A gripping film with distinct characterization.

Rating: 9/10 (7 June 2018)

The main thing about this movie I love is the way the Coen brothers use sound, particularly silence, to create tension. There is not a ton of dialogue in the movie, much of the film is just silent. One scene in particular that really stood out to me was the one where Llewelyn was fashioning a hook to retrieve the package of money from the air vents while Chigurh was moving from room to room attempting to locate the case. There was no dialogue at all through that whole sequence of events other than Chigurh talking to the man in the bathtub. But you could feel the tension building slowly, as this monster of a villain made his way toward our average joe protagonist.
That leads me into my next point - Chigurh is an excellent villain, he's not too cliche, but he is also clearly defined as a villain enough to where the audience won't mistake him for a anti-hero type. I believe the decision to use the oxygen tank weapon was incredible. It makes Chigurh an incredibly unique character, and every shot of his heavy boots with the oxygen tank was terrifying and built tension very well. That's what this whole movie is about, suspense and tension. They pull these off very well.
The reason I don't want to give this a 10 is because I feel as if the plot is still a little too cliche for my liking. The actual story telling, filming, and dialogue were all exquisite, but the story was a very predictable one, typical western style stuff.
Overall, the uniqueness of Chigurh's character, the suspense/tension built during Chigurh/Llewelyn's showdowns, and most of Chigurh's dialogue all create a wonderful, gripping, suspenseful film that deserves a good watch.