Thursday, December 20, 2007

Reviewapalooza 2007: No Country for Old Men

No Country for Old Men

No Country for Old Men is the latest film from the legendary directing duo, Ethan and Joel Coen (Fargo, The Big Lebowski). This film is about a hunter (Josh Brolin) who finds two million dollars and hidden bags of heroin near the Rio Grande in West Texas. Soon he is being pursued by a Mexican drug associates, a Texas lawman (Tommy Lee Jones), a day trader (Woody Harrelson) and a psychotic killer (Javier Bardem) who is bent on killing the hunter and his wife, unless he gets the money back.

No Country for Old Men is vintage Coen Brothers. This film was great from top to bottom. The Coen brothers did a great job with the writing and directing with his film. They do it because they created great characters for the film and inject some weirdness, which is found in most of their films. The characters were interesting and kept me glued. Another thing that was great was the dialogue-less scenes. Usually, those scenes can be boring in a film but what the Coen brothers did was to let the actors do their job. It kept my attention and my interest. Also, I thought the action sequences were directed very well. It helped bring some intensity and suspense to the film.

The performances in this film were great but the best performance was Javier Bardem. I really think that his performance is the best performance of the year and is worthy of an Oscar. He really sinks his teeth to this role. Every time he’s onscreen, he gives you the sense of fear because his performance feels realistic. His performance keeps you on the edge of your seat. Hopefully, this will get him noticed. Also, Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones give very good performances here. What can you say; it seems a dream year for Josh Brolin. From Planet Terror, to American Gangster, to this film, it’s a career year for him. He was very good in this film. I really think, he will be nominated for this role or his corrupt cop role in American Gangster. Tommy Lee Janes gives a great supporting performance here. It seems like his acting excels when doing western type films, like this and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. He does a very good job playing the retiring sheriff, as he makes him like this old character that’s in the last days of a job that he likes to do. It may be tough for him get a nomination for this role but it wouldn’t surprise me if he did.

No Country for Old Men will keep you in suspense. The film is truly deserving of being one of the leading contenders for Best Picture of the year.

5 Stars
Rated R
122 Mins

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