The latest movie from the Coen brothers will satisfy their fans but may leave first-timers scratching their heads. Take the elements of Fargo and apply it to a modern Western novel; you get something good but not as good as a pure Coens project. Expect quirky characters, local color, a caper gone bad getting progressively worse, squirmy moments, and violence. Don’t expect a traditional ending, Hollywood or otherwise, which is fine by me.
I should like this movie more; it has all the ingredients of a very good movie with no obvious flaws. Perhaps the Coens were too successful at infusing the movie with “The Western” feel. I’ve always hated Westerns with one notable exception, Unforgiven. The cowboy mystique (Brokeback Mountain included) does little for me. Don’t get me wrong! Cowboys can be hot as long as they’re in the right kind of movie.
While Javier Bardem does an admirable job as a psychopath, Tommy Lee Jones is starting to get on my nerves. He turns in a consistent performance here as in In The Valley of Elah earlier this year. These really are different characters as written despite both being law enforcement types, but I just can’t see past TLJ when he’s on screen to appreciate these differences. Josh Brolin seems destined for the same.
No Country For Old Men [IMDB, Wikpedia (spoilers)] gets a 3 out of 5.
I didn’t link to the official site because it blares the trailer on loading. I really hate that.