Said he was going' to hell. Reckoned he'd be there in about 15 minutes

Rating: 10/10 (3 December 2007)

No Country for Old Men (2007) ****
When I first reviewed the Cohen Brothers' Fargo, I was openly aware that I had enjoyed the film and thought it was something excellent. Nevertheless, I was left slightly perplexed with the feeling that something in the movie just didn't quite work enough to give it full marks. I took to ranking the film as 9.5/10 whenever I was asked. Where is that other .5? In "No Country for Old Men" I found it. Yes, it contains the perfect mixture of its elements  all in balance.
The film, adapted from the novel by Cormac McCarthy, examines the situation which follows after Llewellyn Moss (Josh Brolin in another excellent turn) discovers a drug deal gone bad in the deserts of Texas. He finds the bodies, the guns, and then the money. He takes some of the guns, all the money, and leaves the bodies behind. He soon realizes that he is being hunted; on one hand by a gang of Mexicans who have something to do with the deal; on the other hand by a ruthless psychopath named Anton Chigurgh (played incredibly by Javier Bardem). Both parties were hired by a rich businessman of sorts (William Root), who in turn hires a bounty hunter (Woody Harrelson) to take care of things when things get out of hand. Also in the mix is Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones in anther great performance). He investigates the killings in the desert, and the bodies of others who were unfortunate enough to meet Chigurgh along his hunt for the stolen money.
Jones delivers two great monologues in the film. One at the start, off-screen, narrated to Roger Deakin's beautiful cinematography, and the other at the very end of the film as the camera remains steady on his face. These monologues are just two of the marvels of No Country for Old Men. The cinematography is breathtaking; the dialogue superb. Another marvel of delivery in the film is virtually every line of dialogue delivered by Bardem. Consider one scene in which, after being offended by the small talk of a gas station attendant, where he forces the man to call a coin toss. The wager is "everything," and though it goes unspoken, the attendant quietly realizes the brevity of the situation. The only issue I take with the film is with some of the lines given to Carson Welles, the bounty hunter played by Woody Harrelson. Some of his lines seem out of place, but that they are delivered so well it hardly matters. That the film makes no real false steps completely erases any other small issues.
The film merits some serious artistic credits. Shots, dialogue, editing all have moments of incredible beauty and meaning. The camera work and set up of shots are incredibly well crafted. Things move at a deliberate speed, never too fast, never too slow, and serve to heighten tension to a tee. I was reminded of one of two films this year that blew me away. That film was Bela Tarr's The Man from London. The other was No Country for Old Men. Though the camera shots are never as long or as lingering, some of it's fluid and slow movements reminded very much of Tarr's style. Whether the Cohen's have seen his work or not however is irrelevant. One of the most glorious moments in the film comes as one character makes his final appearance. The framing, the dialogue, and the final slow fade amount to such a great sendoff a better one can not be imagined.
The film takes its subject matter more seriously than Fargo did, and contains just the right mix of violence, poetry, odd humor and pathos. Therein lies the .5 missing from Fargo. In that film the mixture was off, not a bad thing but nevertheless after seeing No Country for Old Men I recognized that's what had been perplexing me. The closing monologue by Ed Tom Bell about a dream he had of his father, is one of the most important moments in the film, delivered by its most important character. His final words and the final cut in the film will stay with you: "And then I woke up." Cut to black.