No Country For Old Men

Viewed – 07 June 2008  DVD

This was the big Oscar win earlier in the year, and as a fan of The Coen Brothers, I had wanted to see this at my earliest convenience.

Now that I have I’m happy to say that on a whole this delivers as a) the Coens seriously back on form after a double bill of shite (The Lady Killers, Intolerable Cruelty), and b) seat-of-the-pants cat & mouse thriller.  Josh Brolin (last seen in Planet Terror) plays a local guy who stumbles upon a bloody crime scene and finds a case full of money.  He decides to make off with it, unknowingly causing a homicidal hitman to come after him.  This guy goes Terminator on anyone in his way and is really the pull of this film (understandably Jarvier Bardem got a gong for his trouble), and as can be expected, much blood shed, shoot outs and calamity ensue.  Trying to come between the hunter and the hunted is a close to retirement sherrif (an always dependable Tommy Lee Jones, who strangely doesn’t really add a helluva lot to proceedings).

The only real thing to knock this gritty, exciting and superbly shot movie is its rather puzzling ending – I guess the Coens were going for clever, but I can see it dividing audiences.  Shame as otherwise this would have been a well deserved ’5′.  Still, worthy entertainment by anyones standard.

Verdict:   4 /5