No Country for Old Men

Javier Bardem is just great in this! He is "Anton", a ruthlessly efficient killer on the hunt for a missing bag of loot that has fallen into the hands of the opportunistic "Moss" (Josh Brolin) after a drug deal goes awry. The latter man soon cottons onto the fact that his life is now considerably more at risk and he has to figure just out how to survive long enough to escape and enjoy his cash. "Moss" might just have an unlikely and unwitting ally, though, in the form of the pursuing but rather unenthusiastic sheriff "Bell" (Tommy Lee Jones) but, well you just wouldn't want to bet against the truly menacing Bardem! It's violent and brutal, sure - but it's also darkly humorous with plenty of pithy banter and quite some degree of characterisation from both Brolin and Bardem as the denouement looms large. That conclusion is as unpredictable as the rest of this quirkily scary and entertaining crime drama that uses an oxygen cylinder with startlingly effective results in this game of lethal Russian Roulette. Nobody is safe, nobody is innocent - and it doesn't matter whose side you are, ostensibly, on either. It's perfectly paced by the Coen brothers, the characters and the story given ample opportunity to develop and to breathe and by the conclusion I was definitely rooting for someone! It has shades of the old wild-west Texan Western genre to it, it reeks of authenticity and is really well worth a watch.