Post by Fickle81 on Jan 5, 2008 2:08:59 GMT -5
Warning:Spoilers lie ahead!
So I was finally able to find a decent pirated copy of this towards the end of last month after looking since at least a month prior,and found myself to be disappointed by it. I'll expound on why here in a sec,but lets start with the positives first.
-Great cinematography,especially of the lush desert landscapes.
-One might think the lack of any music in the movie would be a detriment to it,but it actually worked in its favour. Most movies use music as a way to build tension,where they have it get louder at a certain point where something suspenseful happens or makes you think something suspenseful will happen,only to pull a fake out. However,in this movie not only does the lack of music make the movie seem more real life and less like a movie,but it actually makes certain moments EVEN MORE tension filled than they would have been with music. It makes certain instances of suspense look like they come out of left field because theres no buildup. You're just watching the movie,and all seems to be normal,then all the sudden,BAM! The movie decides to sucker punch you out of nowhere. The car crash near the end damn near made me jump out of my chair like a coked up grasshopper. It was a really fresh way of using suspense in a movie.
-Javier Bardem...wow...no seriously,wow! I haven't been this captivated or frightened by a film villian of this nature in the LONG time. The moment I saw the look on his face when he was strangling that cop in the beginning (like it was a sexual experience),I knew I was in for one hell of a special performance...and the man didn't let me down. He was pratically death incarnate (which lends credence to the thematic substance of the film,which I'll get to in just a sec)...a mass murdering machine,if you will. It was probably the most psychologically terrifying performance I've seen since Rutger Hauer in The Hitcher...it was that damn good.
-The bulk of the cat and mouse game between Brolin and Bardem was handled splendidly (till they fucked it up...I'll expound in a minute)
-The themes of chance and fate were,for the most part,communicated very well in the story,especially with Bardem determining certain people's fate with a coin flip...yea yea,I know,that concept has already long been done by Two Face from Batman,but Chigurh used it in a fresh way.
-Chigurh's weapon of choice and how he used it was all tints,tones,and shades of badass...Moss' wasn't too shabby either. Some inventive weaponry that would have made Robert Robert RodrÃguez glee with envy was definatly employed.
Now,for the faults...
-The story overall was very hollow. Certain things that NEEDED to be explained,weren't...like who Chigurh was working for and the person's connection with the money just to name one. It seems as if The Coens had the story's themes overshadow the story itself (the ideal method is to have the themes COMPLIMENT the story and have them work together equally rather than the story just act as a vehicle in the backround to communicate the themes,like what this movie did). The only real times doing something like that is acceptable is for surreal/abstract films (like,say,your average Lynch movie),and I'm pretty sure everybody would agree that this movie really wasn't surreal or abstract of that kind of nature in the slightest.
-There were 2 instances where Chigurh's actions didn't make any sense. For one,he kills 2 people who were apparently employees of the person HE was working for. Why? There was also some fat bitch that was giving him lip that he didn't bother to kill. He killed several other people for a lot less,so again,why?
-Woody Harrelson's character was pratically useless. The only purpose he served was to provide some slight expositional backround on Chigurh,that really didn't even need to be in the movie because it would have made Chigurh more mysterious and therefore,scarier...so it did more harm to the film than good.
-If theres one thing I can't stand in films,it unrealistic stupidity on the part of the characters as a way to FORCE the plot into going a certain direction (one of many instances of bad writting),and unfortunatly,No Country had some of those moments. Granted,it didn't have so many that it pratically ruined the whole movie like in,say,Crash...but it still had enough to annoy the fuck out of me...ESPECIALLY the one at the beginning,where Moss wakes up in the middle of the night and decides to go back to the sight of the Mexican botched drug deal massacre and give the dying Mexican he found earlier that day the water that he asked for. Hell,Moss even said "it's the stupidest thing in the world to do,but I'm gonna do it anyway." Ok,if you know it's the stupidest thing to do,then WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING IT?! Just because you acknowledge stupidity doesn't mean I'm gonna accept it...in fact,I'm gonna penalise it even more cause it's not like you did something stupid without knowing,realising,or acknowledging it...but when you do or are about to do something idiotic and you acknowledge its stupidity,thats DOUBLY stupid. And then theres the bit of Woody Harrelson finding the briefcase and NOT taking it,which I'm pretty sure was PART OF HIS CLEANUP MISSION.
-For the way the film hyped a possible epic final battle between Moss and Chigurh (I got pumped when Moss said "I'm gonna make you my special project" to Chigurh over the phone),Moss being killed OFF SCREEN by the Mexicans,who BARELY had a significant role in the film up to that point,was complete and total UTTER FUCKING BULLSHIT! And the worst part is that the movie pratically died with him.
-Tommy Lee Jones' subplot was CRITICALLY underdeveloped...and that sure didn't do the film any favours,seeing as how said subplot became the main focus during the last 20 minutes to half hour of the film. It felt like it needed an extra half hour in order to properly flesh it out,which would have been fine seeing as how this was the type of movie that one could percieve being long.
-My reaction to the ending:"Umm...ok,thats it?! Are you fucking serious?!"
Trust me,I REALLY wanted to love the movie as much as most people seem to,but there were just too many problems that kept me from doing so. Now don't get me wrong,theres some fantastic stuff here like the out of nowhere instances of suspense,the cat and mouse game between Chigurh and Moss (which provided some otherworldly tension),and Bardem's performance as Chigurh (that ALONE makes the movie worth a viewing)...however,is it the masterpiece and the stuff of legends people are making it out to be? Absolutly NOT.
However,having said that,I would be mildly pleased if it won the Oscar for Best Picture (ESPECIALLY when compared to 2005's winner Crash,cause as disappointing as this movie was,it's a SHITLOAD more worthy than that piece of shit).
3.5/5
So I was finally able to find a decent pirated copy of this towards the end of last month after looking since at least a month prior,and found myself to be disappointed by it. I'll expound on why here in a sec,but lets start with the positives first.
-Great cinematography,especially of the lush desert landscapes.
-One might think the lack of any music in the movie would be a detriment to it,but it actually worked in its favour. Most movies use music as a way to build tension,where they have it get louder at a certain point where something suspenseful happens or makes you think something suspenseful will happen,only to pull a fake out. However,in this movie not only does the lack of music make the movie seem more real life and less like a movie,but it actually makes certain moments EVEN MORE tension filled than they would have been with music. It makes certain instances of suspense look like they come out of left field because theres no buildup. You're just watching the movie,and all seems to be normal,then all the sudden,BAM! The movie decides to sucker punch you out of nowhere. The car crash near the end damn near made me jump out of my chair like a coked up grasshopper. It was a really fresh way of using suspense in a movie.
-Javier Bardem...wow...no seriously,wow! I haven't been this captivated or frightened by a film villian of this nature in the LONG time. The moment I saw the look on his face when he was strangling that cop in the beginning (like it was a sexual experience),I knew I was in for one hell of a special performance...and the man didn't let me down. He was pratically death incarnate (which lends credence to the thematic substance of the film,which I'll get to in just a sec)...a mass murdering machine,if you will. It was probably the most psychologically terrifying performance I've seen since Rutger Hauer in The Hitcher...it was that damn good.
-The bulk of the cat and mouse game between Brolin and Bardem was handled splendidly (till they fucked it up...I'll expound in a minute)
-The themes of chance and fate were,for the most part,communicated very well in the story,especially with Bardem determining certain people's fate with a coin flip...yea yea,I know,that concept has already long been done by Two Face from Batman,but Chigurh used it in a fresh way.
-Chigurh's weapon of choice and how he used it was all tints,tones,and shades of badass...Moss' wasn't too shabby either. Some inventive weaponry that would have made Robert Robert RodrÃguez glee with envy was definatly employed.
Now,for the faults...
-The story overall was very hollow. Certain things that NEEDED to be explained,weren't...like who Chigurh was working for and the person's connection with the money just to name one. It seems as if The Coens had the story's themes overshadow the story itself (the ideal method is to have the themes COMPLIMENT the story and have them work together equally rather than the story just act as a vehicle in the backround to communicate the themes,like what this movie did). The only real times doing something like that is acceptable is for surreal/abstract films (like,say,your average Lynch movie),and I'm pretty sure everybody would agree that this movie really wasn't surreal or abstract of that kind of nature in the slightest.
-There were 2 instances where Chigurh's actions didn't make any sense. For one,he kills 2 people who were apparently employees of the person HE was working for. Why? There was also some fat bitch that was giving him lip that he didn't bother to kill. He killed several other people for a lot less,so again,why?
-Woody Harrelson's character was pratically useless. The only purpose he served was to provide some slight expositional backround on Chigurh,that really didn't even need to be in the movie because it would have made Chigurh more mysterious and therefore,scarier...so it did more harm to the film than good.
-If theres one thing I can't stand in films,it unrealistic stupidity on the part of the characters as a way to FORCE the plot into going a certain direction (one of many instances of bad writting),and unfortunatly,No Country had some of those moments. Granted,it didn't have so many that it pratically ruined the whole movie like in,say,Crash...but it still had enough to annoy the fuck out of me...ESPECIALLY the one at the beginning,where Moss wakes up in the middle of the night and decides to go back to the sight of the Mexican botched drug deal massacre and give the dying Mexican he found earlier that day the water that he asked for. Hell,Moss even said "it's the stupidest thing in the world to do,but I'm gonna do it anyway." Ok,if you know it's the stupidest thing to do,then WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING IT?! Just because you acknowledge stupidity doesn't mean I'm gonna accept it...in fact,I'm gonna penalise it even more cause it's not like you did something stupid without knowing,realising,or acknowledging it...but when you do or are about to do something idiotic and you acknowledge its stupidity,thats DOUBLY stupid. And then theres the bit of Woody Harrelson finding the briefcase and NOT taking it,which I'm pretty sure was PART OF HIS CLEANUP MISSION.
-For the way the film hyped a possible epic final battle between Moss and Chigurh (I got pumped when Moss said "I'm gonna make you my special project" to Chigurh over the phone),Moss being killed OFF SCREEN by the Mexicans,who BARELY had a significant role in the film up to that point,was complete and total UTTER FUCKING BULLSHIT! And the worst part is that the movie pratically died with him.
-Tommy Lee Jones' subplot was CRITICALLY underdeveloped...and that sure didn't do the film any favours,seeing as how said subplot became the main focus during the last 20 minutes to half hour of the film. It felt like it needed an extra half hour in order to properly flesh it out,which would have been fine seeing as how this was the type of movie that one could percieve being long.
-My reaction to the ending:"Umm...ok,thats it?! Are you fucking serious?!"
Trust me,I REALLY wanted to love the movie as much as most people seem to,but there were just too many problems that kept me from doing so. Now don't get me wrong,theres some fantastic stuff here like the out of nowhere instances of suspense,the cat and mouse game between Chigurh and Moss (which provided some otherworldly tension),and Bardem's performance as Chigurh (that ALONE makes the movie worth a viewing)...however,is it the masterpiece and the stuff of legends people are making it out to be? Absolutly NOT.
However,having said that,I would be mildly pleased if it won the Oscar for Best Picture (ESPECIALLY when compared to 2005's winner Crash,cause as disappointing as this movie was,it's a SHITLOAD more worthy than that piece of shit).
3.5/5