No Country for Old Men [Blu-ray]
No Country for Old Men [Blu-ray]
Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 03/11/2008 Run time: 122 minutes Rating: RThe Coen brothers make their finest thriller since Fargo with a restrained adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel. Not that there aren’t moments of intense violence, but No Country for Old Men is their quietest, most existential film yet. In this modern-day Western, Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) is a Vietnam vet who could use a break. One morning while hunting antelope, he spies several trucks surrounded by dead bodies (both human and canine). In examining the site, he finds a case filled with $2 million. Moss takes it with him, tells his wife (Kelly Macdonald) he’s going away for awhile, and hits the road until he can determine his next move. On the way from El Paso to Mexico, he discovers he’s being followed by ex-special ops agent Chigurh (an eerily calm Javier Bardem). Chigurh’s weapon of choice is a cattle gun, and he uses it on everyone who gets in his way–or loses a coin toss (as far as he’s concerned, bad luck is grounds for death). Just as Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), a World War II vet, is on Moss’s trail, Chigurh’s former colleague, Wells (Woody Harrelson), is on his. For most of the movie, Moss remains one step ahead of his nemesis. Both men are clever and resourceful–except Moss has a conscience, Chigurh does not (he is, as McCarthy puts it, “a prophet of destruction”). At times, the film plays like an old horror movie, with Chigurh as its lumbering Frankenstein monster. Like the taciturn terminator, No Country for Old Men doesn’t move quickly, but the tension never dissipates. This minimalist masterwork represents Joel and Ethan Coen and their entire cast, particularly Brolin and Jones, at the peak of their powers. –Kathleen C. Fennessy
User Ratings and Reviews
2 Stars Not Oscar Worthy
I haven’t read the original text, but judging solely on the movie I can honestly say that this film did not deserve an Oscar. It wasn’t horrible, but it’s also not a movie I’d recommend to anyone. The general story is actually quite good and there are some great action sequences, but overall the plot plods along and the whole thing moves at a snail’s pace. My biggest gripe is with the ending, or lack thereof. Sometimes abrupt endings without any sort of resolution can work, but this one seemed like they ran out of film and just decided to chop off the last 15 minutes.
2 Stars Double-dipping, Triple-dipping, Quadro-dipping…. Abominable!!!
How many times could a movie be released on DVDs these days? Probably to no end. Corporate greed will lead this movie from Special Edition, Collector’s Edtion, Special Director’s Edition, Special Unrated Edition, Definitive Edition, Special Definitive Edition and then if greed still prevails thre should be Special Definitive Collector’s Edition…. Corporate fat cats will try their best to grab moneys from your wallet. The movie was pointless and senseless to begin with only redeemed by good actings that the film didn’t really deserve………
1 Stars Sensless murders Sensless movie
Here is a fair warning to anyone who believes the publicity and thinks No Country for Old Men might be even slightly entertaining. This movie contains death at every turn. It is filled with people who do stupid things and get killed. There are also a lot of people who do nothing wrong or bad but they get killed too. There are a lot of long “clever” conversations that end in murder. There are some very short encounters that contain barely a word that also end in murder. I like Tommy Lee Jones but I am sorry I actually paid money for this movie.
If a young person wrote this story for his or her high school English class they would probably be made to get counselling for being a complete psychopath.
The reasons why No Country for Old Men received such high praise and awards is a mystery to me but there is a greater mystery… what is the point of this bleak depressing movie?
1 Stars And the point was ???
I just saw this movie. What a pointless film. It was nothing more than a sequence of set piece opportunities to show people being killed in various ways. In fact the violence became so predictable that I found myself groaning at certain points in expectation of yet another murder. The only thing lacking was the obligatory helicopter chase scene so common now to every American movie that involves gun fire. I agree Bardem is a compelling actor but for a much better Bardem movie see Goya’s Ghosts, which by the way received no Oscar mention at all. I guess because there was no gun fire.
5 Stars Not for everyone
Whether or not you will like No Country For Old men will be depend on a few things. Did you get what the story is really about; do you only like popcorn films; and, can you take strong violence? On the surface, No Country tells the story of a sheriff and Vietnam vet in Texas in 1980. What the story is really about is violence, fate, self reflection, fear and death. Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) is about to retire. He feels overmathced and outdated. West Texas is no lounger the quiet safe place it once was. He is struggling to make sense of how violent and senseless the world is becoming. As he says some the old time sheriffs didn’t carry guns. Vietnam vet Lewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) just needs a break; he is a welder who lives in a trailer with his wife. He thinks he’s gotten his break when he stumbles upon a drug deal gone bad and finds a case of money. Unfortantly as the tagline says ‘there are no clean getaways’. Enter the hitman Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) sent to recover the money. No Country For Old Men is a story full of layers and hidden meanings. It features a lot of brilliant acting; Javier Bardem is as chilling a villian as ever played. Like I said, its not a film for everyone. So as to whether or not you will like it as Anton Chigurh say’s ‘you have to call it; I can’t call it for you; it wouldn’t be fair’.
I am sure this blu-ray will be picture and sound wise just as fantastic as the old one and hopfully add some cool extras. I wish they had gotten it right the first time, it would be cool if they would offer a rebait to those who bought the first blu-ray. Like what paramont/dreamworks did for people who bought there dvds then there blu-rays after the format war, I think it was 5 or 10$.
Filed under: Blue Ray Movie Reviews