Review of No Country for Old Men: One of the Best Thrillers Ever

If I were asked to describe the latest Coen brothers movie, No Country for Old Men, in 3 words or less, here's what I would say: Holy, effing, crap.

No Country, based on the novel by Cormac Mccarthy (who also penned All the Pretty Horses), is set in rural Texas in 1980, and follows the path of a young cowboy who happens to find a massive amount of cash by pure chance. Unfortunately for him, a ruthless killer sets out to retrieve the cash, and what follows is one of the most intense movies I've seen in a long time. The Coen brothers seem to have a knack for creating strikingly comprehensive worlds in their films. The characters in No Country seem to have come directly from real life, as if the camera just happened to pick up the events on screen. Tommy Lee Jones plays Sheriff Tom Bell, a wise law man at the end of his days fighting crime. Some of the Coen brothers trademark humor comes through in his character, as he passes down witty truisms to his deputy. The sheriff is looking for Llewlyn Moss, the "lucky" cowboy played fantastically by Josh Brolin. The sheriff wants to find Moss before Anton Chigurh (played by Javier Bardem), a ruthless killer with an innovative way of getting the job done, finds him.

I don't want to reveal too much about the plot, because the twists and turns of it are what makes it such an enjoyable experience. There is nothing missing from the fantastic piece of film-making here. The cinematography captures gorgeous Texas landscapes, and also intensifies the action without the viewer even realizing it. The acting in this film is absolutely fantastic. Javier Bardem, as a psycho killer, might turn in one of the best characters of any film in 2007. He doesn't even have to say a word to scare the crap out of you. Even with his 80s bowl haircut, he's what Josh Brolin's character calls: "the ultimate badass." The minor characters in this film are what really give it a sense of realism. It's almost as if they simply found people on the streets, and told them to just be themselves in the movie.

If you like westerns or thrillers and are even a little bit interested in this movie, go see it right now. This is easily one of the top 3 movies of the year, and one you won't forget for a long, long time.