No Country For Old Men 2008

Brilliant

 5

Beautifully made, great story and Bardem was the man!

By Jo

See the movie then read the book

 4

I really enjoyed the movie primarily for Anton Chigurh's murderous single-mindedness. I vote for him to be the poster child for human evolution, the Che Guevara for survival of the fittest.

This is a fascinating set of story lines but you're better off reading the book if you can't understand the movie. The Coen brothers have taken four significant shortcuts that are like stutters, stumbles, or myoclonic jerks (the Coens are so expert they can literally sleepwalk the production of a movie) in the flow of the film. For example, how does the killer find the killer sent to kill him - if you want to know then read the book.

By Mark

No Country for Old Men - film review (www.bromagazine.com)

 5

‘No Country for Old Men’ is a sinister and malevolently crafted film that has stellar performances from all its cast members. It is two hours jam-packed full of intensity with great characters and a compelling plot-line.
The film is based on the 2003 novel by Cormac McCarthy, starring Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, Woody Harrelson and Javier Bardem. ‘No Country for Old Men’ is about the violence and mayhem that result after a hunter (Brolin), comes across dead bodies, a stash of heroin and more than 2 million dollars cash near the Rio Grande; an obvious drug-deal gone wrong. Instead of doing the right thing, the hunter decides to pocket it all for himself and from there; things go from bad to worse. A seriously disturbed killer is on his tail and a jaded cop (Jones) who seems to always be three steps behind.

The film has an eclectic mix of peaks and troughs that leave you transfixed throughout. The Coen brothers haven’t made a film this gripping since Fargo and with their quintessential structural trademark of breaking conventional story, this film will rattle the most settled viewer. They have achieved an unpredictable and disturbing film that is coated in paramount originality that stays true to the original story.

However, the loyalty to the viewer is tarnished and compromised in favour for a stronger and grittier story and characters. There is no real sense of pay-off for the audience. Justice is not apparent in this film and may leave many patient, mainstream viewers angry and annoyed. The story doesn't gratify the viewers need for good to overcome evil. But it delivers everything else and has done well at the Oscars.

Moreover, the Coens are not the type of film-makers to cave into studio bosses or viewer demands. And the result is a film that has kept true to the author’s vision, their need for originality, critical acclaim and Oscar awards.

By Luke Mason

who do I dislike enough to recommend they watch this?

 1

Left in fits of laughter that we'd sat through it and it never got any good. wondered who we would send to it as punishment.

Will be more careful in future.

By RA from Hamilton

outstanding

 5

in the hitchcock genre

By helena

never seen such a range of views about one flick as the Flicks user reviews below.

 3

"Flicks" review indicates an infatuation with the Coen Bros.
I cannot find the merit suggested by their review, but suggest you read it and then go see for yourself.

By brian

 4

It was a movie for the hardcore film fanatics! Much of the build up was in what was not shown and it was beautifully put-together! Fantastics performances especially Javier Bardem's haunting portrayal! Film ending was initially a downer, but weirdly part of the mystery.

By DG

brilliant first half, then it goes horribly wrong

 1

The first half had me on the edge of my seat and here I was looking for another half of thrilling suspense and it flopped. It lost all direction and looked like somebad patch up job. Did they run out of ideas? run out of money? Nothing flowed, nothing worked.

save your money for a movie where the directors don't sell out, and the wannabe artistic types don't hype it up. Shame on them.

By the critic

Absolute crap

 1

Would give it no stars if i could What a waste of time and money most boring movie ive ever seen hopefuly they dont try to make anymore of Cormac McCarthy novels into movies because it realy was crap,Oh but i did like the shotgun with the silencer.

By razor

You got Chigurh comin' to ya

 4

The Coens have been pretty disappointing in recent years after a string of superb thrillers put them on top of the pile in the early nineties, and this is their best effort since Fargo.

The characterisation of the two leads (and a half if you count Tommy Lee's sheriff) is done brilliantly and the movie takes next to no time to drag you in with an intensely watchable first half. I'd go as far as to say that the first two-thirds of the movie set a new standard for the thriller genre, as rarely have I been so drawn into a story as I have this manhunt.

It plays out like one of those bad dreams where you can't shake a baddie, and in Javier Bardem's Anton Chigurh the silver screen has been given one of its most absolutely terrifying baddies yet. Goodbye Hannibal Lecter, by rights Chigurh should replace you in the lexicon as a name associated with psychopaths.

So why did they mess up the last third? I'll try to avoid spoilers here, but they could have given us the plot twist in a less mind-boggling way and still adequately put across the film's ultimate meaning. Instead we get David-Lynched with a was-he-in-the-room was-he-not-in-the-room psychological shambles.

Unlike a few reviewers who seemed to think the movie ran a bit slowly, I was left wanting more. A movie that's so well paced for two thirds shouldn't just have a "beers lead to more beers" moment and drunkenly shift tack the way it did. Million Dollar Baby did that and I'd list it as the worst Best Picture winner I've ever seen. No Country for Old Men survives being ruined, but leaving out the movie's pivotal action scene, and a couple of other linking scenes which would have drawn us towards the conclusion better, left me asking questions for the last week.

Suppose it's a good sign that film can still make us think so hard.

By Marty

Best film I've seen in over a year

 5

Beautiful cinematography, great actors, an edge of your seat thriller with character.
5 stars from me.

By newt

A bit hyped

 3

Great production, excellent photography, great actors, awesome sound mix. It was thrilling all right but it left us untouched. End is a bit of a fizzer too everyone around us were saying "WHATA?!". After reading reviews in the press was expecting a bit more to it.

By Jazzy

Boring Film

 1

I actually fell asleep in this movie it is so tedious - it is certainly violent but the story stutters along jumping from murder to murder. Lay down and avoid it. Oh - it probably won an best film because it looks arty, but this doesn't save it from being the worst film I've seen in years.

By Twelvevolts

Tense

 5

The amount of killing going on was tense. You never knew who would be next. Brilliant production and to me reminded me of The Getaway with Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw. Lots in Mexico, little soundtrack and heaps of shooting/tense moments. I would easily see this again

By Ken Burns

Long awaited American Classic

 4

I had been looking forward to seeing this film with much anticipation since having first seen the trailer. I had been in this situation before, what seemed was to be an upcoming masterpiece in a 2 minute trailer, proving to be last weeks garbage in its full length.
This was not the case with ‘No Country For Old Men’, this could well be the best American film we see this year. Sadly part of its greatness being accentuated by the by the numbers filmmaking we see coming out of the great USA. This film was so foreign to their current filmmaking trends it could have been subtitled.
This film had so many glowing reviews its hard not to be repetitive. What stood out for me (apart from script, direction, acting, and photography) was the sound mix. There was little music to suggest how we should feel, but from the sound of the desert to the unfolding of a screwed up lolly wrapper, the use of accentuated natural sound was brilliant.
As for acting, many have noted Javier and Tommy Lee as stand out performances, yes they were great but I’d like to put my hand up for Josh Brolin. He was the centre to the film, an ordinary man, whose unordinary choices created the films narrative.

By Bernie Harfleet

two stars for effort

 2

All though I agree with everything that Andrew Hedley says in the review below, I was bored. Yes, its beautifully made, especially the lighting the masterly control of everything, the acting, especially the Javier (remember him in 'The Sea Inside'-the polarity to this role thrilled me), Tommy's bags under his eyes...etc...but STILL for me it was ho-hum...too cynical, too tense, too humourless and too depressing. I wouldn't describe it as a thriller- its more like two hours of pure anxiety - to be honest ...I hated it. Not what I call entertainment. There you have it - we are all different!

By keesh