No Country For Old Men (DVD)

Four Oscars: best picture; best screenplay; best director (Ethan Coen,) and best supporting actor (Javier Berdem and nominated in another four categories: also nominated for nine British Academy film awards as well as many other international kudos...what can I – as a humble reviewer – add to this kind of track record? Tommy Lee Jones (as soon-to-retire laid-back sheriff Ed Tom Bell;) Josh Brolin (as Llewellyn Moss – a tough Vietnam veteran who skips the scene with two million dollars in drug money,) and Javier Berdem (is Anton Chigurh – a sociopathic assassin hired to recover the drug money,) head up the cast in this well-above-average crime thriller.

The supporting cast includes Kelly Macdonald as Carla Jean Moss – Llewellyn Moss' supportive wife – who isn’t quite what she first appears to be: Woody Harrelson as Carson Wells – a cocky bounty hunter and retired colonel hired to intercept Chigurh and recover the drug money, and Stephen Root, as the mysterious man who hires Wells.

But for sheer acting honours, it’s Javier Berdem all the way – a worthy Oscar winner for his performance in this one!

The story begins when Llewelyn Moss (Brolin) finds a pickup truck surrounded by a sentry of dead men. A load of heroin and two million dollars in cash are still in the back. When Moss takes the money, he sets off a chain reaction of catastrophic violence that not even the law - in the person of aging, disillusioned Sheriff Bell (Jones) - can contain.

As Moss tries to evade his pursuers - in particular a mysterious mastermind who flips coins for human lives (Bardem) - the film simultaneously strips down the American crime drama and broadens its concerns to encompass themes as ancient as the Bible, and as bloodily contemporary as this morning's headlines.

This film went on to win 4 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay.

General

Studio:	Miramax Films
Country of origin:	South Africa
Release date:	April 2009
Designers:	Coen Brothers
Actors:	Tommy Lee Jones • Josh Brolin • Javier Bardem
Dimensions:	192 x 137 x 15mm (L x W x T)
Format:
Running time:	2 hours, 2 minutes
Region encoding:	Region 2. This DVD will play in all South African DVD players.
Age restriction:	16 LV
Categories:	DVD > Crime DVD > Drama DVD > Thriller DVD > Feature Film
LSN:	XMD-T69-NFH-6
Barcode:	6009695389975

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

Thu, 8 Oct 2009 | Review by: Richard B.

Maybe I was mistaken, or not in the right mood, but what happened to the script? After a promising first hour, things started to unravel. Our villain has the amazing ability to find anyone, with no explanation given to the audience. And speaking of 'no explanations', who did he work for? And what was his point for being on the trail of the missing money? It's fine for having a evil assassin, but he has to serve a purpose. It's like a sheriff who couldn't care less whether he gets his man or not. Wait a minute.... that's exactly the kind of sheriff we have in this film. He's rather sit in a restauraunt talking about how evil the world has become and he can't face all this evil anymore, and blah blah blah. What kind of sorry excuse for a sheriff is this. Go chase down the bad guy. Too many plot holes abound, with an ending that truly boggles the mind as to it's absolute inconclusiveness. This seems to be strictly for 'arty' filmlovers. Most over-rated film of the year.

Did you find this review helpful? Yes (2) | No (2)

Thu, 8 Oct 2009 | Review by: Red J.

What started out as an exciting chase movie soon turned into a talky diatribe about all the growing evil in the world, and our powerlessness to stop it. That this movie won Best Picture at the Oscars was a shock, because the storyline loses direction midway through and never recovers. The acting might be superb, and there is a tense chase scene at around the 50-minute mark, but after that the picture all but collapses under it's own weight. The original poster is correct in saying that this is more for 'art-lovers'. It's not a commercial film. And the ending? You'll be scratching your head like I did.

Did you find this review helpful? Yes (2) | No (2)

Thu, 8 Oct 2009 | Review by: Michael V.

If you prefer your movies with strong and simple story lines and happy endings, then "No Country for Old Men" is probably not for you. But if you appreciate fine acting, superb characterization and outstanding cinematography, you will find good doses of all of those in this outstanding and powerful film. Quite apart from Javier Bardem (Academy award for best supporting actor in this role), Josh Brolin portrays Llewelyn Moss to a tee and Tommy Lee Jones is absolutely outstanding as Sheriff Ed Tom Bell. Though poles apart geographically and culturally, Bardem's role and character reminded me strongly of Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange, though Anton was not quite as disturbing a character to me as Alex. The story is a good one and despite the gore, the film is really about people. The film is true to McCarthy rather than Hollywood, and if you liked to book, the chances are that you will also enjoy the film. So it doesn't have a happy ending - that's life.

Did you find this review helpful? Yes (2) | No (1)