Snuff is not enough. Folks, we've got to do better.

Rating: 2/10 (25 March 2008)

This film is not one I would sit through if I were not voting on it, and it is a film that I truly regret watching. There are memorable moments of psychopathic cruelty portrayed here that I never needed in my memory. I don't ever want to see a snuff film, and I don't ever need to see viable facsimiles of them. (And NO, memorable does not mean it is a good film, it just means that film images are very potent.) My father is a huge fan of westerns and of Tommy Lee Jones, hated this film. He watches most films multiple times and will not watch this again.
This film IS completely relevant in terms of history, border wars, drug wars, illegal immigration, and the impotence of our law enforcement to deal with ingrained attitudes of immorality and an insane level of escalation.
The acting is why I gave this a 2 instead of 1(awful): Javier Bardem is not a supporting player, he is a lead - he causes all the action throughout the film, and he DID deserve any acting award for his excellent, nuanced portrayal of the gradual degradation of this disturbed individual. Excellent lamb-like performance by Kelly Macdonald in a thankless role. (I love her. She starred in "Gosford Park." But come on... we have hundreds of brilliant American stage actresses who could have done this supporting role.) Josh Brolin does a great job with a well-scripted role of an ethically bankrupt everyday "hero." Tommy Lee Jones does what he can with a very impotent role. It had to be a star of his gravitas to make anything memorable of that role.
But relevance and accuracy are not enough to make something "art." Nihilism is no answer, and it certainly is NOT entertainment. Folks - with all the power and potential of this medium, is this really the best we can do? Imitate the worst of humanity?
Not Debatable: RECORD low numbers watching of the Oscars this year; even with all the additional news/publicity &the hype about the writers's strike potentially canceling it.
Debatable: This film and the morally blank and hope-deficient films of this year are directly accountable for the lack of interest in the Oscars or film in general. Of course something else that turns people off the Oscars is this kind of "positioning" a lead actor as a supporting actor to help ensure that he wins the supporting award.