Joel and Ethan Coen, working from a novel by Cormac McCarthy, have made one of the darkest and best movies of the year.
No Country for Old Men (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:221
Fresh:208
Rotten:13
Average Rating:8.5/10
Consensus: Another triumph for the Coen Brothers, No Country has the perfect mixture of suspense, humor, and desperately compelling performances. The seemingly simple story hides a more complex narrative, and high tension is maintained throughout.
Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for strong graphic violence and some language.
Runtime: 2 hrs 2 mins
Genre: Drugs, Suspense, Thriller, Murder, Serial Killers, Money, Theatrical Release
Theatrical Release:18-01-2008
Synopsis: With NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, the Coen Brothers have found a perfect match in Pulitzer Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy. Their adaptation of McCarthy's praised novel is a staggering masterpiece.... With NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, the Coen Brothers have found a perfect match in Pulitzer Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy. Their adaptation of McCarthy's praised novel is a staggering masterpiece. In this almost impossibly faithful adaptation, the film takes place in a small Texas border town in 1980. Sheriff Bell (a never-been-better Tommy Lee Jones) has ruled the land for years without the use of a gun, but a new brand of reckless lawlessness has taken over his town. Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) is an innocent Everyman with a devoted wife, Carla Jean (Kelly Macdonald), but when he stumbles across a drug deal gone deadly and finds two million dollars, he's determined to keep it for himself. There's only one problem. He's being pursued by one of the most amoral, evil psychopaths that the big screen has ever seen. Wearing an absurd haircut and brandishing a pressurized weapon that's used to murder cattle, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) creeps forward on his mission to track Moss down and return the money to its rightful owners to save his own skin. As the tension mounts, the body count begins to rise, confirming Sheriff Bell's inability to battle this new wave of modern brutality. The most striking thing about the Coen Brothers' thriller is their masterly use of silence to create an almost unbearable level of tension. Cinematographer Roger Deakins is once again at the top of his game, beautifully capturing this stark and lonely world. The well-rounded cast is clearly excited to be a part of such a stellar production--particularly Bardem, whose Chigurh is a freakishly mysterious monster, and is certain to haunt viewers long after the final credit has rolled. In a career filled with striking achievements, this might very well be the Coen Brothers' finest. It is filmmaking at its best. [More]
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Kelly MacDonald
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Kelly MacDonald, Woody Harrelson, Stephen Root
Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Screenwriter: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Producer: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Scott Rudin
Composer: Carter Burwell
Studio: Miramax Films
Reviews for No Country for Old Men
Every 11 or 12 years, a frequency comparable to sunspot cycles, Ethan and Joel Coen pop out of their dry comic mode to make a thriller that chills you to the bone.
With No Country for Old Men the Coens may have made their ultimate statement. You may not agree with their pessimism, but they so effectively tell their story that you cannot help but be swept up in their vision.
Not satisfied with just being one of the best thrillers I've ever seen, "No Country of Old Men" goes beyond that in its third act to becoming a haunting and unforgettable American classic.
This stark and grimly violent tale of humankind's insignificance in the presence of a force it is helpless to control or predict is a morality tale of existential proportions -- and with contemporary implications.
There's less to the Coen brothers' adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's 2005 somber thriller than meets the eye, but it's a hugely entertaining slice of sunbaked Gothic.
With its dizzying alternations of comedy and horror, the film is unmistakably a Coen brothers movie -- albeit a much better one than they've made in a while.
Holds up against the Coens' earlier genre masterpieces like Miller's Crossing and Fargo.
I would have preferred a bit more resolution, but it’s hard to fault the filmmakers for sticking to their filmic style
No Country for Old Men isn’t quite a masterpiece. It’s simply an exercise in fine craftsmanship, whose craftsmen suit each other superbly.
Don't believe the hype. The most unsatisfying conclusion to a film since the final episode of "The Sopranos". And that which led up to it wasn't so great either.
People are calling it the best film of the year, and if it isn't, it's darn close.
Let me just say up front what a pleasure it is to watch a well-crafted film in which not a word or a gesture is wasted.
A world of bad men that's easy to get trapped in and impossible to escape from
No Country for Old Men looks into the unfathomable depths of evil and poses existential questions about human destiny. Meanwhile, it takes your breath away.
Joel and Ethan Coen have directed their best film since Fargo more than a decade ago.
A rare instance of great American filmmakers taking on a great American book, and winning.
Murder for its own sake wears quickly on me and I found myself wanting to flee the theater, and the sooner the better.
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