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No Country For Old Men [2007] | ![No Country For Old Men [2007]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51jqVo%2BHIHL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Actors: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Kelly Macdonald, Stephen Root
Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: £19.99
Buy New: £3.98
You Save: £16.01 (80%)
New (10) Used (7) Collectible (1) from £2.99
Rating:  126 reviews
Sales Rank: 10
Format: Pal
Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 117
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5014437942838
ASIN: B00147AJQ8
Theatrical Release Date: 2007
Release Date: June 2, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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Amazon.co.uk Review
The Coen brothers make their finest thriller since Fargo with a restrained adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel. Not that there aren't moments of intense violence, but No Country for Old Men is their quietest, most existential film yet. In this modern-day Western, Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) is a Vietnam veteran who needs a break. One morning while hunting antelope, he spies several trucks surrounded by dead bodies (both human and canine). In examining the site, he finds a case filled with $2 million. Moss takes it with him, tells his wife (Kelly Macdonald) he's going away for awhile, and hits the road until he can determine his next move. On the way from El Paso to Mexico, he discovers he's being followed by ex-special ops agent Chigurh (an eerily calm Javier Bardem). Chigurh's weapon of choice is a cattle gun, and he uses it on everyone who gets in his way--or loses a coin toss (as far as he's concerned, bad luck is grounds for death). Just as Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), a World War II veteran, is on Moss's trail, Chigurh's former colleague, Wells (Woody Harrelson), is on his. For most of the movie, Moss remains one step ahead of his nemesis. Both men are clever and resourceful--except Moss has a conscious, Chigurh does not (he is, as McCarthy puts it, "a prophet of destruction"). At times, the film plays like an old horror movie, with Chigurh as its lumbering Frankenstein monster. Like the taciturn terminator, No Country for Old Men doesn't move quickly, but the tension never dissipates. This minimalist masterwork represents Joel and Ethan Coen and their entire cast, particularly Brolin and Jones, at the peak of their powers. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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| Customer Reviews: Read 121 more reviews...
 I loved it, BUT its not for everyone April 21, 2008
43 out of 52 found this review helpful
This Oscar winning film is based on an unusual 2005 novel by American author Cormac McCarthy and is very faithful to the book. Beautifully brought to life with stunning cinematography, inventive direction, some great set pieces and, for the most part, realistic acting. I say for the most part because the main villain, played by Javier Bardem (who also won an Oscar) is like a malevolent phantom; a creature of pure evil, more like the Devil than a person. His nightmarish performance is the best part of the movie - every time he is on screen he chills and fascinates in equal measure.
The film is a modern day Western, set in 1980 on the US / Mexico border with a plot so simple it's not worth mentioning. The action is viewed from the perspectives of the three main characters; the psycho Bardem, a world-weary (and philosophising) Sheriff played by Tommy Lee Jones, and a man who gets himself into a heap of trouble, played by Josh Brolin. Although told at a slow pace, the first 2 thirds are very compelling, mostly due to the well-worked set-pieces and the ever-menacing presence of Bardem. The movie does however become ever more strange with a somewhat modernist attention to detail on small things, while the big events get glossed over. By the final third, it has become so interiorised that the action is threatening to cease at any moment. And in fact that's what it does. The film ends when you least expect it to. This has infuriated and baffled many, but, in restrospect, I feel it finishes at just the right time. It's in keeping with the real themes of the movie, which are not spelled out, (and it wouldn't be right for me to spell them out either).
If I had to compare this film to other Coen Bros films; the first two thirds are like Blood Simple and Fargo whereas the final third is more like Barton Fink (i.e a bad dream!). Not everybody's cup of tea, for sure, but like I said, I loved it.
No Country for Impatient Audiences March 21, 2008
16 out of 20 found this review helpful
Finally a film that knocks for six the idea that all American Southerners are hick idiots. Here we are presented with cunning, intelligent and skilled everymen with not a buck toothed, gun toting red neck in sight. The Coens deliver their finest masterpiece in the stylings, or is that musings(?), of their classic debut "Blood Simple." The characters that operate within their western bred reality all run on instinct and criss-cross paths until the inevitable, bloody denuemonet, yet as the Brothers `Grimm' often do so well, all the genre conventions and cliches are expertly overturned and reinvigorated by their scripting smarts and visual flair.
This is a beautiful looking, intelligently written and masterfully paced modern classic, the hype from critics around the world is certainly justified in every respect. The slow build suspense simply drips with atmosphere and a sombre foreboding not seen since "Fargo."
The simplistic plot is paradoxically quite complex, especially in the second act, the Coens showing a consistent and remarkable talent for proving that its not the tale itself that entertains, but it's how you tell the tale. It's all about the details. "No Country for Old Men," is laced with wry comic moments that add colour and shading to the characters and story without deflating the drip-feed tension. The dialogue is deceptively effortless, yet highlights how much careful consideration the Coens put into every single line of their wonderful prose.
And the performances! Wow! Rarely can it be said that a movie has no weaknesses in the ensemble chain, but here we get three particularly brilliant, yet extraordinarily different lead performances. Josh Brolin is back on the radar and turns in his finest piece of thesping to date, using the silence and his lack of dialogue to tell us more about Llwelyn Moss than a thousand words ever could. Tommy Lee Jones, ever the veteran, is remarkably understated, showing the restraint and consideration that can only be found with a seasoned pro. But the real kudos must go Javier Bardem. He quite possibly pulls off the performance of the year, and I mean hands down. And remember this is the man who stole a whole movie from under Tom Cruise and Jaime Foxx's noses with one single scene in "Collateral." He is a revelation, personifying pure, unrelenting evil and becoming an adversary even "The Terminator" would have nightmares about. A scene in which he shares with a Gas station clerk is so unnerving and so disquietingly amusing it ranks as one of the best scenes in the film and of the Coen Brothers' long career. If Bardem doesn't get a best supporting Oscar nod for this then there will be blood running in the streets. On top of that trio of marvellous and quite frankly faultless actors, we have Kelly MacDonald, the sexy Scott whose Texan accent is so convincing, I think America might have to adopt her as their own, and Woody Harrelson provides solid, controlled support.
There is no music. Everything is delivered through sound and silence, which conjures a menacing atmosphere familiar to fans of the early Coen days with "Blood Simple." The soundtrack creates a genuine ambience most filmmakers can only dream of invoking proving definitively that silence is golden. And when things do begin to heat up with the stakes constantly rising and confounding expectations (a common trick the Brothers employ) we are treated to some of the most wryly smart dialogue of recent years, while some subtle symbolism, usually evident in most westerns, takes on a mythic dimension in this magnificent motion picture. Occasionally the visuals become almost surreal, gaining a uniquely abstract quality to the action (a bonafide Coen Bros trait). It's very rare I see a film these days that I can immediately trump as a modern classic whilst it unfolds on the screen, even the Coens' last three or so films have been decidedly unworthy of their skills, but "No Country for Old Men," takes the western, the black comedy, the chase thriller and wraps them up into one, sharp, dark and thrilling feast for the eyes. And as for the final twenty minutes (the much debated "bad" third act), it goes to show how modern audiences are so dangerously addicted to being hand-fed climaxes with their blockbuster cereals. "No Country..." says no to all that jazz and instead usurps convention, denies confrontation, confounds expectation and much as the Coens proved with "Barton Fink" demands that the audience accept the ambiguity and denied catharsis as a pro, not a con. I think it is pure genius to undermine and override the western genere cliches. It is not a cheat, but a fresh perspective on an old narrative concept. Kudos to them for having the moxy to do it. Kudos.
Plenty of symbolism, witty dialogue, gripping performances from a faultless cast, a slow burn pace punctuated by bursts of terrifying suspense, and some funny asides that diminish nothing of the intense material on display. Lots of dead dogs too. A masterpiece without exception and probably the best American movie of 2007.
Diefies moral reading December 31, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I think (though I don't want to speak for anybody else) that the main reason some people don't like this movie is because it defies traditional moral and movie logic - there really is no moral compass here. What happens to every character is almost totally random, good deeds often results in terrible consequences and and bad deeds can go ahead unhindered - in this sense it is much truer to life, but it makes disturbing cinema where we are so conditioned to see heroes be pushed to their limits but ultimately triumph and evil doers be punished by those who suffered most at their hands. Themes of chance and determination/fate and the crossing over of unavoidable lines of force or action are the themes of this film it seems - made most vivid in the coin toss scene with the shop assistant.
The abrupt ending threw me for a loop the first time as well - annoyed me and frustrated me.... but hell it also made me think about what I'd seen and that's something not many movies do - sending you off with a friendly cinematic, cathartic pat on the back. And the more I thought about it the more it seemed right, to tie everything up neatly at the end would undermine the very idea of movie itself.
Be prepared to think about it a bit.
A film for old men, and anyone else with at least a decade of life experience. October 3, 2008
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
Strange that so many reviewers take a jab at the film because of the ending. The quiet ending *was* the point. The Sheriff was irrelevant in this new, more violent time, in his heyday he was used to cuffing kids around the ear rather than booking them, and then seeing them generally turn into decent adults. But Javier Bardem's character, Anton Chigurh, is the personification of this new breed of "bad guy" that does deals out in the no-mans-land of the US/Mexican border areas. Remorseless and bereft of conscience, he sees murder simply as a means to an end. Against this new breed of criminal, the Sheriff is now an irrelevance, just so much chaff to be thrown to the winds of time. He couldn't stand in the way of these new criminals for a moment, and he knows it. This film is about the investigation that finally broke him, the couple he couldn't save, and which results in his handing in his badge, decamping with his wife to a safer, quieter spot and finally admitting that he is outmatched.
Those who didn't read the book beforehand (I'd read it 2 years previously) were probably taken in by the action scenes in the various clips and teasers, and expected a full-on action adventure.
For me, the film was faultless. The cinematography excellent, the dialogue true to the book, including some parts of the book I laughed aloud to read, e.g. "It's a mess, ain't it". "well, if it ain't, it'll do 'til the mess gets here". There was nothing here to dislike. Characterisation was excellent, the acting likewise, usually completely loose and natural.
So, if you were one of those that didn't like the ending, please don't blame the film. Read the book while you're waiting for the film release, and don't be taken in by trailers in future.
No Country For Anyone April 20, 2008
33 out of 45 found this review helpful
"Misguided souls will tell you that No Country for Old Men is out for blood, focused on vengeance and unconcerned with the larger world outside a standard-issue suspense plot. Those people, of course, are deaf, dumb and blind to anything that isn't spelled out between commercials on dying TV networks. McCarthy reveals a soulless America that is no country for anyone, never mind old men." Peter Travers
Cormac McCarthy's book from whence this film came is a masterpiece. The Coen Bros. have done homage to McCarthy. Not much, if anything veered from the original manuscript. Magnificent is how I would describe this film. The characters were all as I pictured in my mind. Tommy Lee Jones as Sheriff Ed Tom Bell is the hard nosed, difficult to please but compassionate codger he was meant to be. He knows the country is in trouble- drugs have taken over his West Texas area and nothing but trouble is to come.
Trouble comes by the dozen and before too many scenes there are blood, bones and bodies strewn throughout the landscape. The man who has caused this massacre is Anton Chigurh, played by Javier Bardem. And by the way Mr Bardem won an Oscar for his portrayal. When you think of the worst of the worst there is Chigurh. Probably the most heinous killer in filmdom history. He likes to play games and will flip a coin for your life. Something went wrong with one of his drug deals and all were killed and the money and drugs are gone. Llewellyn Moss played brilliantly by Josh Brolin finds the money and the drugs and all Hell is about to break loose for the man.
From one horrendous scene to the next, we sit on tenterhooks, holding our breath while Chigurh and Moss play cat and mouse. Action aplenty. Words of wisdom and grief from Sheriff Bell and his crew. The scenery, the photography, the score are all brilliant. Kelly MacDonald who plays Moss's wife and is an absolute smash I remembered from the BBC series "State of Play'.
"Still, if "No Country for Old Men" were a simple face-off between the sheriff's goodness and Chigurh's undiluted evil, it would be a far stiffer, less entertaining picture. Llewellyn is the wild card -- a good old boy who lives on the borderline between good luck and bad, between outlaw and solid citizen -- and Mr. Brolin is the human center of the movie, the guy you root for and identify with even as the odds against him grow steeper by the minute. And the minutes fly by, leaving behind some unsettling notions about the bloody, absurd intransigence of fate and the noble futility of human efforts to master it. Mostly, though, "No Country for Old Men" leaves behind the jangled, stunned sensation of having witnessed a ruthless application of craft." A.O. Scott
The best film of the year and it garnered an Oscar. Well deserved, the film was everything it should have been and more. Cormac McCarthy has been honored.
Highly, Highly Recommended. prisrob 04-13-08
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