- Hunter Becomes Bait  A Story About Keeping Promises & Consequences -

Rating: 10/10 (25 February 2008)

-Hunter Becomes Bait  A Story About Keeping Promises & Consequences.-
After a long wait, the Oscar-rumoured No Country for Old Men, came into European cinemas and immediately I went to see if this film was worth all the prizes it won and the attention it got. Asking this question is, of course, answering it.
Let me first say that I'm not a die-hard Coen bros. fan. I love(d) The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Fargo and the unforgettable Miller's Crossing. However some of their early movies, like Raising Arizona and Barton Fink, weren't really my thing. Matter of taste, I guess. With their latest, No Country for Old Men, they delivered a perfect blend of different genres while keeping the style and tone that's so typical Coen.
The plot is pretty (blood)simple actually. 'Man finds money from a drug deal gone wrong, which leads to other men coming after him to get back their money.' The way this violence-packed, western-crime-drama story is told, and shot (cinematographically) comes to life on the big screen in a way that is without a doubt beyond the words that will follow.
'Set somewhere in a country next to the Mexican-American border where the wonderful south-western accents sounded so incomprehensible that I am glad there were subtitles.'
"Josh Brolin plays a man who, while shooting deer in the desert, finds some dead Mexicans, guns, a truckload full of drugs and a bag of money. Naturally he keeps the 2 million crispy dollars and when the story unfolds the questions rise: 'What's the money really worth?' or 'What's the price of money?' From that moment on his life changes. He's being chased after where ever he goes and has to watch every step he takes. And the bait seems to be inventive enough to do so quite well."
All the (other) actors also do a great job but Gran Canarian Javier Bardem (Spain) really stands out playing a man who's hired to return the dollars to its 'rightful' owners. People will see him as a ruthless killer which, of course, he is. But this 'bad guy' certainly keeps his promises and lives up to the few words he speaks. Tommy Lee Jones does a terrific job, playing a cop with a history what lead him to develop an indifferent look at the world. Once he gets involved Jones, like the audience, is destined to find out what is happening and hereby questioning (criticizing/commenting) his (our) way of life. And not to forget about the small, yet great part of Woody Harrelson: unforgettable.
Most of the Coen's movies could be seen as crime movies and/or classic comedy. This movie however throws all different kinds of genres in the mix. They easily switch from western to crime and from drama to the darkest of dark humour. Joel and Ethan manage to do this without and maybe because of a total lack of a music score which I didn't even get onto until the credits began to role..
And, mostly at a very slow pace, the movie glides so perfectly well from one genre to the other, so you never get the idea you are really watching more movies than just the one you paid for.
A couple of words to describe this movie-experience: magnificent & mesmerizing, incomprehensible & unforgettable, beautiful & breathtaking.
(Today, No Country for Old Men earned 4 Academy Awards in the categories: Best Film, Best Director, Best Script and Best Actor (Bardem) in a Supporting Role)