“No Country for Old Men”

MOVIE REVIEW: “No Country for Old Men” stars Tommy Lee Jones (The Fugitive, Men in Black), Javier Bardem (Skyfall, The Sea Inside), Josh Brolin (The Goonies, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps), Woody Harrelson (Zombieland, True Detective [TV series]), Kelly Macdonald (Brave, Boardwalk Empire [TV series]), Garret Dillahunt (Looper, Raising Hope [TV series]), Tess Harper (The Jackal, The Man in the Moon), and Barry Corbin (Northern Exposure [TV series], One Tree Hill [TV series]). It is written and directed by Ethan and Joel Coen (The Big Lebowski, Fargo [1996]). When hunter Llewelyn Moss (Brolin) stumbles upon a Mexican drug deal gone wrong leaving everyone in the deal dead, he takes up the two million dollars left behind. But with this stolen cash ensues disaster when a psychotic killer named Anton Chigurh (Bardem) follows Moss’s trail to the money, killing anyone in his path. All the while, local sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Jones) is on Chigurh’s case, trying to catch up to him while dealing with the realization of this messed up society we live in nowadays.

I’ve said before in movie reviews how films in the present can become Hollywoodish, giving you an ending or a scene that is cliché to the point where it can’t happen in real life just to sooth the viewer. After watching this movie, I can safely say that if you ever in the mood for a movie that isn’t clichéd, watch this. “No Country for Old Men” has got to be one of the most realist films I have ever seen in my life. Period. To explain how real this movie is will spoil it, so I will refrain from giving out any details. I will say however that there are things you won’t see coming and may end up getting frustrated over. Starting with the pros, I think my highest ranking will be the overall theme of this movie. It revolves around Tommy Lee Jones’s character coming to terms with the world we live in. The film opens up to him narrating about how in the olden days, sheriffs didn’t even carry guns because of how safe it was. Now, you have people killing just for the fun of it. It really speaks to me, knowing that the world we live in now has gone to crap with citizens committing more sins without remorse. With this underlying theme came several scenes with Jones’s character that were terrific, all of them being filled with nothing but dialogue. That is something the Coen brothers hit right on the mark: the dialogue. Having a movie with all dialogue and little action can be a spectacular thing, but can also be a boring one. They know how to keep the viewer interested without having their attention stray and that is what I appreciate the most. Speaking of dialogue, the acting was fantastic. Everyone did a great job and I saw only characters in this film, not actors. The serious tone of this film is chilling, especially with Bardem’s Chigurh. Every scene that had him was intense. He was a maniac and did a terrific job portraying it. I believed him from the beginning to the end. Most of his ideals made no sense, but it only proved his craziness further. All the characters besides him are realistic. You feel for all of them as well and the situations they go through. Man, Brolin’s Moss was a difficult character to watch at times. That is how you feel most of this movie: distraught and sorrowful. Watching Moss try to avoid Chigurh can be sad with him taking many wounds in just trying to escape. Although it is sad, it comes with excellent action scenes that are well-directed and unforgettable, like the dark hotel room scene. All of the action scenes were awesome and yet not far-fetched. Another pro I will touch-up on is the cinematography: it was amazing. All the camera-angles fitted perfectly and the wide-range shots were spectacular with the South’s vast areas of land. Even though this movie is fantastic, I did find some cons with this film, but they all are rather minor. One that I found was why Moss would go back out to the drug deal scene with a jug of water for this one man. I understood that he was trying to be nice, but it was so late that any person with sense would know that the guy would’ve died of dehydration. Another involves Woody Harrelson’s character, Carson Wells. He was wanting the money and even though he was given no information of where it was and it wasn’t able to be track it, he still knew where to look. I don’t think I missed dialogue with him saying he knew so that really got me. The final minor con I found has to do with Chigurh’s connection to these certain businessmen. For some reason, some businessmen at the drug deal crime scene took him with them and it shows that he is somewhat connected to this organization, but they never really explained it. It was like he was against who he was hired by, that’s to say he was even hired by them. I don’t know, that one is a distorted con, because they could’ve explained it and I just didn’t catch it. Above all that I said, this film is truly amazing and definitely a masterpiece in terms of film. You have to see it in your lifetime at some point because you won’t be disappointed! FINAL SCORE: 98%= Juicy Popcorn

This movie has been inducted into The Juicy Hall of Fame.

Here is the trailer: