Review of ‘No Country for Old Men’

The Coen brothers make fine movies. I am a fan of some of their intricate film noirs and zany, touching on surreal, comedies. Their scripts have clever, well thought out plots and the characterization is often brilliant. Sadly, I can recite quite a lot of the Big Lebowski, although, this will never match my knowledge of Monty Python’s Life of Brian.

I knew that ‘No Country for Old Men’ was going to be a return to their dark side. Their first film ‘Blood Simple’ was also set in Texas. The breathtaking vistas of the Texas deserts are stunning and the wild landscape mirrors the ruthless lifestyles of the leading characters. The Coen’s have a fondness for thrusting a harmless underdog into a precarious situation involving money, criminals, violence and in ‘No Country for Old Men’ – a vicious psychopath.

The psychopath, Anton Chigurh, played by Javier Bardem you know is going to be a disturbing character just from the cut of his hair. The added touch that he kills his victims with an air cattle gun adds to his menace. He is one of those European actors, like Jurgen Prochnow, who are able to unsettle the viewer with understatement. Josh Brolin has a powerful, sympathetic presence as the unlucky Vietnam veteran Llewelyn Moss and puts up a noble fight against an unrelenting foe. Tommy Lee Jones as Sheriff Ed Tom Bell is as rugged and off the wall as ever and seems to blend in chameleon-like into the harsh Texas countryside. However, the irony here is that he is not usually an actor known for inaction. While the Sheriff impotently muses over his life and work, a tortuous battle ensues for custody over the $2 million dollars that Llewelyn Moss finds at the scene of a drug deal gone wrong.

Although there is the trademark Coen humour, it is only as fleeting as a tumbleweed in this film. ‘No Country for Old Men’ is another Coen triumph except that the suspense is occasionally lacking for all the horror of the events that unfold. That said it is not a film for the faint-hearted.