The Coens have found the perfect source material to continue their dominance of the crime genre while making a second viewing an absolute must to appreciate all the voices involved.
No Country for Old Men (2007)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
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, Theatrical Release, Serial Killers, Money
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
This is the best film the Coen brothers have done since their glory days of Fargo and The Big Lebowski, maybe the best they've done, period.
Cormac McCarthy's book about a man who finds a case full of money at the scene of a drug deal gone very, very wrong is ideally suited for the Coen brother's understated talk and striking visuals.
...an elegy for an American way of life that may make liberals side with the old El Paso Sheriff who bemoans today's youth with their drugs and green hair. It's a Texan lament not heard since The Last Picture Show.
The Coen brothers, once again, prove they are an American asset to film.
For formalists -- those moviegoers sent into raptures by tight editing, nimble camera work and faultless sound design -- No Country for Old Men is pure heaven.
It thunders with the mordant wit, blood-soaked pessimism, and human folly that mark their unique auteurial stamp.
The result, while it may be their most ambitious and successful film in years, remains just a Coen brothers movie, a curio to collect rather than an experience to remember.
A whip-smart, fingernail-chewing creation that crackles with tension and is pocked with thrilling incarnations of evil. It makes the standard-issue nightmare seem like a tropical vacation.
This acerbic, darkly poetic Coen brothers' take on the Cormac McCarthy novel is calculated to give you the willies.
No Country For Old Men bears McCarthy's unmistakable stamp, and the equally unmistakable mark of filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, making a strong return after a few years off.
Like the best of Alfred Hitchcock, it's easy to imagine the movie casting its sinister spell on audiences for years to come.
A masterpiece of a thriller, as merciless as a livestock stun gun to the head, as sharp as a razor blade, and as confidently written as any genre classic one can think of (take your pick).
So ferociously acted and executed that it practically takes a bite out of you. You won't believe how great it is.
Long the merry pranksters of the cinema, the Coens have given irony a vacation.
Latest News for No Country for Old Men
April 06, 2009:
RT on DVD: Bedtime Stories, Yes Man, Doubt Hit Shelves
This week's new releases include a few Hollywood takes on science fiction (Fox's remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still; the 1984 sequel 2010: The Year We Make Contact on... More...
October 17, 2008:
UK Critics Consensus: Is Burn After Reading A Coens Classic? Does Eagle Eye Have Enough Action, Man?
In this week's roster of UK cinema releases we have the latest addition to the Coen canon in the CIA comedy caper, Burn After Reading, Shia LeBeouf stakes a further claim to the... More...
September 08, 2008:
Tommy Lee Jones Sues Paramount ![]()
Tommy Lee Jones has filed a lawsuit against Paramount, alleging the studio has failed to pay him roughly $10 million in fees for "No Country for Old Men." More...
May 06, 2008:
2008 MTV Movie Award Nominations Announced
It's almost time to hand out some golden popcorn -- the nominations for the 2008 MTV Movie Awards have been announced! More...
More DVDs
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 15% 15% | The Ugly Truth |
| 98% 98% | Up |
| 36% 36% | G.I. Joe: The Rise of … |
| 52% 52% | The Taking of Pelham 1… |
| 45% 45% | Ice Age: Dawn of the D… |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 68% 68% | Funny People |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| 45% 45% | Shorts |
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Sponsored Links
Around The Network
- No Country for Old Men at Rotten Tomatoes
- No Country for Old Men at IGN
- No Country for Old Men at AskMen
Fresh Links
Featured

Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.

Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.



Top Critic

