No Country for Old Men

No reason for you to skip this brilliant thriller

By Matt Pais

Critic's Rating:

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In 1980 Texas, Vietnam vet Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) discovers $2 million in drug money and quickly finds ruthless mercenary Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) hot on his heels to retrieve the cash. Meanwhile, veteran sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) wonders how his common crew can possibly keep up with a monster like Chigurh.

Big question: Can directors Joel and Ethan Coen, adapting the novel by Cormac McCarthy, reclaim their serious side after recent goofs like "The Ladykillers" and "Intolerable Cruelty"?

Catch it: So ferociously acted and executed that it practically takes a bite out of you, "No Country" is the kind of movie that if you miss a moment, you've missed it all. Not because it moves quickly--the Coens know exactly when to linger and when to pounce--but because everything about this chase is in the eerie stillness that hangs in the air, the calm before the storm that defines life on the run.

Skip it: If you think it's OK to hitchhike. Even a man who picks up Moss tells him he shouldn't be doing it!

Bottom line: You won't believe how great it is. Roger Deakins' gorgeous cinematography captures the beauty of the wide-open Texas terrain and the harsh pounding of bullets against flesh--a fierceness that's more than matched by Bardem's unforgettable performance. A story about the randomness of danger in a violent world we can't control, "No Country" is also darkly funny and a wonder to just take in, absorbing every second and remembering how it feels for a film to reach inside you and not let go.

Bonus: Bell defends the exaggerations of a tale he told Moss' wife Carla (Kelly Macdonald) by saying, "I couldn't swear to every detail but it's certainly true it is a story." Prepare to soon hear this line from many directors who add their own fictionalized touches to movies that claim to be "based on a true story."

mpais@tribune.com