No Country for Old Men is an American from 2007 neo-western crime thriller written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, based on the 2005 novel of the same name by Cormac McCarthy.
The movie is set in the 80s West Texas desert and starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin.
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The film returns to the themes of fate, conscience and circumstances that the Coen brothers had previously explored in their movies Blood Simple (1984)Raising Arizona (1987) and Fargo (1996).
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No Country for Old Men: End Explained
The movie initially leads us to believe that we will see the ‘Good Guy’ beat the ‘Bad Guy’ and the sunset with a bag of money. We soon realize that no one was really “good” and everyone was only interested in the drug money.
We don’t even get our hero-villain showdown, as Llewelyn is killed offscreen by a third party. Ed was the ‘good one’ sheriff who survived alone because he was outmatched and arrived late at the crime scene.
No Country For Old Men ends with Ed remembering his father’s dreams and suggesting he’s the old man for who’s there no more country. He has accepted defeat and over the years lost the ability to understand crime and its nature.
Ed recalls two dreams about his father. One is about his father cheating on him to lose money. And another in which he rides next to his father in the cold. His father carries a splinter in a horn and goes into the dark to put out a fire. Ed has a dream in which his father is waiting for him.
Ed clearly admired his father, especially when they were both sheriffs. He is now retired and believes that when he dies he will be reunited with his father. But for now, he must continue try to understand what the world is becoming.
No Country for Old Men Review: Joel and Ethan Coen Actioner
Short content:
West Texas, 1980: A Hunter (Josh Brolin) discovers numerous dead bodies, a stash of heroin and $2 million in cash in the arid wasteland of the region near the Rio Grande.
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He takes the money and flees, but he is chased by one cold-blooded killer (Javier Bardem). Meanwhile, the aging local sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones) searches for both the hunter and the killer.
The pros:
- Anton Chigurh, played by Javier Bardem, is a pathological killer. Although at first glance it seems that Bardem has little to do – his enigmatic, humorless character has only one phrase throughout the movie: being hair-raisingly scary isn’t easy, especially when your character’s haircut looks like a badly washed quiff.
- Joel and Ethan Coen’s decision not to explain away Chigurh’s motivations or background. Is Chigurh looking for money? Is the money just a ruse to satisfy his murderous instincts? How did he become so bloodthirsty? Was he abused by his alcoholic father? Or did he have to watch Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life every Christmas as a kid? We don’t know, and that’s a good thing. The mystery increased both Chigurh’s alien threat and Bardem’s cryptic performance. (According to the DVD’s “Making Of” featurette, author Cormac McCarthy also doesn’t dwell on Chigurh’s past, describing him as lacking a sense of humor.)
- Tommy Lee Jones has some good moments, but I found his folksy sheriff to be much less sympathetic than he should be. The best scene is Jones’s last one, where he describes some of the dreams he had. Peace may be impossible to achieve on earth, but there may be hope in the afterlife.
The cons:
- The final fight between Chigurh and Llewelyn is never seen. That’s one bit disappointing as most of the movie revolves around their game of cat and mouse.
- Not sure if it was my fault or Joel Coen and Ethan Coen’s screenplay (or Comarc McCarthy’s novel), but multiple plot points didn’t make sense – for example, I couldn’t figure out how characters could always figure out where their targets were.
- Javier Bardem won the Best Supporting Actor award despite being the lead actor as much as Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones. That is dishonest to genuine support players who stand little chance of being nominated (or winning) when competing with the big boys.
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No country for old men trailer
