Horrible ending

Rating: 6/10 (29 January 2008)

I loved the first part of the movie. Both Bardem and Brolin are perfect in their roles. You get high hopes, because the movie gives you a thrill ride from the very beginning. Although quite simple, the plot slowly drags you in with intense and suspenseful gory action scenes that make you hold your breath. You get personally involved with the characters and, of course, you take sides, expecting aging sheriff and his young deputy to step into action and resolve the situation of cat and mouse chase. But, no. Instead, in the last 30 minutes of the film or so, the characters just kind of fade away and all you've seen that far starts to lose any sense, and at that point it makes you wonder if this is some artsy European flick that's supposed to leave you thoughtful. It all comes down to sheriff's reminiscence of the past times and the action outcome you awaited simply vanishes into thin air. Then you get totally confused by the final developments in this movie. After all he's been through, the main character (Brolin), who was hunted by this psycho killer (Bardem) throughout the movie, dies in the background shootout by the hand of some Mexicans, while the bad guy supposedly kills his wife and manages to escape wounded, but alive, after a totally unrelated car crash scene. You get the feeling the movie's been resolved like this due to the sudden death of the leading actor, so the crew just threw away the plot and finished the production with the leftover scenes they shot earlier. So what's the purpose of this ending? You can't go from gory action to melodrama in 30 seconds without giving viewers a bad headache. At the end you're wondering why you even bothered watching that 90 minutes of suspense, if it all comes down to nothing. I really think this movie is overrated and it doesn't deserve any Oscars, that's for sure. Maybe if there's a nomination for the screenplay gone terribly wrong. If it is for an unexpected ending, go and see Stephen King's Mist.