Plenty of Country Left For These Men

Rating: 9/10 (18 January 2008)

Since their arrival in cinemas in 1984 with Blood Simple, Joel and Ethan Coen have continued to make films about bad people doing bad things to, generally, other bad people. Since the arrival of the Oscar winning Fargo in 1996, however, the Coen Brothers have strayed from their bloody, dramatic roots in favor of comedies. While the films ranged from incredible (The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou?) to embarrassing (The Ladykillers), the Coen Brother's have returned to their roots in full force with No Country for Old Men. While the film follows a multitude of characters, the film focuses on close-lipped Texan named Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) who stumbles upon a multitude of dead bodies and $2 million dollars. The money is not without owner, and Moss starts getting tracked by a sociopathic demon named Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem). Armed with a silenced shotgun and a pressurized cattle gun, Chigurh hunts down Moss looking for his treasure and taking down anyone in his way.
Also on the hunt for Moss is Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), who discovers Moss' abandoned truck at the crime scene, and a former Lieutenant Colonel named Carson Wells (Woody Harrelson) who, because of an ambiguous past relationship with Chigurh, is hired to find the money as well.
In his performance as the stoic, murderess Chigurh, Bardem, who was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in Before Night Falls, is truly stunning and although he is surrounded by a terrific supporting cast, he is truly the star. His baritone voice makes both the speakers in the theater and the audience quake, and his sadistic intelligence puts him ten steps in front of every other character. Coming out of Cormac McCarthy's novel of the same name, the Coen Brothers' only comparable character is that of filthy bounty hunter Leonard Smalls from Raising Arizona, but Chigurh makes Smalls look like a sad puppy with a broken leg.
Another element to the film's credit is the scenery and setting that is explored throughout the film. Immediately opening to shots of the Texas desert, cinematographer Roger Deakins employs the border-towns into every outdoor shot. The desert and dust gives the film a light sepia tone and calmness that is only broken by splatters of blood and chaos.
The film is able to be successful in its storytelling because of its ability to stay so attached to its source material. In their first attempt at working from a published work, it is obvious that the brothers wanted to be sure to keep the integrity and veracity of the original piece. Events in the film are transcribed with care and conciseness not seen since The Maltese Falcon. Although the story is strictly dramatic, the Coen's are able to carefully able to place lines of dialogue that are either naturally funny, or so scary that you can't help but laugh from being nervous. While the tension is palpable, the audience cannot help but let out nervous chuckles when Chigurh is using a coin toss to determine a man's fate.
The special makeup effects, done by Brian Hillard, also takes a special place in this movie, as more bullets are put into people than food. Gushing bullet woods full of specially imported fake-blood look disturbingly real and makes the audience question what the directors are putting their actors through. In conjunction, the wardrobe and hair, including Bardem's strange doo, prevent the audience from viewing the people on screen as actors but simply cowboys from 27 years ago.
Jones, once again playing a cop as he did alongside Charlize Theron in Paul Haggis' In The Valley of Elah which came out earlier this year, stamps in a great performance as close-to-retiring sheriff who is slowly realizing the force of the competition that he is up against in finding Moss and noticing how these types of people were uncommon in the coming world. Jones sells the audience in his portrayal of Sheriff Bell and his performance is better than any other leading actor thus far this year, only Josh Brolin giving any competition.
As a Coen Brother's film, No Country for Old Men represents a resurgence and a return to the fierce blood and guts roots that their established so strongly from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s. As a standalone film, however, No Country is nothing short of an artistic achievement that everyone involved can use as a source of pride.