No Country for Old Men Blu-ray Review

[Wayde]

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.

[DRB]

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.

I know far too many people that are asking "did they fix the ending?".

I found the movie engrossing. It is rare these days that I find a film I'm still thinking about weeks or months after experiencing it. NCFOM is one of those films. I look forward to seeing it on disc.

[Wayde]

I didn't want to ruin it by giving any details about the ending, suffice it to say it's not typical or expected. Even though I didn't mind it, it wasn't a strong point of the movie.

The blu-ray was very-very good though.

[DRB]

There are relatively few folks with any interest in this movie who haven't been told that the ending is, er, different. It don't matter to me.

Nice job, Wayde.

[Sonnie]

I have this at the house and ready to watch.

[Sonnie]

I watched this tonight...

[Wayde]

(Spoiler Alert!)

I guess the ending got to you Sonnie?

Look at it this way. It's adapted from a book so there is probably way more story there than ever appeared on the movie.

Consider that the movie is really about Tommie Lee Jones character and how he's going to deal with the changes in criminatlity he is going to have to deal with. Consider that the book (which I never read) probably gives a more central role to some of the periph characters like his own wife and brother who he visited before the abrupt ending.

It's about him deciding - after Lewlelyn lost, to just get out. Period. So, he retired. Not exactly a climatic ending, maybe made more sense in the book version. But it made for an arty kind of ending.

All in all a great movie considering the bulk of the film was the cat and mouse between Lewelyn and Sugar.

That's my take.

[Sonnie]

That sounds like a reasonable take on it.

It was definitely one of those intense movies that kept me edgy... but I was sure expecting something different with the last 10-15 minutes.

Anton pulling the old man over in the beginning and using the air punch on him... how stupid can someone be? Oh yeah... cop in plain cloths toting some air tank and contraption walking towards me. Here... let me check your temp with this neato contraption, since you were not speeding and not breaking the law in any way. WHAM! He's dead. I realize it was probably to show Anton's psycho side and for him to steal the car, but it was weak IMO.

Why skip over exactly how Lewelyn went down. I know those guys that killed him found out where he was at from his wife at the airport, but where did they come from? Why did they even enter into the picture? It did not appear they found the money, but Anton later came in and got it... (air vent).

Then Anton obviously killing Carla Jean at the end. That just did not make sense... just because he promised Lewelyn? Gimme a break! Lewelyn is dead and Anton has the money. She did not even acted surprised he was going to kill her.

And the car crash scene. Made no sense to me.

Strange movie.

[avaserfi]

Just finished watching the movie. I enjoyed it, no Fargo, but very refreshing especially with the slew of trash being released recently.

There were some parts that I thought a little silly, but not to the extent of Sonnie. I really liked the idea of using a captive bolt style gun as a weapon though.

[SQCherokee]

This is now my favorite movie...I took 3 people to go see it after I went and saw it my self.

The main reason they didn't show liuelens demise is because you are getting there to that incedent as ed tom arrives...you know were he already was...they made you think with this movie.

oh....so he must of burned the car and taken the truck that belonged to the other bad guys...
I like the open endedness.

[nova]

Sonnie wrote:

Why skip over exactly how Lewelyn went down. I know those guys that killed him found out where he was at from his wife at the airport, but where did they come from? Why did they even enter into the picture? It did not appear they found the money, but Anton later came in and got it... (air vent).

I watched this last night, though it was just SD. I thoroughly enjoyed it except for two things. First, the above quote from Sonnie. Second, the first 90% of the film is primarily about Lewellyn, then it abruptly changes over to Sheriff Ed.

I also really liked the lack of music,... and felt the cinematoghraphy was very good for a new film. I especially liked the lighting of the scene where Lewellyn comes across the vehicles in the desert, walking between the red Bronco and blue Dodge.

Non-typical Hollywood ending

And I think Josh Brolin is really coming into his own as an actor, especially in the last couple films I've seen him in.

[Richard W. Haines]

I'm surprised so many of you were satisfied with the 'non-Hollywood' ending.
As far as I can see, there was no ending or climax to the story which I found
infuriating. Acting was good but I wouldn't recommend it because it just
fizzled out. I have no objection to directors who want to break narrative
conventions but the dismal last ten minutes didn't work at all in my opinion.

[thxgoon]

Richard W. Haines wrote:

I'm surprised so many of you were satisfied with the 'non-Hollywood' ending.
As far as I can see, there was no ending or climax to the story which I found
infuriating. Acting was good but I wouldn't recommend it because it just
fizzled out. I have no objection to directors who want to break narrative
conventions but the dismal last ten minutes didn't work at all in my opinion.

I completely agree. Why spend all of the time developing the characters and plot only to never conclude them? It takes a bit of thought after the movie to decipher the point of the whole thing but even after you figure it out it is dissatisfying IMO.

[Richard W. Haines]

thxgoon,

I guess there's a tendency, if not danger, of appologizing for a director if you
admire their work. We all do it and professional film critics are especially guilty
of it. The Cohen brothers have made a number of very interesting and quirky films
that work on multiple levels. My favorite happens to be "Barton Fink" which is an
outrageous lampoon of the golden age of Hollywood which wasn't so golden depending
on your position in the industry.
The acting and camerawork are fine in this movie but I cannot excuse their lack of
an ending, climax or resolution to the drama. As much as I admire them I'll have
to say that's simply bad storytelling. This picture is an over-rated misfire. Since
they had such a memorable villain, it's a major failure in that it fails to deliver a
satisfactory narrative. It reminds me of Orson Welles' "Magnificent Amberson",
Alfred Hitchcock's "Rope" and Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in America". You
want them to work because of their past films but they don't. This picture is worth
a look but it's pretty much a given that most people will be very disappointed with
this Cohen brothers film. Personally, I didn't like the ending of "Barton Fink" either
but at least it had an ending.