The air-powered weapon that Anton Chigurh hauls around is a handy tool. I wish I had it for the times I locked myself out of my college apartment. After placing it on the doorknob for a second, all you’d hear would be… pfft! Pop! The lock would be lying on the floor as I walked in. I wouldn’t kill my ungrateful roommate. I’d probably chuck the hunk of metal at his bed before replacing it back in the door. The weapon is only one of the chilling oddities in No Country for Old Men. The multi-Oscar winner stands up to the hype. It’s a well-made film with the most violent villain since Fargo’s Gaear Grimsrud.
In 1980 Texas, unemployed welder Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) is hunting pronghorn antelope. While checking the results of his shot, Moss finds a blood trail leading in the wrong direction. He follows it and comes across shot up cars, dead Mexicans, a stack of heroin, and a suitcase filled with two million dollars. The movie follows his attempt at keeping the money. Unfortunately for him, the money’s owner (Stephen Root) hires insane hitman Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) to collect it. Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) tries to save Moss but all the while feels overwhelmed at the crime’s gruesomeness.
I gotta laugh that Chigurh is a professional killer because it’s such an appropriate job for a psychopath. A lot of motels must have high cleaning bills from all the bodies he leaves. Chigurh kills more people by himself than movies with more deaths. Of course, I’m ignoring slasher movies for obvious reasons. However, unlike a serial killer, he mostly kills out of necessity even if such a final solution seems excessive. If he’s unsure, he may kill you based on a coin toss.
Javier Bardem sounds like an actor I should know, but according to IMDb, he hasn’t starred in many American movies. After watching him play the dispassionate Chirgurh, I won’t be forgetting him. His face barely smiles under that evil David Cassidy haircut. If it does, it means he’s about to snuff the life out of his next victim. His face really only stirs in the beginning when he strangles a deputy. That scene alone convinced me he’s truly psycho. I’m scared of the real Javier Bardem now. If I ever get a chance to meet him, I’m going to be watching my back.
The Coen brothers excel at emphasizing small visual or aural details. By changing the scenery in tiny ways, they create lots of tension. In one scene, Moss returns to the shootout site to give water to a wounded Mexican. We see his parked truck backlit on a ridge in the moonlight. Later, we see the ridge again and suddenly, another truck is parked beside his. Sound is scarier here than in most movies because composer Carter Burwell keeps his score mostly silent. Chirgurh’s beeping tracking device is the sole source of unease in a couple of scenes.
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