NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN Film Review - 23/3/08

Written & Directed by Joel & Ethan Coen this film bites from the start - The only problem being that it is really laid back and slow and never actually finishes the storyline. Tommy Lee Jones is the tired & weary cop thrust into an investigation he doesn't want when a hunter (Josh Brolin) after game comes across a drug deal gone wrong and absconds with a case of cash. [STOP READING NOW MR. PERIWINKLE: Heads about to be shot and guts sprayed all over the place!] A hired hit-man Javier Bardem is sent after the loot and cuts through a swathe of bodies with palpable menace with a maniac's smile (Probably why he won an Oscar for a Supporting Role he is that good!) and a compressed airgun that he blasts a victim's head away with. Nonchalantly strolling from scene to scene his very presence is enough to get you going with a rather silent approach as he blows victim's away left, right and centre copiously shedding blood in this extremely violent movie. With more of his own conscience than anything else, he does exactly as he pleases with no consequences or remorse; in a very haunting portrayal of a man who does not have any limits. No only does nothing run it's course in this film nothing turns out as you expect - Especially after two hours and the screen fades to black to the credits after a dulled speech by Tommy Lee Jones about righting wrongs?