Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0786936746754
Format: Color
Label: Miramax
Manufacturer: Miramax
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Miramax
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2008-03-11
Running Time: 122
Studio: Miramax
Theatrical Release Date: 2007-11-21

Related Items
There Will Be Blood (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition) Gone Baby Gone In the Valley of Elah Before the Devil Knows You're Dead The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating:

Summary: Just Plain Mean
Comment: In the 1980s I read a bunch of novels by Harry Crews. He became my favorite author, because his stories interwove grisly reality with wonderful comedy. After a while, though, I stopped reading his new works. I felt they had devolved into pure pessimism. The last one I finished left me thinking, "That was just mean people doing mean things to each other." That's how I feel about this film.

Yes, I can understand how the hit man might represent certain unpleasant inevitabilities. I can see the elements of fate and chance in the story, etc. But these themes have been present in every one of the Coens' films and, I think, presented better in past efforts.

It's not because this is a dark tale (actually, my favorite kind). For me, this film crosses the line from being a multi-textured tale to more of a one-liner about futility. Perhaps this film is the clean distillation of ideas the Coens have been trying to arrive at their entire careers, but I certainly wanted more from it than I got.

I'm still wondering whether I really missed the boat on this one, or whether the hype/marketing machines drove it to such acclaim. No way was it Best Picture in my mind.

FYI, Here's a link to my favorite Harry Crews novel, "Body."Body

Customer Rating:

Summary: irritating
Comment: This is one of the best films that has been released in years.. yet so many people do not get it.. why? Well read a couple of the 5 star reviews..then read some of the 1 star reviews on here and you can see it is definitely a difference in intelligence hahaha. "The ending made no sense" Do you look being spoon fed answers or do you like to interpret and things and think on your own. Art is so-posed to make you think, this film is art, it isn't mindless entertainment. "this won best picture!?" what? you like movies like Titanic which are geared for senseless retards? Our culture is f-ing retarded

Customer Rating:

Summary: Best movie of the decade
Comment: Many people didn't like this movie. This is understandable if you saw the movie as a very interesting chase story set in western style, and then suffered a huge letdown when there was no final showdown between the apparent protagonist and the bad guy, the other good guy fails to nab the bad guy, the bad guy gets away, and then the ending leaves them flat. But that is not what this movie is about.

The movie is an allegory about death, how we see it (or don't), how we face it (Moss), how it comes to us, what control we have over it (Carla Jean), and how we value our own worth in the contemplation of it (Bell). What's truly genius about this movie is how the Coens relate this broader meaning into a very exciting chase story.

Chigurh is a symbol of death. His appearance, that fact that he rarely changes clothes, appears suddenly at places without explanation as to how he arrived all indicate an otherworldly presence. His odd dialog and philosophy make much more sense if you view him in this context. He is present at all on-screen deaths. Why? Because he's a witness to death, but he's not the cause of it. He's the grim reaper with shroud and scythe. He's death and he's there to take the person, but he's not the cause of the death.

Now to make the movie work as an allegory the Coens had to integrate Chigurh as a human into the chase story. That there were able to accomplish this is a testament to their filmmaking genius and the reason they won all the awards. This is why the Coens purposely showed several scenes to depict Chigurh with human qualities, suffering pain, mending his wounds, choking on a cashew etc. Otherwise the story becomes a fantasy with Chigurh as some sort of superhuman comic book character and the Coens didn't want that.

The moment where Bell pushes the motel room door open is the last moment of his life, the double shadow is symbolic of his spirit leaving his body. The rest of the scene and his visit to Uncle Ellis represent Bell's transition into the afterlife. The tool (dime) being left on the floor, and not in Chigurh's pocket, indicates his task was not complete and Chigurh was interrupted by Bell's approach to the door.

Ultimately it doesn't matter where Chigurh was in the hotel room or at what point Bell's life ended. It's like arguing about whether the boy saw one wolf or two in "The Boy who Cried Wolf". It's a detail that regardless of its nature does not alter the broader meaning of the story the author is trying to relate.

The final two scenes with Bell represent his journey into the afterlife. The first, a visit to his dead uncle and the second, a recounting of his failures in life. As we ponder death do we not question our value in life? This is the conversation he relates to his dead uncle.

The final scene with Bell is also telling. The word "retired" is a euphemism for "dead". Moss was a retired welder, Carla Jean retired from WalMart, Wells a retired Army colonel, and the retired Uncle Ellis are all dead. Bell desires to remain with his wife, to go riding with her, but she says "I can't, I'm not retired (dead). Bells two dreams lament his life and his future. His father gave him some money and he lost it. His father passed down the legacy of a lawman and entrusted him to protect his people (Moss and his wife), a job he failed miserably at. The second dream relates his father movement into heaven as he goes ahead of Bell carrying the light and the warmth. Bell knows his father is waiting for him and wants to get there but can't. The fact that he wakes up before reaching his father, the warmth and the light, and is stuck in the dark and the cold, indicate Bell feels he isn't worthy to join his father.

The whole idea of Bell joining his father was foreshadowed in the comment Moss made to Carla Jean about his dead mother: "Well, then I'll tell her myself".

Moss was a thrill seeker who challenged death. He did not return to drug deal scene to bring the Mexican some water. He couldn't have cared less about this dying drug dealer, who most likely would have been dead when Moss returned anyway. That was just an excuse in his own mind to justify his return to the excitement of the hunt, of the chase. Moss was an unemployed welder who longed for the excitement of Vietnam, exemplified by his volunteering for a second tour of duty. He thought himself quite the hunter and tracker. Finding the money and running with it was the most excitement he had experienced since Vietnam.

When Carla Jean tells him she has a bad feeling about this Moss says: "Well I have a good one". He enjoyed it! Moss disregarded the warning of two guardian angels, the first being the black man who picked him up hitchhiking. The man warns Moss "You shouldn't be doing that". Why does Moss ask the man, who theoretically can't have any idea what Moss has been up to, to clarify what he meant? Because Moss suspects the man is talking about running with the money. Which of course he is. Moss ignores the warning.

The second angel Wells (note angel wings as he sits across from Chigurh) gives Moss an even more explicit warning to include the consequences of his actions, causing the death of both himself and his wife. Again, Moss rejects the advice but possibly changes his mind, sadly too late. The death of Wells, his disintegrated angels wings visible floating down as dust, signify the ultimate end for Moss. Then Chigurh's comment to Moss tells him that his guardian angel is no longer there to help him "Carson Wells is not here in the sense that you mean" and then right after, "You need to come see me", indicating that Moss needs to be visited by death (is going to die).

Chigurh did not go to Carla Jean's mother's house to kill Carla Jean. He appeared there (as death) because she killed herself. That is why earlier in the movie Chigurh remarks to Moss, "It doesn't matter where she is". If Chigurh intended to set out and kill Carla Jean, why wouldn't it matter where she is? How would he find her? The reason Chigurh isn't concerned about finding Carla Jean is because death finds us all, one way or another.

Carla Jean returns from the funeral and sits at the dining room table. As she looks out the window, her look of sorrow and depression reflect her situation. She has no money. She has bills to pay. Her husband's death has left her a widow with no means of support. This is what runs through her mind as she sits at the table, and is brought to the screen for the viewers' benefit in her "conversation" with Chigurh. As she contemplates suicide Chigurh appears, their "conversation" is a metaphor for Carla Jean's inner struggle as to whether to kill herself now or let her future existence be subject to rotten hand of cards she has been dealt (i.e fate). Chigurh is arguing for the latter, but loses the argument. She chooses to take her life now, at a time of her choosing (represented by her refusal to call the coin toss) rather than die later as a result of the fate her husband doomed her to, a lifetime of misery and poverty followed by death anyway. Carla Jean's testament of free will rocks Chigurh's world. All he can manage to say is "Call it" with more emphasis. She has upset "the rule he has followed". His rules are then symbolically killed in the car crash. Chigurh's rule set is killed but as death he is resurrected and continues on, walking down the street, passing into the tree of life, as death is and always will be a part of life. Death can never be killed.

Carla Jean's lesson learned from Bell was that in the contest between man and steer, nothing is certain, a lesson she bequeaths to Chigurh. He learns it the hard way, losing the use of his arm, just as Charlie Walser had in his contest with the steer.

The fact that Chigurh left Carla Jean's house without a weapon is further indication her death came internally (i.e. by her own hand) and was not caused by an external force (typically depicted in the movie as Chigurh shooting someone, strangling someone, or striking someone with a vehicle or cattle gun). If Carla Jean died from something other than her own hand, Chigurh would have departed with a weapon.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Fantastic
Comment: When saying I dislike a movie, I always hate when someone says "you missed the point". Well, what comes around goes around, I guess, because from some of the statements of the "haters", it looks like a lot of people missed the point. I imagine that many of the people who give this movie one star can't even identify the true protagonist of the film.

I found this to be a wonderful - yet dark and bleak - film about the corrupting effect of money on people.

If you're looking for a standard "chase thriller" where the good guy beats the bad guy against all odds, charms the cops, and gets away with the cash and girl, then stay away; you'll be disappointed. If you're looking for a film that on the surface is minimalist, but has a LOT to say, then this is it.

One last thought on the ending: the first time I saw the movie, I didn't really care for it. The second time through I realized it was not only the perfect ending, but given the themes of the movie, it's the only possible ending.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Heads or tails, choose a side.
Comment: I choose the title because this seemed to be a title that you loved it or you hate it. Most were disappointed by the ending, as I was, until I realized why it ended the way it did. My advice, without giving anything away, remember who the movie is about. From the beginning you have to realize this otherwise you'll get caught up with the wrong character and wonder why the choice in the ending. I did that along with several others I know. The hitman alone made this movie. The cast of characters were excellent, but the hitman...fool sent chills up my arms from the very moment you met this ruthless, cold hearted killer. I'm telling you, he deserved all the awards he received. Anyhow, go out and watch this one, or buy it...whatever. Just watch.

More Reviews

Editorial Reviews:

The Coen brothers make their finest thriller since Fargo with a restrained adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel. Not that there aren't moments of intense violence, but No Country for Old Men is their quietest, most existential film yet. In this modern-day Western, Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) is a Vietnam vet who could use a break. One morning while hunting antelope, he spies several trucks surrounded by dead bodies (both human and canine). In examining the site, he finds a case filled with $2 million. Moss takes it with him, tells his wife (Kelly Macdonald) he's going away for awhile, and hits the road until he can determine his next move. On the way from El Paso to Mexico, he discovers he's being followed by ex-special ops agent Chigurh (an eerily calm Javier Bardem). Chigurh's weapon of choice is a cattle gun, and he uses it on everyone who gets in his way--or loses a coin toss (as far as he's concerned, bad luck is grounds for death). Just as Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), a World War II vet, is on Moss's trail, Chigurh's former colleague, Wells (Woody Harrelson), is on his. For most of the movie, Moss remains one step ahead of his nemesis. Both men are clever and resourceful--except Moss has a conscious, Chigurh does not (he is, as McCarthy puts it, "a prophet of destruction"). At times, the film plays like an old horror movie, with Chigurh as its lumbering Frankenstein monster. Like the taciturn terminator, No Country for Old Men doesn't move quickly, but the tension never dissipates. This minimalist masterwork represents Joel and Ethan Coen and their entire cast, particularly Brolin and Jones, at the peak of their powers. --Kathleen C. Fennessy