Having just done a list on overrated films, I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to add the new Coen Brothers film, No Country for Old Men to that list.  The reviews for the film have been practically orgasmic early on and the raves kept coming.  It looks like that won’t be an issue because No Country is not overrated.  It’s the one film that lives up to the hype and easily the best film of the year so far.

The film concerns a hunter named Llewelyn Moss (played by the excellent Josh Brolin, perfectly cast) who stumbles across a bunch of dead bodies, tons of drugs, and a stash of 2 million in cash.  People are after the money and most notably an amusing and sick psychopath (Javier Bardem, dead-eyed and brilliant in a career best performance) named Anton Chigurh.   Brolin is a man over his head and the film also concerns the danger posed to his sweet wife (Trainspotting cutie and Scottish actress  Kelly Macdonald, doing a dead on Texas drawl) and an aging local sheriff (played with quiet dignity by a perfectly cast Tommy Lee Jones).  Bardem’s psychotic Chigurh is leaving a trail of blood and dead bodies across the desert as he tracks his prey and he becomes one of the most memorable screen villains in recent memory.  He is an unstoppable force of evil that slasher films can only dream of matching.  His tools of death are as cold and calculating as the man himself. 

The casting in the film is spot-on and even the supporting characters are well-drawn and interesting.  No Country has gorgeous cinematography and real suspense and tension in its cat and mouse game between Bardem and Brolin.  No Country never has a false move and though its extremely violent and gory, it has some dark humor from time to time that lightens the load on the viewers. 

No Country for Old Men is the best film of the year so far and the Coens best film since Fargo.  This is one film that won’t disappoint and I can’t recommend it highly enough.  The film is uncompromising and doesn’t let go, right up to its sure to be discussed finale.  Whatever flaws the film has, it also has a bracing intensity and an unforgettable villain.  It’s a dark film that never lets the viewer off the hook, not even as the credits begin to roll and the lights come up in the theatre.

Film Grade:  A-

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