his way, and willing to lay waste any unfortunate enough to be nearby. Doesn't he catch up with Llewellyn rather quicker than seems likely for anyone not blessed with symbolic DNA? Isn't it at least a little suspicious that he knows exactly what medication to take from the pharmacy, and is able to deliver exact dosages? And how about his reaction when faced with a compound fracture at the end? Grits his teeth, wraps the sucker up and walks off into the distance like any good boogie-man might. Yet he cloaks his actions under the guise of having "a code." This "code" seems to impress some of those around him. Carson Wells and the sheriff both refer to it. A code that allows a madman to kill based on a coin toss is crying out for a rewrite. That Anton takes sadistic pleasure in bullying those to whom he offers the coin only reinforces that he is a nut-job. Does fate take pleasure in our demise? Not likely. Adding personality to Anton makes him less a symbol and more of a monster. The scene in which Carla Jean refuses to play, insisting that Anton was responsible for his actions and was not merely an instrument of fate, reinforces this. (A switch from the book, by the way. She accepts and loses in the novel.) So is Anton a symbol for fate or just a crazy guy? Both maybe, but if so, that muddies the issues.
McCarthy's an adherent to the "Life's a bitch and then you die" school, with a career-long focus on violence in human existence. He sees things getting progressively worse. The violence here is more mindless than in his prior work. The message comes across that things have changed for the worse within the last generation. That probably references the disrespect for authority that grew out of the 1960s, the growth in the drug trade that happened in the 1970s, and by implication the spectacular growth of private gun use. To see where he is going with this, I suggest reading his award winning The Road, an incredible book about a post-apocalyptic America.
The Coens offer snippets of their very welcome humor. Llewellyn appearing at the border crossing in a bathrobe was wonderful as was the scene in which he appears in the same outfit at a clothing store and the clerk asks in a deadpan how the boots were working out. Woody Harrelson gets a few nice comedic lines as does Josh Brolin. While no one gets to say "I think I'm gonna barf," there are enough small yucks to lighten the overall emotional load.
Could either Llewellyn or Anton bleed as much as they had and not go into shock? I don't know, but it certainly was impressive seeing them self-medicate.
I liked the cinematography, the beautiful opening serenity that would play host to the high body count to come, the claustrophobia of the hotels, some very nice in-town shots looking down at the streets and storefronts.
Acting-wise, Josh Brolin was perfect as the everyman who sees his opportunity and takes it, then trying to cope with the results. I would have liked to have seen him get a nomination. TLJ played, well, TLJ. It seemed to me that this is the same role he has played in many, many films. Of course, I really like TLJ, so I do not know if this is a bad thing. Kelly McDonald (Carla Jean Moss) earned her money for her scene with Javier Bardem. Riveting. Harrelson was fun. But I do not get what all the excitement is for Bardem. Yes, he was effective in portraying a nut-job. Should Ah-nold have gotten an Oscar nomination for his homicidal robot? That was effective too. Bardem is arguably one of the brightest acting lights of our generation. Before Night Falls and The Sea Inside show his unmistakable genius. But the role as written is confusing. Is he a symbol or a person? The role does not really offer all that much range, in my humble opinion. Yes, he is scary. He uses silence effectively. And...
So what are we to take from this movie? Life is ultra-violent and tough noogies? When your number is up, your number is up? Cormac needs to get out more. One need not go along with McCarthy's dark view of life to enjoy the film, and I did enjoy it quite a bit. I am a fan of the Coens. I love their sense of humor, particularly. But I do not believe that this film is their best work. Nor do I believe that it merits a best picture nomination. I know this puts me in a minority. It is an interesting film, dark yet amusing, and I would recommend it. But somehow it is not, to my mind, at the top tier.