The last twenty or so minutes feel like hours as the film wraps itself up, and it almost feels like these scenes belong to another movie entirely (one that borders on being pretentious and monotonous).

But all of that comes to a standstill as the film concludes. Even without reading Cormac McCarthy's novel, I know that the Coens have done it justice, even with their bitterly twisted and dark sense of humour scattered throughout the film. The Coen Brothers truly crafted what appears at first glance to be a masterpiece, even if it is their first real shot at something that is not indelibly and inarguably their own. It engages even when it appears that nothing is happening.

Even during moments of slowing down, the film stays right on track and never feels like it has run its course. Taut and thrilling, it blows right through the majority of its two hour runtime with ease. Right up until its dénouement, the film is simply brilliant. And another man, a law man this time, Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), is on the trail of both men as they criss-cross around Texas. But Chigurh is unconventional at best he also happens to be bordering on mentally insane. The cat is Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), a hit-man hired to find Moss and the money. He tries to cover his tracks, but ends up letting the group looking for the money, figure out his identity. The mouse here is Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), a hunter who stumbles upon two million in cash after a drug deal gone wrong, and takes it thinking nothing of it. At its most simplistic, the film is a game of cat and mouse. There is just something so effectual and uncompromising about it, that mere words will only begin to skim the surface of the cinematic excellence on display. Which it is.ĭays after seeing it, I am still haunted by No Country for Old Men. Where it'll get mixed in with the others and become just a coin. Gas Station Proprietor: Where do you want me to put it?Īnton Chigurh: Anywhere not in your pocket.

Heads then.Īnton Chigurh: Don't put it in your pocket, sir. Gas Station Proprietor: Look, I need to know what I stand to win.Īnton Chigurh: You stand to win everything. It's been traveling twenty-two years to get here. You know what date is on this coin?Īnton Chigurh: 1958. You've been putting it up your whole life, you just didn't know it. Gas Station Proprietor: I didn't put nothin' up.Īnton Chigurh: Yes, you did. Gas Station Proprietor: Well, we need to know what we're calling it for here.Īnton Chigurh: You need to call it. Anton Chigurh: What's the most you ever lost on a coin toss?Īnton Chigurh: The most.

Country for old men book