No Country for Old Men

U.S. Release Date: 11/9/07
Running Time: 2:02
Rated: R (Violence, profanity)

Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Woody Harrelson, Kelly Macdonald

Directors: Joel & Ethan Coen
Screenplay: Joel & Ethan Coen, based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy
Music: Carter Burwell
Studio: Miramax Films

Combine the unequivocal brilliance of the Coen brothers and the Pulitzer prize-winning receptivity of American novelist Cormac McCarthy, and you come to No Country for Old Men.  Based on McCarthy’s 2005 novel of the same name, No Country for Old Men is an instant classic and a masterful adaptation from two talented siblings.

In lesser hands, No Country for Old Men would be average endeavor.  But placed in the palms of the Coens, this variation on the novel is a full-fledged work of art.  Forget mentioning No Country for Old Men among the ranks of Raising Arizona, O’Brother Where Art Thou, The Big Lebowski, and even Fargo.  Place this honorary Texas tale of drugs, murder, and vengefulness above the aforementioned and among the best of the decade.

On the dusty plains of Texas in 1980, ex-welder Llewellyn Moss (Josh Brolin) stumbles upon a drug deal gone awry while hunting in the desert.  Bloodied bodies, a dead dog, and a truck full of packaged heroin comprise the scene.  A few hundred yards away from the massacre, Moss locates another dead body under a tree.  Next to this lifeless man’s hand is a large black satchel holding $2 million in cash.

After informing his wife Carla Jean (Kelly MacDonald) about the money and forcing her to flee town, Moss begins running from a man who is the very embodiment of evil, named Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem).  Chigurh, a petrifying psychopath who carries a tank of compressed air equipped with a lethal animal prod as his weapon of choice, not only wants the money, but also seeks to end Moss’ existence.

On both men’s trail is a bounty hunter named Carson Wells (Woody Harrelson), who is hired to murder Chigurgh and the town sheriff named Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), who is investigating the sudden increase in slayings.  Needless to say, the hunters and the hunted are sure to cross paths.

This tour-de-force of acting features a reserved yet expressive Tommy Lee Jones, a believable Woody Harrelson, and a tremendous rough-necked Josh Brolin.  However, remove Javier Bardem from the equation, and No Country would be no film to fuss over.

Bardem’s portrait of the quiet, unapproachable, crazed killer encompasses the very supremacy of the production.  In countering Chigurh’s aggressiveness with a calm persona, the production takes on its own sense of serenity, despite its unabashed violence.  Much like its silent villain, No Country for Old Men largely relies on the sounds of gun shots and footsteps as opposed to an expansive score.  It’s the subtle reverberations, actions, and dialogue that make the difference.

Bardem’s ability to appear more villainous and capable of stalking down any victim easier than Michael Myers is a testament to his unruffled, yet hair-raising, character.  Even his haircut assists in molding the film’s aura.  Inspired by an 1890’s brothel patron, Bardem’s sinister hairdo creatively complements the shotgun and animal prod as weaponry.

One scene in particular expertly demonstrates Chigurh’s crazed persona fixed with tranquility.  When Chigurh walks up to a gas station attendant and asks, “What’s the most you ever lost on a coin toss,” this begins one of the film’s most exemplary conversations.  As Chigurh befuddles the attendant with his distinctive demeanor, both sides are unsure if the talk will end in the man’s death.  Chigurh leaves the decision up to a 1958 quarter.

Without doubt, the most commendable aspect of No Country for Old Men is that it turns the common anatomy of a script on its ear (by removing a protagonist ¾ of the way through) and ends literarily with the Sheriff’s speech that can be read directly off of the book’s final page. What’s more, No Country for Old Men doesn’t end by wrapping up the package with a ribbon; instead, the film trails off poetically.  For those seeking direct closure, look elsewhere. 

Even so, with No Country for Old Men you get no wrinkles, warts, or flaws—just gruesome beauty in story form.  In tool, the film is a testament to the value of a non-bloodied shirt at an opportune time, an ode to the chanceful path of pocket change, and a lesson of falling victim to delivering “aqua.”  It’s a modern-day western, a killer action flick, and a drama for the ages.

© 2007 Brandon Valentine