Chigurh's gonna getcha!
"No Country for Old Men" is easily the best film to come out this year and quite possibly the Coen brother's finest film to date. Yes, even better than "The Big Lebowski" (though indeed a very different sort of film).
Some reviews may appeal to ethos, pathos and logos to get you into the theaters to see this film. I'll simply appeal to your sense of enjoyment. If you like seeing films and truly appreciate an excellent, intelligent and gripping movie, this one is for you.
The plot is more or less this: A lone hunter (Moss) stumbles upon a drug deal gone horribly wrong in the outback of west Texas, finding a lot of dead bodies and two million in cash. Between the two, he wisely decides to take the cash. Unfortunately, two million dollars isn't the kind of money that gets chalked up by those who own it and so Moss finds himself pursued by a psychopathic killer Anton Chigurh (pictured above), who in turn is pursued by sheriff Ed Bell. A significant portion of the sheriff's screen time is spent reflecting on variations of "I'm too old for this" and "I'm not cut out for this", both of which are true. Ed Bell is outclassed, out-gunned and sheer out-eviled by Chigurh. Moss does his best to stay one step ahead of Chigurh and does a very good job of it, all things considered.
Much of the film is very 'non-Hollywood'. The protagonist (Moss) is no shinning hero, nor a over the hilt anti-hero. No pithy sayings, no epic battles, yet in the end, you wind up appreciating the film far more for it.
Sheriff Bell isn't your usual type-cast law man either. He actively fights between giving into cowardice or sticking to his sense of duty while being constantly reminded that he's not cut out for what he's up against.
Chigurh easily wins 'scariest bad guy of the decade' award, playing an eerily psychotic killer. It's a performance that defies the few words I have time left to type.
Words simply don't do this film justice. For all I could say, it'd take a book to come close to giving a fair impression. It's definitely a film where you come back after seeing it and upon re-reading a review, think to yourself "Wow, that was so much more than what I had expected after reading this.", corny as it may sound.
In closing, if you see only one movie this year, this would be the one to see.
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