Film review: No Country For Old Men

No Country For Old Men @ IMDB

Right, let's get this clear: This is not a Lebowski, a Ladykillers, an O Brother or a Fink. This is The Coen Brothers, but this is the Coens with their sleeves rolled up, their fags stamped out and with a job to be done.

A Texan out hunting stumbles across the leftovers of a botched drug deal: dead Mexicans, a lot bullet shells on the floor and a bag containing £2 million dollars. He makes one mistake and then has to go on the run, a sociopathic criminal one step behind who wants the money.

And that's basically it. Toss in Tommy Lee Jones as a sheriff trying to make sense of the madness and you've got your movie.

But what a movie. The main two characters, Josh Brolin as the chasee and Javier Bardem as the chaser, dominate the screen without actually saying that much. Both men and are set on their path and nothing can stop them but each other.

Bardem (and his freaky, freaky hair) is getting all the press and deservedly so. He is an amazing presence, a force of nature, his every action full of threat. But Brolin more than holds his own, he becomes almost a reflection of Bardem.

Standouts: the scene at the hotel on the Mexican border. Woody Harrelson in a great cameo. The noise that the silenced shotgun makes. Damn near the whole film.

Apart from the end.

Now, the film is not a plot heavy thriller that needs to be wrapped up in a nice little package. But the last five minutes? Kind of gets lost. It's not clear what it's trying to say then BAM credits and the lights go up. It's not a deal breaker, it's not something that's going to wreck the film but it's a "Huh, that's it?" moment.

Doesn't stop the film being amazing thought.

In a word? Irresistible.