Interesting film. Definitely the Coen Bros, from start to finish, but different than most of the stuff I've seen from them. The end of the film isn't a happy one, but overall this was a great flick. I highly recommend it. Josh Brolin has bigger acting chops than his old man, I think.
I'm conflicted about this. Love Tommy Lee Jones, hate the Coen brothers. But if this is different than their usual watching-paint-dry pacing, I might have a look at it.
Gotta admit, the ending kind of took me by surprise, but it shouldn't have. It was totally in line with the 'realistic' bend of the rest of the movie. The psycho guy, of course, was about as chilling a villain as I've seen in any recent movie. I think I'd rather face off against the dragon in Beowulf than that dude with his oxygen cannister and silenced shotgun.
My only complaint was the ending seemed to say that it was Tommy Lee Jones' story (which, it was), but the subplot with the money was far more engaging. At the risk of sounding pedestrian, they could've worked the climax better and cut the denouement by ten minutes.
I usually love the Coen brothers, but this movie went off the rails after the first hour. At the 55th minute to be precise. Brolin did not know his case had a transponder, yet for some in explicable reason he puts it in an air duct, then pushes it through to a new room and some Mexicans just coincidentally rent his old room and get killed... Why is Brolin doing ANY of this. It doesn't make any sense. The movie never recovers from that and the last half hour is so unsatisfying I'd stopped caring. A real shame because the first hour was pure class.
In that respect the whole movie was a big plothole because you'd think if he had any sense at all, he would have found that transponder upon bringing the money home and broken it on the spot.
I thought he just hid it in the duct and got spooked when returning to the hotel (mexicans?). He never intended to "push it through to a new room" (he had a cord attached so he could pull it out from the same opening). He figured he could probably get at it from the opposite room at the back so he got the clerk to rent him that one too and proceeded to buy tent poles to make a long hook to retrieve it. I'm not sure who the mexicans were, how they found him or if they were even after him. (They were mexicans?) A pretty shaky plot, but I guess it's faithful to the book. Chigurh was delicious. As were Sheriff Bell, Moss and his wife. I forgive the plot holes for the characters and way it was filmed. Gonna have to watch it again and take notes. Not my favorite Cohen Bros. but a so so Cohen Bros. movie is worth any 10 other movies any day.
1. The Mexicans in Llewelyn's hotel room were associated with one of the parties of the drug deal; one presumes they had a transponder detector, too. Llewelyn noticed their 4x4 (like the other ones in the desert) and so he rented another room so he could withdraw the money from the airduct without returning to his original room. 2. Chigurh was a terrific character and Javier Bardem definitely earned his Academy Award. 3. Tommy Lee Jones was terrific in his role, too. And I think Josh Brolin is on the verge of major stardom. Hell, I even liked Woody Harrelson in this one. And I adore the little Scottish actress--listen to her interviews and be amazed that she conceals her lovely Scottish brogue with a West Texas accent--who plays Llewelyn's wife. 4. I 'get' the movie, but I still don't like it. The first 2/3rds is about as good and exciting a chase movie as you could hope to see--with both the pursuer and pursuee being extremely capable, resourceful, and determined--and then--WHAM--it all ends in an almost random event that left this viewer highly dissatisfied.
OK here's another one: What was Chigurh's motivation? I think his involvement was in the employ of "the management types." Did he lose his sense of ethics for 2 million dollars?
There's a problem in general with film adaptations from novels. What can you safely leave out and still have the plot make sense?
I half-watched this while doing something else. Struck me as boring and entirely missing that great little weird twist that make Coen movies so awesome. I must really watch it one of these days, didn't like FARGO either at first
There were definitely some classic 'Coen bros' moments in this movie, but they don't jump out and slap you like they do in most of their movies. They are there, though. And this movie is much, much darker than most of their fare. Thought it was a great flick, though. The only thing I didn't get was Brolin's character's response to finding the transponder. He should have hucked that thing out the window and switched hotels immediately, and he would have been scot free.
I think the time he spent between finding it and hearing footsteps was 30 seconds? Might've worked. As it is he hucked himself out the window pretty fast. It was incredibly eerie watching a scene where you knew the clerk would be killed, and he probably knew it too. No sound-track music either. Didn't need it. Very scary non-slasher movie. Sort of.
I liked it on style, and on the acting performances, but it seemed to just arbitrarily end without finishing the story...unless I missed something.
The movie is about the brutality, the arbitrariness, the sheer unpredictability of modern violence and the old sheriff's inability to comprehend it. The filmmakers give you a taste of his psychological condition by setting up a story that fills you with certain expectations and then they drastically undercut those expectations. Like the sheriff, you're left unable to understand the events that have transpired. Great concept. But it winds up trashing what--by the virtue of how well it was set up--could've been one of the all-time great chase movies. Can a movie really succeed if it disappoints you? Even if disappointment is how it communicates its message?
Extremely well done. Extremely disappointing. The biggest problem I had with it was that without an incredible act of stupidity by the main protagonist, there isn't a movie. And that act of stupidity wasn't defined within the character at all - there was nothing established prior to that that would make you think this man would do such a thing. I was disappointed with Chigurrh as well. There's mythology established around him, but an invincible character in this setting just doesn't work. Especially when that invincibility is largely the benefit of luck. A well crafted story that could have been great, but ultimately folded under the weight of it's own sense of expectation.
Tommy Lee Jones did a good job in his role, but every scene he had was just slow and seemed so pointless.
That's exactly why I liked this film so much. No Hollywood Ending at all. There were several places near the end where I thought certain things were going to happen and they didn't which, while initially unsatisfying, later seemed "right" somehow. [?=Here be spoilers] When Chigurh tells Brolin's character that if he doesn't give up the money, he's going to kill his wife, you figure, "There's going to be a showdown/shootout between the two of them." There isn't. At least not on camera. When the sheriff finds that Brolin's character is dead, you figure, "There's going to be a showdown/shootout between him and Chigurh" (especially when the sheriff goes into the hotel room after dark). There isn't. The whole time that Chigurh was in the house with Brolin's widow, I half expected the sheriff to drive up and confront/kill him. He doesn't and Chigurh kills the widow. After Chigurh is hit by the car, you figure "Surely he'll get caught now." But he doesn't. He escapes and never gets brought to justice. Just like real life, which is often unsatisfying and almost never has a Hollywood Ending.[/?] It may be my favorite Coen brothers film. I haven't read the novel, but IMDB says that the film is very faithful to the book. Apparently the sheriff talking about the dream with his father is the very last page of the novel.
That's because he did a good job! He felt like an old man that time had passed by in no country for old men...
The only way it works is to consider Chigurrh as a grim reaper of sorts. As more a concept than an actual character. Can't kill death but sometimes you can hit it with a car.
Picked up this picture on blu-ray and it took me until well past half way before I realised that it features virtually no soundtrack!
I think so, at least in this case, because the "non-standard" ending makes you think about the film a little more than if it had had a pat ending. A minor key in jazz can sound "good", even though it doesn't necessarily sound like what you were expecting. That said, my wife didn't like the movie nearly as much as I did, mainly because of how it ended.
I agree, but with the tone of the rest of the film being gritty and realistic, I just don't feel like it fits. I also don't like the entire plot being contingent on one stupid mistake by the protagonist. And Chigurrh seems to benefit a lot from sheer dumb luck. There was a lot of good stuff in the movie, and overall I liked it, but it had some serious flaws as well, and I don't think it should have gotten a best picture award.
Depends on what one considers success. Some seek to provoke any emotion, disappointment is a good one. Not as good as outrage but definitely better than apathy.
Oh I hate that shit too, the only time it worked was during the explanation sequence near the end of Vanilla Sky. And why did Carson Wells (Woody Harrelson) go with him? That scene is by far the weakest part of the movie.
