No Country for Old Men
The Cohen brothers are back at it with another challenging film No Country for Old Men. This movies features a baron landscape in the Rio Grande, where a drug deal gone wrong leaves the protagonist Llewelyn Moss (played by Josh Brolin) to pry a suitcase of money from the cold dead hands of the suposed lone survivor. Of course, it becomes a rat race as a killer Anton Chigurh "sugar"(played by Javier Bardem), and the mexican mafia hunt him down. I love the Cohen brothers' character names in this film.
The Ending (No Spoilers)
I am going to delicately tip toe verbally around this subject, and my main source of dissapointment in this film: the ending. I will not give away any crutial storyline, because I hate when I read a review that ruins my own experience. If you've already seent he movie, you will know what I am talking about and if not, you'll get the jist of what is causing me to groan.
I seriously can bet that a good number of the packed audience that was in attendence to see this movie with me also was daydreaming or not paying attention when the credits hit the screen. I was somewhat shocked and felt I may have missed an some juicy verbal conclusion. The movie ends with what feels like a lack of the last chapter, no real resoultion. I was daydreaming about how the movie, given its unpredictable nature up to that point, was going to wrap up. Before I was done making my guess, the movie was rolling credits.
Swimming Pitbull Chase
No Country for Old Men had suspense up the ass. I would compare it to a hitchcock movie in terms of repeated suspense that grows and grows. The sound effect, lack of a soundtrack, cinematography, acting, timing and screen composition were used very effectively to keep me on the edge of my seat. The violence was a bit extreme at times, but far more realistic than any action movie. The swimming pitbull scene was something I loved seeing, as it was very visually appealling and fun to watch.
The Cohen Brothers
Keep in mind this is not a comedy. If you enjoyed their previous work you should indeed see the masterful job they do in creating an effective suspensful action flick. The movie is good enough that I would suggest it to anyone open to new directions in film, as long as they can handle some violence and gore. I do feel the Cohen's play with audience more than most directors, and in this case the effort was worth it, despite the lackluster ending (which was definately a bold and unusual choice). I do respect their fearlessness, and therefore even though the end was not my cup of tea this is my favorite of the Cohen Brothers movies.
No Country for Old Men- Rating: 8 out of 10 (10 being the best)
How it stacks up:
The Big Lebowski 7 out of 10
O Brother Where Art Thou 7 out of 10
Barton Fink 6.5 out of 10
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