No Country for Old Men (2007)

As Good As It Gets

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The only, only reason to see this is as a showcase for Bardem's performance. And maybe some of the cinematography and killings.Bolton does well, but it's meaningless, his character dies OFF SCREEN! Thanks for nothing.Jones is Sad. A sherfiff who should have retired. He does nothing but talk and put people to sleep with his philosophy. GARBAGE. Starts with his voice over. We see him at a coffee/diner speaking crap about life. We see him speaking to some fat/big hat about nothing. We see him speaking to some dude in a wheelchair with cats, about nothing. He doesn't do his job. He doesn't catch the killer. Doesn't save lives. And the film ends with him retired, bored, has nothing to do, speaking to his wife about dreams he had. Great! Not. Jones is Sad.The story is nonsense. At first I thought it was about some serial killer, Bardem. This guy kills indiscriminately. Even for fun. Then no. A drug deal gone wrong, everybody is dead except one guy dying asking for water. Bolton, a retired loser, while hunting deer comes across the killing field, steels 2 million dollars of drug money. Goes home, sends his wife to stay with her mother, then like a dumbass goes back to bring water to the dying guy, who is already dead. At this point some other drug dealers chase after him and wounding him. Ok, still with me? Bardem, the psychopath serial killer also doubles as a hitman for the drug cartel. He's hired to get the money back. He kills his employers. Kills random people for their vehicles, way to be inconspicuous. The Employers then hire Woody to get the money. Where did this idiot come from? Seriously! More than an hour into this mess we see a shot of Woody. Why? Tons of killing. Woody is killed. Bolton is killed off screen and so is his wife. Then out of freaking nowhere, Bardem while driving, a car crashes into him. He walks out with his left arm bone sticking out. He bribes a couple of kids on a bike to keep quiet and walks away into the sunset.Then we see Jones with his wife at the breakfast table speaking of boredom and dreams and just plain sleep inducing nonsense.As stated earlier the only reason to see this movie is for Bardem's performance. Decent acting and scenes. But still not great. If you like this kind of stuff I would recommend an early 70s film Scream Bloody Murder.The story is garbage. In the middle of chasing after Bolton, Bardem barges into an office and kills his employer. Where the hell did this come from. Bolton is killed off screen. I'm not even sure if Bardem killed him. After spending an entire film with these characters, we are left with a dud. If you're going to kill off Bolton, how about making it like in the middle shootout with Bardem where both are hit. The only way I can recommend this movie is if you're studying film and reading the reviews. At first my rating was a B-, 6 stars. Then after reading the reviews and realizing the mess of a story, real rating is a 5, C. 1 star given for balance.

This film is incredible, and those who are giving bad reviews simply don't understand the underlying theme of the Coen Brothers films. From Blood Simple to Hail Caesar!, the Coen Brothers are taking an existentialist approach, meaning they're showing their audiences the pointlessness of life and plans, which is why No Country for Old Men is so captivating, but also why reviewers feel that the movie has an "empty" plot. People often have a problem with the protagonist of the story loses to the antagonist, and then chalk it up to a bad plot, as if the writer/director hadn't seen this plot device for the 3-5 odd years they worked on the film. Ultimately, they've made a choice to kill the protagonist and leave the antagonist alive (also having us lose faith in the police officer) to give us a feel of existential dread, and further the idea that violence is not about the protagonist using it to restore balance, but it's about the fact that violence is not effective in real life. This is one of the reasons that Javier Bardem was cast in the role. When the Coen Brothers asked him to play Chigurh, he said he "hated violence," and made them want to cast him even more. It's because they too hate violence, and wanted the audience to feel unsatisfied by the ending because unlike Tarantino, they wanted the violence to feel pointless and unfair. So ultimately when you watch Coen Brothers films, try to see them through the lens of existentialism, because they tend to find the ideas glorified in movies (ie. robbery, fame, mystery, murder) utterly pointless. It's what made Blood Simple, Miller's Crossing, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, and finally No Country for Old Men, so successful.

I heard about this movie when it was being advertised in 2007. I really wanted to see it but as i always do, i kinda put it off and i slowly forgot this film even existed. But recently i watched some of the other Coen Brother films such as The Big Lebowski (great movie), and Fargo (pretty good but not the best they've made), and i guess that alone sparked my interest to see this movie, and to this day i still hate myself for not seeing it when it came out. No Country for Old Men is a "Neo-Western" film (meaning it takes place in a western setting, but differs from the usual western movie) that takes place in the early 80's. It all starts when a Hunter (played by Josh Brolin) stumbles across a drug deal gone wrong and takes 2 million dollars from which he recovered from the site. Soon after, a ruthless hitman is hired to retrieve the stolen money and kill the man who took it. First of all, i gotta hand it to the Coen Brothers. They made such a spectacular looking movie with astounding visuals and camera work. Another thing that makes this movie special is that the soundtrack, is barely present. There's only one time in the entire movie where you can slightly hear it, and it's done in such a good way, almost as if it were creeping up on you. Goes to show you don't need music to build suspense nor do you need it during a thrilling action sequence. The performances were pretty amazing. Josh Brolin has a lot of time to show off his acting skills, Javier Bardem is absolutely terrific and he really carried this movie, and Tommy Lee Jones was a great supporting character and it was cool to hear his character's point of view on life. While the action and acting is great, there's something deeper to this movie that i love even more. There are countless of questions the film puts out, but there are few answers. I believe this was a creative choice by the Coen Brothers whether it would be the philosophy of not everything as an explanation, or they wanted the audience to make their own portrait of it. The film also has a theme of justice and how it's not all that it seems. The main character of the film is killed off screen by the Mexican Mob without the classic showdown in a typical western. The Sheriff (played by Tommy Lee Jones) later visits the Murder site of Llewelyn Moss while Anton Chigurh is waiting for him. But he shows up and leaves, leaving the audience with no payoff or justice as to what happens to the main antagonist. The end of the film shows that Anton Chigurh kills Moss's woman, and soon after he is hit by a car and nearly killed. I find that pure poetry, Chigurh views himself as an unstoppable force of Fate. And fate has been given to him. He is injured, weak, and vulnerable. Chigurh and the Sheriff are now Old Men as the title claims, and there is No Country for Old Men. This is easily my favorite film by the Coen Brothers and one of my all time favorites. 10/10 would watch again, and again, and again.

No Country For Old Men Review The 2007 film No Country For Old Men is in my opinion one of the best films ever made but also comes with a true to life meaning. Directed by the Coen Brothers,No Country For Old Men is based on the 2005 novel written by Cormac Mccarthy.The entire film takes place Primarily on the southwest Texas and Mexico border in the 1980's.The story revolves mainly around three characters Llewellyn Moss (Josh Brolin),Sheriff Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones)and last but not least Anton Chigurgh (Javier Bardem).The story premise of the film is mainly about Moss the cowboy coming across a large sum of money from a Mexican drug deal gone wrong and running with it later realizing that there is no clean getaway as he is hunted by Anton Chigurgh a psychopathic assassin employed to retrieve the money stopping at nothing to get it taking many lives along the way. Sheriff Tom Bell steps into investigate and also keep Moss and his wife Carla Jean(Kelly Macdonald)safe realizing the dangers of the situation. The overall tone of the movie is dark and suspenseful with a few action scenes and very well done acting and dialogue from the characters offering humor and suspense. The film did not include a soundtrack which actually added to the suspense and dark tone of the movie especially in action scenes. The film ran smoothly between changing scenes and camera angles. The films overall message is up for interpretation, in my opinion the message I kept receiving was life and time keeps going and you cannot stop what is coming. Sheriff Bell an aging man who comes from a long line of Sheriffs is having a difficult time adapting to modern and changing times. Throughout the movie he is investigating a crime he has never seen before and is beyond his control and understanding. The moral is one day our society could be out of our understanding and that this country really is No Country For Old Men.