Review: No Country For Old Men

No Country for Old Men, the latest from brothers Joel and Ethan Coen, spends most of its time following a two characters: Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), a hunter in Texas and only somewhat bad man, and Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), 150% bad man and one of the more humorously creepy killers you'll encounter in your day-to-day life. He's ruthless, unkillable, brilliant and, as luck would have it, entertaining. Tommy Lee Jones joins the fray as Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (was he a sheriff? Better remember to ask my fact checker), an experienced (and aging, perhaps) career lawman. Woody Harrelson, as private investigator Carson Wells, and Kelly Macdonald, as Llewelyn's wife Carla Jean, round out the cast.

Early in the film, Llewelyn stumbles across a drug buy gone bad and, with a little detective work, he stumbles across something valuable. He suspects people are going to be coming after it, but perhaps underestimates the quantity and quality of those very people. Ed Tom Ball (classic Tommy Lee Jones with a splash of melancholy) seems to know what's coming Llewelyn's way and tries to save Llewelyn the trouble.

Brolin is wonderful in his would-in-any-other-situation-overcome-all role as the not completely good Llewelyn. MacDonald is convincing as his justifiably worrisome wife. Bardem, however, is delightfully sinister as a bad man who will kill someone merely for the sake of keeping his word, even if it was a threat to a man who is already dead. He even pulls off a good Two Face impression, for you Batman fans.

The Coens put their unmistakable stamp on this movie, with scenes that are odd, memorable, well-designed, perfectly framed, graphic novel-ish in appearance, zany, and did I mention odd? Yes, I think I did, but it's worth mentioning twice. I've read about how well the Coens plan out their movies (a product of having tiny budgets early in their career, a problem I'm sure no longer haunts them today), and you get the feeling that they wasted no effort in making this film. It is much better, imho, than more recent efforts such as Intolerable Cruelty and The Man Who Wasn't There. It will appeal more so to fans of Fargo and Blood Simple than Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski.

There is comic relief in this movie to offset the tension, even more so if you're a bit sick in the head, as I am. All I'm saying is, if you laughed at the wood-chipper, you'll certainly find yourself giggling here and there. For more traditional movie goers, there's some comedy between Ed Tom Ball and his deputy, and though it's well done, it's not recognizably Coen-ish.

I feel I've said too much, but I don't think it matters. If you've enjoyed previous Coen hits such as Blood Simple, Fargo, and O Brother, Where Art Thou?, then I'm betting you'll enjoy this one. If you haven't seen many Coen Brothers' movies, but like a good suspense flick, then this will be up your alley, too. I wouldn't mind seeing it again, so feel free to give me a call when it comes this November to a theatre near you. My imdb rating: 8/10.