First-off, the film is worthy of all the award-buzz it's received, and I hope it cleans up at the Oscars. Adapted from the novel by Cormac McCarthy, the Coen brothers drift a bit from their resume of obscure stories ("Raising Arizona," "Fargo," "The Big Lebowski") and deliver an engrossing thriller.
During my viewing, the audience was totally hooked within the first 10.
No candy wrappers crinkling, no popcorn crunching, no soda slurping...
nothing but the sounds of swift winds and footsteps on gravel were
moving through the theater, as Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) stumbles
upon some dead bodies, a stash of heroin and $2 mil. greenbacks.
Enter Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), the ghostly mass-murderer tracking down Moss and the $2 mil. His sonorous voice and blank expressions lend an added dimension to Moss' imminent doom, as the two play cat-and-mouse across Western Texas.
Always a step behind is Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), an ineffectual sheriff working the case. Aside from an appearance from Woody Harrelson, who can never seem to bring anything but a certain "Harrelson-ness" to a role (I kept seeing Woody Harrelson on screen, not the character "Carson Wells"), the film is a nearly flawless, albeit nihilistic ("We beleeves in nuting, Lebowski!") experience.
The Denouement:
Absolutely Essential for those who enjoy movies, fans of the Coen brothers, and those interested in alternative uses for compressed-air guns.
Enter Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), the ghostly mass-murderer tracking down Moss and the $2 mil. His sonorous voice and blank expressions lend an added dimension to Moss' imminent doom, as the two play cat-and-mouse across Western Texas.
Always a step behind is Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), an ineffectual sheriff working the case. Aside from an appearance from Woody Harrelson, who can never seem to bring anything but a certain "Harrelson-ness" to a role (I kept seeing Woody Harrelson on screen, not the character "Carson Wells"), the film is a nearly flawless, albeit nihilistic ("We beleeves in nuting, Lebowski!") experience.
The Denouement:
Absolutely Essential for those who enjoy movies, fans of the Coen brothers, and those interested in alternative uses for compressed-air guns.
