No Country for Old Men is a 2007 crime-drama/crime-thriller directed by Joel and Ethan Cohen and starring Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Tommy Lee Jones, and Kelly Macdonald. Woody Harrison and Stephen Root have smaller, extended cameo roles. At the core, it is a chase movie. Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) stumbles upon the scene of a drug deal gone wrong while out hunting. He finds a case with two million dollars in cash in it (along with a lot of dead bodies) and takes the money, thinking he was in the right place at the right time. In a very stupid move, he goes back to bring water to one of the men left barely alive but ends up being spotted. That sets up the rest of the movie. He ends up being pursued by killer Anton Chigurh (played wonderfully by Javier Bardem), who is a killer with some sense of a code but will also kill anyone who gets in his way. The cornerstone of the movie is the local sheriff, Ed Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), who is trying to make sense of the entire thing and stop Chigurh, a killer he does not understand, and save Moss.
The movie leaves a lot of the filling in-the-blanks to the viewer. It is a very violent movie that has a lot of suspense and action. You do not, however, learn all the pieces of the puzzle and are left to guess at the fate of some of the characters. So, if you are a person who needs the entire movie to be wrapped up in a nice bow at the end and everything resolved, you will hate this movie. The point of the movie, to the extent there is one, was to show how crime had changed for Sheriff Bell and how he felt that he could not comprehend and keep up with the "new" criminal element.
What made the movie great to me was the acting and writing. The cast is truly an ensemble, with Tommy Lee Jones being the most well-known at the time. Everyone, from the main characters to those who basically just made cameo appearances, like Woody Harrelson and Stephen Root, did a great job. Even though the story was essentially being told from Sheriff Bell's point of view (at least in terms of the narrations throughout the film) it did not focus on one character above the rest. It was also unique in that none of the main characters ever really interacted. The closest was a shootout between Moss and Chigurh, where neither one got a real good look at the other.
The Blu-Ray's A/V quality is great. The movie's cinematography was excellent, and the shots really jumped out in the HD presentation. As far as extras on the single-disc edition go, there are about 40 minutes or so of making-of and behind-the-scenes features. The centerpiece is a 25-minute "Making of No Country for Old Men" featurette. Chances are, most people will have already seen the movie or at least heard about it. It is definitely not for everyone and has kind of an offbeat nature like the Cohen Brothers are known for. It seems most people either really like it, either because they were a fan of the book, the Cohen Brothers in general, or just saw the movie because they heard someone say it was good and ended up liking it. On the other hand, the people who hate it seem to be in the camp that it is too slow, they hate the way it ended, and/or they think there is not much point to it. I am not one who calls it the greatest movie of all time, but for a movie that is a blend of drama, suspense, and very dark comedy, it is worth checking out. Just know, however, that if you do, it does not end with everything being answered and does leave you to think and draw your own conclusions.
The movie leaves a lot of the filling in-the-blanks to the viewer. It is a very violent movie that has a lot of suspense and action. You do not, however, learn all the pieces of the puzzle and are left to guess at the fate of some of the characters. So, if you are a person who needs the entire movie to be wrapped up in a nice bow at the end and everything resolved, you will hate this movie. The point of the movie, to the extent there is one, was to show how crime had changed for Sheriff Bell and how he felt that he could not comprehend and keep up with the "new" criminal element.
What made the movie great to me was the acting and writing. The cast is truly an ensemble, with Tommy Lee Jones being the most well-known at the time. Everyone, from the main characters to those who basically just made cameo appearances, like Woody Harrelson and Stephen Root, did a great job. Even though the story was essentially being told from Sheriff Bell's point of view (at least in terms of the narrations throughout the film) it did not focus on one character above the rest. It was also unique in that none of the main characters ever really interacted. The closest was a shootout between Moss and Chigurh, where neither one got a real good look at the other.
The Blu-Ray's A/V quality is great. The movie's cinematography was excellent, and the shots really jumped out in the HD presentation. As far as extras on the single-disc edition go, there are about 40 minutes or so of making-of and behind-the-scenes features. The centerpiece is a 25-minute "Making of No Country for Old Men" featurette. Chances are, most people will have already seen the movie or at least heard about it. It is definitely not for everyone and has kind of an offbeat nature like the Cohen Brothers are known for. It seems most people either really like it, either because they were a fan of the book, the Cohen Brothers in general, or just saw the movie because they heard someone say it was good and ended up liking it. On the other hand, the people who hate it seem to be in the camp that it is too slow, they hate the way it ended, and/or they think there is not much point to it. I am not one who calls it the greatest movie of all time, but for a movie that is a blend of drama, suspense, and very dark comedy, it is worth checking out. Just know, however, that if you do, it does not end with everything being answered and does leave you to think and draw your own conclusions.
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