Admired by the feeble minded, hyped by the spineless

Rating: 1/10 (1 March 2008)

To be honest, this movie deserves more than a one star, but I gave it one star anyways as I see more than what's wrong with this movie but pop culture in general in today's world.
This is a movie that's solely about a man's obsession, to the point of perversion.
The director used a very simple trick. He created a monster that defies all valid social context but somehow thrived and survived against all odds. The movie's minimalistic presentation gives an impression of authenticity and realism, yet you have a character that's unrealistic to a comical extend.
There's this man who hate, distrust and despise everyone, yet he confront them constantly as he wishes to prove and validate something he believes to be non existence to begin with. From there, all manners of confusion and oddity arise. A man who had everything easily obtainable yet often frustrated and angry as if life has been depriving him of opportunities. Talking about not making sense! He's more cynical than the Satan himself. Thank God that he's been occupied by all these oil business. Otherwise, he would make a perfect serial killer.
The first 30 minutes have no dialogs. We are presented with this character that comes off as very little human like, and he persisted to be that way through out the whole film. Once he started talking, he's all of a sudden a man of great persuasion skills, oozes with will power and determination, and some kind of unapologetic charisma. He's an opportunist, cold and calculated. Yet he comes off to be extremely emotional and are set off by the slightest detection of insincerity. When you fuse all these contradictory personalities into one man, you would end up with a Picasso piece, a monstrosity of a character that's devoid of any real human qualities that you can relate to. For those who can't see through all these trickery are easily taken by the bold style and brute force. For me, it's a disaster.
The music is as nonsensical, menacing and crude as the character. It is there to built tension when there's actually little or nothing happening on the screen, just like the scrutinizing cold stare of Daniel Day Lewis, it offends and provokes with little or no reason.
The whole thing may very well work for those who are easily manipulated, as it can be witnessed here. Beyond the facade of cinematic trickeries that feeds off the fear and bewilderment of audience, there's nothing of substance here. Same can be said about "No Country For Old Man". It is a trend of directory style that's heavy on niche trickery, very little on character development. Because they believe that you don't need to understand the character, you just to be overwhelmed by it. It is indeed becoming a trend, spreading at an alarming rate. Before long, the screen will be filled with psychopath with very little human like qualities. I fear the worst, when those characters are to be admired and imitated by the feeble minded, and hyped by the spineless.