Serious and Bloody with great Cinematography (No Country For Old Men (Blu-ray))

Member Name: JJJJ

Product:	No Country For Old Men (Blu-ray)
Date:	26/10/08 (138 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Threatening Villain, Good acting all round

Disadvantages: Sloppy Ending

"There Are No Clean Getaways"

Having reviewed the Coen Brother's latest offering 'Burn After Reading', I decided it was time to take a look at their previous film 'No Country for Old Men', which promised to be a more brutal and bloody movie and certainly not as playful as the majority of the American directors previous films.

Set in Texas, No Country for Old Men tells the story of Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) who finds two million dollars in a bag near the bodies of several drug dealers. Moss decides to keep the money for himself, which is perhaps a decision he will later regret...

Brolin puts in an excellent yet understated performance as a character who soon realises the dilemma he has brought upon himself, and also his wife Carla Jean, played by Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald.

Hot on Moss's trail is Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) - a psychotic killer, who has a strange set of morals, and a ridiculous hair cut.
Bardem puts in a great performance, and although the film is dark in style, he add glimmers of humour from time to time with his comedic appearance and strange mannerisms. Chigurh does however feel like a threatening and unpredictable villain, which makes his cold-blooded role even more disturbing.

In the meantime, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) is tracking both Moss and Chirgh, whilst trying to understand a series of brutal murders which appear to have been committed with some sort of air powered device.

Tommy Lee Jones's character provides the thoughtful overview on the films sometimes confusing series of events. He has the occasional thought provoking 'monologue' in his familiar southern drawl, where he reflects on the modern world, which he suggests has changed dramatically since he first started out as a lawman.

Woody Harrelson makes a cameo as Carson Wells, a like-able operative who offers Moss protection from Chigurh. Whilst Harrelson has only a brief part, it leads to a memorable confrontation with our strange-looking killer, which helps show the cold blooded nature of Badrem's character.

The movie builds up slowly, and by the middle of the film I found myself fully engrossed in the story, which features cat-and-mouse chase elements - edge of the seat kind of stuff! However as it progressed, a lot of the actual tension was lost, and the ending was a bit sudden - it was an anti-climactic finish which left a lot of loose ends untied.

On the whole, I did enjoy this movie, but it isn't my favourite Coen's film - I prefer the light hearted touch which was applied to some of their earlier offerings including 'The Big Lebowski', 'Oh Brother Where Art Thou?', and now, 'Burn After Reading'.

Adapted from Cormac McCarthy's novel of the same name, No Country For Old Men is defined by some great performances - notably Javier Badrem, who was really the jewel in the crown of a sometimes confusing script. It was the sort of portrayal of a love-to-hate villainous character that could be compared to Heath Ledger's characterization of The Joker.

No Country for Old Men was a decent chase movie with excellent cinematography (again thanks to Roger Deakins) and some great set-pieces. However, it was by no means perfect, and the ending was poor. I enjoyed it nevertheless.

The blu-ray disk features only a few extra supplements including three featurettes - although they are in standard definition which is a little disappointing.

The picture quality of the main movie is exceptional, and the scenes which show close-up details of injury - which the film often focuses on, are quite unpleasant to watch. All in, all it is perhaps one of the best blu-ray disk in terms of visuals.

For £14.70 from amazon, No Country For Old Men is a thoroughly recommended purchase.

Summary: Not the best, but a decent Coen's film