The Coen brothers make their finest thriller since Fargo with a restrained adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel. Not that there aren't moments of intense violence, but No Country for Old Men is their quietest, most existential film yet. In this modern-day Western, Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) is a Vietnam veteran who needs a break. One morning while hunting antelope, he spies several trucks surrounded by dead bodies (both human and canine). In examining the site, he finds a case filled with $2 million. Moss takes it with him, tells his wife (Kelly Macdonald) he's going away for awhile, and hits the road until he can determine his next move. On the way from El Paso to Mexico, he discovers he's being followed by ex-special ops agent Chigurh (an eerily calm Javier Bardem). Chigurh's weapon of choice is a cattle gun, and he uses it on everyone who gets in his way--or loses a coin toss (as far as he's concerned, bad luck is grounds for death). Just as Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), a World War II veteran, is on Moss's trail, Chigurh's former colleague, Wells (Woody Harrelson), is on his. For most of the movie, Moss remains one step ahead of his nemesis. Both men are clever and resourceful--except Moss has a conscious, Chigurh does not (he is, as McCarthy puts it, "a prophet of destruction"). At times, the film plays like an old horror movie, with Chigurh as its lumbering Frankenstein monster. Like the taciturn terminator, No Country for Old Men doesn't move quickly, but the tension never dissipates. This minimalist masterwork represents Joel and Ethan Coen and their entire cast, particularly Brolin and Jones, at the peak of their powers. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Rating:
Summary: Read the book instead
Comment: Watched this recently, have to agree with some of the other reviews on here, very disappointing. Some great performances, notably oscar winner Javier Bardem, but a difficult film to follow if you haven't read the book.

Do yourself a favour, and do just that. Cormac McCarthy is one of the greatest living writers in the English language.

Let's hope the forthcoming adaption of his book 'The Road' fares better...

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A film for old men, and anyone else with at least a decade of life experience.
Comment: Strange that so many reviewers take a jab at the film because of the ending. The quiet ending *was* the point. The Sheriff was irrelevant in this new, more violent time, in his heyday he was used to cuffing kids around the ear rather than booking them, and then seeing them generally turn into decent adults. But Javier Bardem's character, Anton Chigurh, is the personification of this new breed of "bad guy" that does deals out in the no-mans-land of the US/Mexican border areas. Remorseless and bereft of conscience, he sees murder simply as a means to an end. Against this new breed of criminal, the Sheriff is now an irrelevance, just so much chaff to be thrown to the winds of time. He couldn't stand in the way of these new criminals for a moment, and he knows it. This film is about the investigation that finally broke him, the couple he couldn't save, and which results in his handing in his badge, decamping with his wife to a safer, quieter spot and finally admitting that he is outmatched.

Those who didn't read the book beforehand (I'd read it 2 years previously) were probably taken in by the action scenes in the various clips and teasers, and expected a full-on action adventure.

For me, the film was faultless. The cinematography excellent, the dialogue true to the book, including some parts of the book I laughed aloud to read, e.g. "It's a mess, ain't it". "well, if it ain't, it'll do 'til the mess gets here". There was nothing here to dislike. Characterisation was excellent, the acting likewise, usually completely loose and natural.

So, if you were one of those that didn't like the ending, please don't blame the film. Read the book while you're waiting for the film release, and don't be taken in by trailers in future.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: frustrating ending
Comment: as usual a well made film, but nothing really to it, didn't really care about anyone, they didn't seem to have proper characters and the end was a complete cop out.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A Rough Diamond
Comment: This film has some superb performances and some stunning cinematography with some very good action sequences.

The problem is that there are several parts of the film that move at an incredibly slow pace. I'm not here looking for an outright no-brainer action film, and I enjoy character driven films but this film is just too slow in parts.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: William Butler Yates
Comment: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN is so old and tired it can't get out of it's own way. It doesn't even struggle to its feet in order to at least end well. After a couple of tedious hours of the bad guy dragging about a cattle gun attached to a compressed air tank, the Coen brothers are so pleased with themselves, they decide to insult the audience with nothing more clever or novel than a blank screen ending. I was, however, relieved it was over.

I understand the existential angst of the film. The Coen's do portray convincingly the aching despair, hopelessness, and helplessness of the human condition. They point to the gathering storm and darkness on the horizon. Unfortunately, this particular film does not illuminate. I want to tell them that they got it wrong and it's okay; the end has been written; evil is vanquished and the prince of darkness loses.

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