No Country For Old Men

Genre:Crime, Thriller
By Miramax Films
Directed by: Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
Runtime: 122 minutes
Starring Tommy Lee Jones (Ed Tom Bell), Javier Bardem (Anton Chigurh), Josh Brolin (Llewelyn Moss), Woody Harrelson (Carson Wells), Kelly Macdonald (Carla Jean Moss), Garret Dillahunt (Wendell)


What Is The World Coming To?
There was a time when we could walk safely on the streets without being afraid of the anonymous cold blooded killer out there. There was a time when Singaporeans did not feel any fear or nagging unease when we are out on the streets. And that time was before the escape of the top terrorist Mas Selamat. We had always thought that murderers, killers, assassins and terrorists only belonged to corrupted countries like Cambodia, US and the like, as evidenced in Hollywood films. In fact, we Singaporeans (or at least, most of us) knew that as a fact. But not anymore now that Mas Selamat has been on the loose, without a trace of evidence for more than two weeks since his infamous escape from the detention centre. Lousy detention centre.

So here comes another deadly killer with a warped determined mind to kill anyone who comes in his way in No Country For Old Men. We do not need to be given the killer’s background. We just know that he wants to recover the US$2 million that disappeared in a shoot out gone wrong. We know for a fact that such faceless killers exist and we do not need to know why they have become what they are. We accept them for who they are and try to steer clear of their way. And we had better do that.

The Coen Brothers’ take on the 2005 novel by American Cormac McCarthy, I heard was a faithful production of the novel. For details on what really happened to the bag of money, for gratification of the final shooting scene that was not enacted in the movie, the novel is the answer. There were many gapping holes in the movie script. Were they deliberate on the part of the filmmakers? Were they meant to project a different feel from the novel, so that the movie can be a stand alone? It really is up to you to judge.

Despite the various ‘holes’ in the movie, I enjoyed the movie nonetheless. The chilling coldness of the killer is stark in his using a gas machine which is used to kill cattle. Humans are no more than cattle to him. There is no mystery to his killings. He kills at random, as long as you are impeding his goals of retrieving the US$2 million.

Greed eventually leads to death as the movie clearly tells you. Even though Llewelyn Moss believes in ‘finders’ keepers’, he eventually gets his comeuppance in trying to hoard money that is not his. It is a very dangerous thing to do, especially when the money you try to hoard is dirty. The determination of Llewelyn to keep the money he found for himself is equally interesting to watch. He is willing to risk his life and even wife, for that huge amount of money, even when he knows that it’s ill-gotten money and that it is not worth it and he should never have tried. As his wife told us, Llewelyn believes in himself and will not allow himself to be stopped by anyone, even if that ‘anyone’ is a serial killer without qualms about killing people. The cat and mouse game between Llewelyn and Chigurh is especially intense and exciting.


Javier Bardem is absolutely fantastic with his “ugliest hairstyle in movie history” and his straight faced image as the no nonsense killer. His coldness in his treatment towards human beings is very scary and is sure to spook you. I get a kick out of thinking about Chigurh’s encounter with the shop owner in which he forces him to flip a coin to decide on whether to kill him. It’s chilling and funny all at the same time I could not decide whether to laugh out loud or to pray for the safety of the poor old man whose only offense was to ask where he came from as a casual remark to any customers in his shop.

Another incident was when a truck owner stopped his truckload of chickens to help a stranded Chigurh whose car had a technical problem. Before killing off the helpful and innocent truck driver, he asked his next victim to unload the cartload of chickens before killing him off, just like that. Truthfully, I could not decide whether to be scared of this man or laugh at his audacity.

And in the final scene when he could again have been put behind bars, making the streets safe once again, he was rescued to another or two kind and helpful children. Thanks to them, the serial killer is saved and goes off into the woods. We are in no doubt he will appear again to seek revenge at a later time.

And all Bell, Tommy Lee Jones’ sheriff character, could do is to reminisce on how the world is changing to an uglier and scarier place by the day. A lot goes on in Bell’s speeches and it is a pity they are covered by his accent in the show. I will probably need to read the script to gain a fuller understanding of all the undercurrents that goes on in the show. Indeed this is “no country for old men”. The younger generation has taken over the world. And the world has become such an ugly place that the older folks will probably not be able to understand the mayhem and senselessness of what is happening around us.

Is the film trying to tell us that it does not pay to be kind? Chigurh may not be able to proceed with his killing plans if not for the kind truck driver who stopped to repair the vehicle for him. Chigurh may not have escaped from the police if the two boys had not lent him a helping hand during that critical moment. Are we to continue living in fear of the senseless killers out there? Those people who kill at random? Seriously, the day has come for people to just drop dead even though we did not commit any wrongdoings! This is the scary part!