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When unassuming local Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) happens upon several dead bodies, a load of heroin and two million dollars in the middle of the Texas desert, he takes the money and runs. That sets off a deadly game of cat and mouse involving vicious hitman Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), noble lawman Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) and Moss’ wife Carla Jean (Kelly Macdonald).

Big question: Does the movie live up to the hype that started at this year’s Cannes film festival, which proclaimed it one of the best movies yet from directors the Coen brothers?

Catch it: An engrossing thriller with rich characters and first-rate filmmaking, “No Country” represents the Coens in peak form. Expertly filmed, nearly wordless, suspense sequences are only interrupted by bursts of some of the sharpest dialogue on-screen all year. The actors are uniformly excellent: Brolin continues a surprising career resurgence with the best showcase yet of his unexpected depth as an actor; Jones (a native Texan) and Macdonald (born in Scotland, though you’d never know it here) ace their layered supporting roles; and Bardem steals the show as a truly terrifying, instantly iconic screen villain.

Skip it: Some viewers may want to pass after hearing about the movie’s level of violence—if it wasn’t already taken by another fall film, this movie’s title easily might have been “There Will Be Blood”—but you can always cover your eyes if it gets too rough. Chances are you’ll be peeking through your fingers to see what happens next.

Bottom line: “No Country” doesn’t have as much moral complexity as the recent crime drama “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” (or the Coens’ own masterpiece, “Fargo”), but, like the best of Alfred Hitchcock, it’s easy to imagine the movie casting its sinister spell on audiences for years to come.

Bonus: The Coens edit their own movies but use the pseudonym Roderick Jaynes in the credits. The fictional bio for Jaynes notes that he’s “the world’s foremost collector of Margaret Thatcher nudes, many of them drawn from life.”

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