'No Country' a powerful return to form for Coens
By: DAN BENNETT - Staff Writer | ∞
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"No Country for Old Men"
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin
Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen
Studio: Miramax Films
Rated: R (for strong graphic violence and some language)
RT: 122 minutes
After dabbling in comedy in recent years, writer-director brothers Joel and Ethan Coen return to darker themes in their latest outing.
Working from acclaimed fiction writer Cormac McCarthy's novel "No Country for Old Men," the Coens bring to life a riveting tale of crime and bad judgment in the new Old West, a heat-stoked West Texas yarn filled with danger and suspense. Along the way they capture McCarthy's terrific prose, mixing his words with their own interpretations.
When local welder Llewelyn (Josh Brolin) discovers a group of dead bodies and a case full of cash in the scorched desert near the Mexican border, he takes the loot. Problems arrive soon after, when a vengeful killer somehow connected with the deal lands on Llewelyn's trail. Llewelyn maneuvers his way through different Texas cities, but Chigurh, played with stoic madness by Javier Bardem, is relentless in his pursuit.
Chasing both men is an aging and tired lawman, played by Tommy Lee Jones, still grasping firmly his sense of duty. Using various clues and devices, the three men engage in a nearly epic struggle of chase and narrow escape, before finally there is nowhere else to run.
Along the way, the characters ---- especially the lawman played by Jones ---- act out and often verbalize the story's rich themes, illustrating McCarthy's vision of a new kind of American West, its purpose and glory lost to time and human nature.
Not always easy to watch, the film also employs the bouts of dark humor found in the novel, and jarring surprises that make us realize again the Coens work against formula and expectations. Closer in mood to the Coens' breakthrough "Blood Simple" and the later film "Miller's Crossing" than to their cynical or grim comedies such as "Raising Arizona" and "Fargo," the latest film matches American masters from two different mediums, with riveting results.
A-
"No Country for Old Men"
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin
Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen
Studio: Miramax Films
Rated: R (for strong graphic violence and some language)
RT: 122 minutes
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