No Country For Old Men: Movie Review + thoughts (11/22/2019)

So this movie is pretty good. I'd definitely recommend watching it, unless you really hate violence (some parts are definitely hard to watch because of how gory it is).

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So the overarching theme of the movie, which is about the violence and the harm that anyone can cause. The obvious example of this is Chigurh, but this theme that anyone can secretly become or be a psychopathic killer is actually very present in everywhere else. 
For example, there are the numerous examples stories of murder that happen throughout the movie. There's the story that Ellis tells Bell about the people who killed their uncle. But perhaps, more subtly, is the fact that Moss is a Vietnam veteran. The Vietnam war is known for the startling amount of atrocities that American soldiers committed, as well as just the complete immorality of the war. Having Moss be a Vietnam veteran is a subtle way of showing that maybe even the protagonist isn't too far from someone like Chirgurh, which I love.
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The movie does a really good job of subverting your expectations. (MAJOR spoilers ahead!) The obvious surprises are the deaths of Moss and Carson Wells. And these deaths don't actually feel like bullshit, because if you look back you can tell that it was foreshadowed (looking at you Divergent). Carson is first introduced as a man who can somehow take care of, or at least go even with Chigurh, but he gets killed off like 10 minutes after he is introduced. I liked this because it foreshadowed Moss' death, because by killing off Wells you know that the movie isn't fucking around and anyone can die. The mystery of what Chirgurh will do next makes for really good suspenseful scenes, and it's interesting to see a movie where the villain essentially wins (again, subverting expectations).
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The villain of Chirgurh is really good. Like really good. Somehow, the Coen brothers and Javier Bardem are able to transform this dude with the worst hair I have ever seen into a crazy, scary, unpredictable killer.

He's pretty much a pure evil antagonist. There's no backstory to him that adds a grey area or anything, he's just a serious psychopathic killer who appears to feel no emotion at all. He's pretty much fucking invincible and he's scary in that you completely understand him, yet at the same time you don't know what he's going to do next. An example of this is when he spares the shop owner because he guessed the coin flip right, or when he decides to hide and not kill the Sheriff. Yet he also still fucking kills the dude who hires Wells (the rich business man type). Wells described him as someone who would kill you just for inconveniencing him, and he shows that through the movie.

Javier Bardem's portrayal of the character is also perfect. His resting snarl face throughout the movie really sells the character, and the dumbass haircut (snape looking headass) somehow makes him look even more menacing. Bardem got an Oscar, Golden Globe, and a BAFTA for this movie, and he completely deserves it.
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If you like really brutal violence along with deep physiological thoughts (plus some nice subverted expectations), then this movie is for you.
8/10


Edit: turns out moss was actually killed by a mexican cartel, not chirgurh

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