Delayed Reaction: No Country for Old Men

The Pitch: Who can capture that Cormac MaCarthy nihilistic tone in a film? Oh yeah, the Coens.

A man finds a bunch of money from a drug deal gone wrong after the fact and several people try to track him down (and kill him).

This is another film I've seen before, not long after it left theaters. When I first saw it, the ending left an awful taste in my mouth. Nearly ten years later, with a lot more familiarity with the Coen brothers, it was about time for me to check in on it again. This is a fiercely entertaining movie. It's a slow-paced chase that turns into a game of cat and mouse. There are many moving parts and a lot of people being very clever along the way. Javier Bardem plays an iconic villain. It's crazy to think we had him and Heath Leger's Joker in back to back years. The Coens left some of their repertory players behind for this one and cast a bunch of people who fit this film perfectly. I even liked the ending a lot more now that I was prepared for it.

Given all that, I'm still not sure why this movie is so beloved. I remember it was a comfortable frontrunner for the Oscar that year and topped most "best of" lists that year (or at least split it with There Will Be Blood). I have a similar feeling about this film as with RagingBull. Why is this one so revered? I assume part of it is timing. 2007 was a weak year overall past the very top movies. The Coens had an "it's their time" narrative, even though this was directly preceded by two of their most disliked films - Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers. No Country for Old Men looks a lot like a non-comedy version of Fargo, which was their last Oscar close-call. Perhaps No Country for Old Men just matched the taste of that Oscar voting body at that exact time. It must've been something in the water. After all, before The Departed won Best Picture the year before (and maybe Crash the year before that), the last time a crime movie won the award was The Godfather Part II back in 1974, which was also part of a run a crime movie winners. The Departed was absolutely a make-up call win for Scorsese (that film doesn't top any Scorsese Best Of lists). No Country is a bit different, because that normally is up there with Fargo among the best Coen brothers movies.

I don't know. I've clearly invested too much time thinking about this. I'm officially overthinking it. I really like this movie. I'm glad it gets the attention it does. I'm just surprised that it gets that attention.

Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend