Interesting

Rating: 8/10 (21 October 2010)

Although based upon an original novel, I was surprised at the plot similarities of this Coen brothers work to their earlier 'Fargo'.
Both featured a nest-egg of money. Both featured a sullenly psychotic baddie. Both featured a hick law-enforcement officer out of depth with the viciousness of modern crime. And both featured small-town America and the human struggle against wilderness. In 'Fargo', winter snows set the backdrop; in this movie, it is the sweltering desert.
Another movie to draw an emphatic de-ja-vu is 'A Perfect Plan'. In that work, three friends stumble upon a case full of crime money in a small crashed plane. All on board are dead. It's winter, and Fargo-like snow blankets the world. But soon there's a ruthless criminal enforcer on the case.
In 'No Country For Old Men', a trailer-trash hick stumbles upon a desert drug-deal gone bad. Once again; everyone's dead. There's a pick-up loaded with dope and a case with $2million just ripe for picking. Actually there's one survivor, and this basically good-natured hick has a nocturnal crisis of conscience and goes back to help him. By then, others are on the case, and he is discovered and a marked man thereafter.
One of those in the hunt is a 'Terminator' type assassin. Unstoppable, almost indestructible, he has absolutely no mercy. And he has a very curious (and improbable) weapon. We've seen his kind a dozen times. Think of 'Collateral', think of 'Assassins', 'Death Wish', and many more.
Despite all of the familiar and formulaic stuff, the movie still makes very compelling entertainment. It is filmed in a washed-out print style reminiscent of French film-noir. The pacing is often very slow with sometimes meticulous attention to small, seemingly insignificant detail. But that only compounds the interest as it leaves the viewer constantly second-guessing their relevance to the plot, causing surprises and unexpected twists.
The titular 'old men' are of the Sheriff's generation. He is convincingly played by Tommy Lee Jones. Jones provides both a voice-over narrative and also plot-infil as his experience and deduction cement any stray plot threads together and offer some topical commentary. As a presence in the movie, he is more of a cameo than a star. And perhaps in this regard the movie should be viewed as an entity in itself - as indeed all movies should be; it's just not usually possible to do this with over-paid and over-hyped stars invariably hijacking them as a vehicle for their own egos.
The Coen brothers have seen to it that this hasn't happened. This movie is a complete work. It is fascinating from start to finish, with lots of interesting camera work, location choices, shocking drama, a good script and solid performances from the players.
It takes great skill to produce work like this. I am not surprised that it won 4 academy awards. The Coens have produced one or two bummers, but when they do it right, they do it very well indeed.
Highly Recommended. (Currently £3 at Tesco's).