Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin
Director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Studio: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Production Year: 2007
Media Year: March 11, 2008
Rating: R
Length: 122 minutes
Movie 
Themes of survival and extreme tension come gift-wrapped in smart dialogue and intelligent characters in the Cohen Brother’s latest release to DVD and Blu-ray.
No Country for Old Men captures 1980 in Southwest Texas brilliantly. I say that having never been to Texas in 1980, even though I’d spend a year there almost a decade later learning to jump out of helicopters. I also learned an affection for the humid, sun drenched scrub land. Everything from brush to the cattle that seemed to roam wild all shared a unique specialty to survive the bleak landscape.
Just as drastic temperature changes take place between day and night in Southwest Texas, No Country for Old Men finds the area in the midst drastic social change. The film starts with career lawman, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) recognizing changes in criminal behavior as he contemplates what it’ll take to survive in his profession. One can imagine the changes formerly sleepy areas of Texas would be subjected to with a vigorous drug trade finding its way into America shortly after the 1970s.
Less is more.
In an era of overblown musical scores and (like my last review - Into the Wild) trendy pop artists rolling up their sleeves on a soundtrack, the Cohens decided less is more.
Heaping onto the atmosphere of the film is the smart decision of the Cohen Bros not to use a musical score through the movie. I recall hearing music only once before the credits in a brief scene involving a mariachi band. Palpable tension is created as the camera hangs over sun-soaked Texan landscape accompanied only by the sound of the wind through your surrounds.
Hitchcock-style tension builds in a hotel room
Javier Bardem gives us a truly memorable movie villain. With his wide collar, spike-toe, alligator-skin boots and his side brushed mop-top he’s a product of pure stylish evil. He’s one part Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter for his complete lack of remorse. But he’s another part Tim Roth’s preening killer Archibald Cunningham from 1995’s Rob Roy for bringing style to mercilessness. Bardem earned his Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
Video 
2.35:1
1080P/ AVC Mpeg-4
In perhaps one of the finest transfers to Blu-ray I have ever seen, No Country for Old Men captures the bleak south Texas landscape in crisp high resolution detail. The color palette used in the film isn’t the most brilliant. Hues of tawny and brown with only small patches of deep green are the brightest colors you’ll see outdoors. But the effect of the sun’s relentless pounding of the land is well captured on film. You can almost feel the heat rising from the sands.
Almost no evidence of film-stock grain and certainly no compression artifacts were noticed. Indoor scenes captured the era nicely with textures that could only have come from the gaudy late 1970s. What were they thinking?
Audio
Uncompressed PCM 5.1 (48kHz/24Bit/4.6Mbps)
Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
As stated earlier there is no music in the soundtrack. This is a great vehicle for building tension throughout the film but doesn’t give the soundtrack opportunity to show off musically. Instead we get subtlety and it’s brilliant. A certain chase scene involving a dog and hastily cleared pistol chamber (no spoilers) we hear only the lapping of running water that heaps anxiety upon the viewer better than a musical score.
Get ready for funky 70s textures throughout the movie.
I love when a Blu-ray disc uses that extra space the format is so proud of to give us a 5.1 PCM audio option. No Country for Old Men doesn’t disappoint! The many gunshots through the film sound realistic and at times echo through your surrounds. The villain played by Bardem uses an unusual instrument of death involving a tank of compressed air he carries around with him. He uses it to open doors and to dismember anyone unlucky enough to cross his path. The resulting sounds are unlike typical blazing gunfire you’ll hear in most movie soundtracks. Small explosions of wood and steel emanating from the compressed air sounds exactly as it should as does the sickly dull thud of its projectiles entering human flesh.
Special Features 
The Blu-ray doesn’t go overboard with special features. Only a few good but short documentaries will be found. None of the special features are in HD and they’re all worth a look. I know a lot of people are going to look at Diary of a County Sheriff after the film ends. It’s worth a look to get some insight into the story or subtext behind the movie.
A director’s cut might have been nice and maybe an interview with author Cormac McCarthy, writer of the original book No Country for Old Men.
- The Making of No Country for Old Men 25 minutes
- Working with the Coens 8 minutes
- Diary of a Country Sheriff 7 minutes
- Trailers 4 minutes
Overall
No Country for Old Men is just short of the perfect package in an HD movie release. The movie won’t be for just anyone. It’s very violent and might leave some viewers unsatisfied if you’re expecting a Hollywood ending. But that’s what makes the movie more interesting, it’s unpredictable even at the expense of the viewer’s enjoyment. I believe the Oscar was well earned and I’m glad the Blu-ray isn’t filled with too many glib special features.