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Blood, not so Simple, 12 November 2007

Author: David H. Schleicher from New Jersey, USA

A Vietnam vet (Josh Brolin) stumbles upon a drug deal gone wrong and casually takes off with two million dollars that a psychopathic bounty hunter (Javier Bardem) will do anything to get back. Meanwhile, a Sheriff nearing retirement (Tommy Lee Jones) strolls behind the mayhem always a few steps behind. Set in Texas in 1980, "No Country for Old Men" is a meticulously crafted misfire from the Coen Brothers and adapted for the screen from the Cormac McCarthy novel.

Roger Deakin's stark cinematography matches perfectly the brilliant mise-en-scene and signature Coen Brothers' pacing. The audience is also treated to a revolving door of quirky side characters and dark deadpan humor in the dialog that have become the trademarks of a Coen Brothers' dramatic production. It would seem to be a return to form, but there's a wandering coldness to the film that leads to grave dissatisfaction.

The most disappointing aspect is that there's a near perfect forty-five minute "mini film" riddled with white knuckle suspense involving the cat-and-mouse shoot-em-up between Bardem and Brolin that is lost inside yet another dour opus where Tommy Lee Jones plays a grizzled but good-hearted authority figure philosophizing about the sad state of the world for the umpteenth time. While Bardem and Brolin are sensational, Tommy Lee Jones seems to be playing an on-screen persona that has trumped his ability to show any type of range. He's typecast, and his character is made moot. Meanwhile Bardem gives a career-defining performance as the psychopath working with his own warped sense of morals. In what may prove to be ironic in the future, it's exactly the type of portrayal that risks making Bardem typecast in the same vein Anthony Hopkins was after his Hannibal Lecter character was born.

The brooding tension built around Bardem's unforgettable villain and the inevitable showdown with Brolin's wayward cowboy is completely wasted in anti-climactic fashion with no resolution that leaves the film to meander in philosophies that ultimately signify nothing. Coming off three straight comedies (the last two of which, "Intolerable Cruelty" and "The Ladykillers", were abysmal) the Coen Brothers have clearly lost their footing in trying to get back to their roots. "No Country for Old Men" boasts many of their popular hallmarks and an instantly classic turn from Javier Bardem, but it lacks the moral fiber of "Fargo" and the dramatic climax of "Blood Simple". Coming home, it seems, isn't as easy as it looks when the roads are dusty and lead you nowhere.

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