No Country For Old Men

After a couple of dreary efforts, the Coen brothers have produced possibly their best film in what is already a glittering back catalogue. Adapted from a Cormac McCarthy novel, No Country is a film noir thriller set in sunny Texas.

The story develops from a man (Josh Brolin) coming across a lot of money at the site of a drug deal gone wrong. If he hands the money over to police then there wouldn’t be much of a story to tell, so naturally he keeps it for himself. However, somebody wants their money back and hires a hitman to track him down. That hitman is Anton Chigurh, who will surely go down as one the best movie villians of all time. Played with sinister precision by Javier Bardem, the trail of death he leaves in his wake brings in the town sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones) who must face a case unlike anything he’s seen in his time.

Among it all is the typical dark humour of the Coens but not as prevalent as in some of their previous works. A tense atmosphere is maintained throughout the film and this is helped by the complete lack of any musical score. Sometimes silence can be deafening!

It’s far from a perfect film though. In particular, I wasn’t totally satisfied with the climax. I think ‘Fargo’ will remain my favourite Coen brothers film but this is now a close second. It easily deserves 7 crumbs out of 10.

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