Combine the unequivocal brilliance of the Coen brothers with the Pulitzer prize-winning talents of American novelist Cormac McCarthy, and you come to No Country for Old Men. Based on McCarthy’s 2005 novel of the same name, No Country for Old Men is an instant classic and a masterful adaptation from two talented siblings.

In lesser hands, No Country for Old Men would be an average endeavor. But placed in the palms of the Coens, this variation on the novel is a full-fledged work of art. Forget mentioning No Country for Old Men among the ranks of Raising Arizona, O Brother Where Art Thou, The Big Lebowski, and even Fargo. Place this honorary Texas tale of drugs, murder, and vengefulness above the aforementioned and among the best of the decade.

On the dusty plains of Texas in 1980, ex-welder Llewellyn Moss (Josh Brolin) stumbles upon a drug deal gone awry while hunting in the desert. Bloodied bodies, a dead dog, and a truck full of packaged heroin comprise the scene. A few hundred yards away from the massacre, Moss locates another dead body under a tree. Clutched in this lifeless man’s hand is a large black satchel holding $2 million in cash.

After informing his wife Carla Jean (Kelly MacDonald) about the money and forcing her to flee town, Moss begins running from a man who is the very embodiment of evil. This man is Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), a terrifying psychopath who carries a tank of compressed air equipped with a captive bolt stunner (used to kill cattle) as his weapon of choice. Chigurh not only wants the money, but also seeks to end Moss’ life.

On both men’s trail is a bounty hunter named Carson Wells (Woody Harrelson), who is hired to murder Chigurgh, and the town sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), who is investigating the sudden increase in slayings. Needless to say, the hunters and the hunted are sure to cross paths.

This tour-de-force of acting features a reserved yet expressive Tommy Lee Jones, a believable Woody Harrelson, and a tremendous, rough-necked Josh Brolin. However, remove Javier Bardem from the equation, and No Country would be no film to fuss over. Bardem’s portrait of the quiet, unapproachable, crazed killer encompasses the very supremacy of the production. In countering Chigurh’s behavior with his calm persona, the production takes on its own sense of serenity, despite its unabashed violence. Much like its silent villain, No Country for Old Men largely relies on the sounds of gun shots and footsteps as opposed to an expansive score. It’s the subtle reverberations, actions, and dialogue that make the difference.