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Good actors, a well made film with good actors and a all round very good film
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Good thriller when nothing much on evening television
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if you have not seen this you must
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
'No Country for Old Men' (2007) is a film by the Coen Brothers, Joel and Ethan. It is based on the 2005 novel by Cormac McCarthy. The novel is slim and dialogue-driven, so the film follows it pretty much to the letter. Which is good, for the book is an excellent read. The film is its equal. Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) is out in the desert hunting Pronghorn, a species of antelope found in West Texas. He stumbles across a drug deal gone bad. There is just one man alive at the scene. Shot. There is also a lot of coke and money. The man asks Llewelyn for water, but there is no water to be had. Llewelyn takes the money. Later - stupidly - Llewelyn takes a canteen of water back to the injured man in the truck. But he has died. At the same moment, some people turn up who are connected with the drug deal. They attempt to kill Llewelyn but he escapes. Chigurh (Javier Bardem) is sent to retrieve the money. Chigurh is a hitman who has no conscience. He has killed a deputy to get out of jail and does not value human life. Whether a person lives or dies with Chigurh is dependent on the flip of a coin. Chigurh is insane. Llewelyn swiftly realizes that there will be people after him and hits the road, telling his wife to go to her mother's and hide. So the hunt begins, a cat-and-mouse game that can only end in the death of one or both men. Tommy Lee Jones plays Ed Tom Bell, the local sheriff, who happens across the aftermath and heads off in search of Llewelyn. He needs to find him before Chigurh, or the people Chigurh works for. Woody Harrelson also stars as Carson Wells, a second hitman hired to trace the money. 'No Country ...' is as usual written, produced, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, with writing credits also going to Cormac McCarthy the novelist. They have produced their finest film since 'Fargo' and the cast is well chosen. Tommy Lee Jones is always a good law enforcement officer. Woody Harrelson is brilliantly psychotic as ever. But the two stars here are Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin. Javier Bardem plays a psychotic killer to match Scorpio in 'Dirty Harry' or even Hannibal Lecter. His weapon of choice is a 'captive bolt pistol' or a 'cattle gun', normally used to kill cattle quickly and hopefully painlessly. Chigurh is supposedly unstoppable. He is not motivated solely by money and will relentlessly hunt a person down in order to kill him. In the words of Carson Wells he will 'kill you just for inconveniencing him'. He is a homicidal maniac with no fear or conscience. The worst kind of killer. Llewelyn is just a relentless and determined as Chigurh. But he underestimates the man. He is not as cold-blooded as Chigurh. Or as good a hunter. Despite being extremely calculating. Llewelyn is a hunter of game. Chigurh is a hunter of men. Relentless. Like the Terminator. Josh Brolin, after a long period of nearly two decades, resurfaces as a rugged actor, somewhat like his father in 'Amityville' in looks. He has matured well and struck seemingly at the right time, for 'No Country ...' would lead to other successful roles in Ridley Scott's 'American Gangster', the Robert Rodriguez / Quentin Tarantino project 'Planet Terror', Gus Van Sant's 'Milk', and Oliver Stone's 'W.'. I don't think the Coen Brother will top this film, especially given the great story by Cormac McCarthy ('All the Pretty Horses' and 'The Road'). Brolin will star with Matt Damon and Jeff Bridges next in the Coen's 'True Grit' remake. Ghost BookFiends.Read full review
Terrifically acted, superbly written and masterfully directed by the Coen Brothers, this is an incredibly suspenseful thriller that looks set for Oscar glory come February. Based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy, No Country For Old Men stars Josh Brolin (sporting the same moustache he's had in his last four films) as Llewelyn Moss, a loser who stumbles onto the scene of a drug deal gone horribly wrong in the Texas desert. He duly makes off with the drug money, unaware that vicious killer Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem with a comically awful hairdo) is on his trail and will stop at nothing to get the money back. When Moss eventually realises how much trouble he's in, he sends his wife (Kelly Macdonald) into hiding, while desperately trying to stay one step ahead of the murderous Chigurh. Meanwhile, Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) doggedly pursues both men and discovers that he may well be out of his depth. This is a welcome return to form for the Coen Brothers after the twin disappointments of Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers. In terms of their previous films, No Country is like a stripped down version of Fargo with the idiosyncratic character-based comedy surgically removed and the suspense cranked up to eleven. Bardem delivers a genuinely chilling performance as Chigurh (particularly when giving his unwitting victims a sporting chance to survive), while Brolin gives a terrifically noir-ish portrayal of a man trying to escape his fate and Jones is genuinely moving as the Sheriff. There's also a superb cameo by Woody Harrelson as a straight-talking bounty hunter and Kelly MacDonald adds a heart-breaking note of sweetness (and nails the Texan accent) as Moss' wife, Carla Jean. The film is also beautifully shot by the Coens' regular cinematographer Roger Deakins and the various suspense sequences (particularly one involving a dog) are both brilliantly directed and heart-stoppingly tense. No Country For Old Men is a gripping, powerful and ultimately devastating thriller that may well be the Coens' masterpiece. It is also, unquestionably, one of the best films of the year.Read full review
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