No Country For Old Men

A bit late to the party with this review as it opened a couple of weeks back, but for those that haven't yet seen the Coen brothers' latest, it's well worth the effort. Adapted from the Cormack MacCarthy bestseller, this has been cited as a return to form for the Coens and spoken of with the same regard as Fargo. No Country For Old Men is hot favourite top win the Oscar this year and the Coens have been winning directing awards left right and centre including, most notably, this weekend's Director's Guild of America award, which they were presented with by Martin Scorsese.

If it wins the Oscar (and it seems to be more than a decent bet) it will mark this as the most critically acclaimed Coens film of all time. Forget the comparisons with Fargo - this will stand out there on its own. It'll be the movie that all their others are compared to.

The obvious question is does it deserve such praise? I have to say that it probably does. I have my reservations - and I really really wish I hadn't - but for a good 80% of the running time this is sheer pleasure in celluloid form. My complaints are no doubt the same as many other people's - in fact I know they are because I've heard them. However these criticisms are what turn this A+ film into an A- one - it's not as if they make this an abject failure. It's still a terrific motion and one I'd unhesitatingly recommend.

Josh Brolin stars as Llewelyn Moss, who spots a strange sight one evening whilst hunting pronghorn - a limping pitbull. The injured animal leaves a trail of blood which he follows to reveal several trucks parked out in the middle of the desert. This impeccably directed scene ends with Moss' discovery of a satchel holding $2 million dollars.

$2 million dollars doesn't often go missing without someone trying to find it and amongst the men trying to track it down is Anton Chigurh, a man best described as a complete psychopath with a dodgy haircut. Chigurh is played brilliantly by Javier Bardem who manages to unsettle simply with a softly spoken, guttural voice. He is the physical embodiment of the movie's themes fate vs free-will. One of the greatest scenes in film this year sees him engage in conversation with a gas station employee, who he asks to call the toss of a coin. It quickly becomes clear that Chigurh is asking the employee to stake his life on the coin-toss. The scene is one of many stunning sequences that literally had me on the edge of my seat. I actually leaned forward in admiration, soaking up every brilliant second of a thriller that was as tense, as exciting and as, well thrilling, as any made in recent years.

For 90 minutes this is an A+ film. Stunning. Magical. Unforgettable. But then things go a little wrong. The last 30 minutes don't exactly ruin the film. It's still an A- effort, however it does take the gloss of a perfect creation and that is more frustrating than seeing a good film screw things up really badly. However it's impossibly to discuss what I believe to be flaws without giving away key plot information. Do not keep reading if you've not seen the film!

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Firstly Josh Brolin dies off camera. His death is a complete anti-climax to a story we've been becoming more and more invested in for the film's duration. It helps that Brolin delivers a stunning performance, but Moss is the perfect foil to the madness of Chigurh. He's the good guy that we can all root for - the average Joe who stumbles across $2 million and who tries desperately to hang onto it in the face of a seemingly unstoppable bad guy. Every single person in the theatre is hanging on to his every move, his every decision and to have him killed is bad enough but to have him killed in such an anti-climatic way is much worse. We then have 30 minutes of the Coens driving home the reasons for this, but the film feels like it should end with Moss' death and spiritually I think it does. The Coens, in the way they present Moss' demise and in the 30 minutes that follow, are exploring the themes of free-will and fate. In his death they are essentially showing us how things don't turn out how we want them to. Yet sometimes sermonising is far less enjoyable that a good old fashioned denouement with good guy going up against bad guy and the good guy prevailing against all the odds. Well of course it doesn't have to turn out exactly like that, the good guy can even die, but at least let us see it!

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By all accounts Joel and Etan Coen have been faithful to the source so I guess the fault lies with MacCarthy, but it is not the most satisfying way to end a film that was chew your nails off brilliant. I'd still say it is there best since Fargo. I suspect when I see it again I'll enjoy it even more. I may even see it again whilst it's still in theatres. I'd advise you strongly to do the same.

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