ViewGuide

Created Nov 23, 2007 01:54PM PST • Edited Jun 05, 2012 11:35PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Really Great 4.5

   Yet another idiosyncratic masterpiece from the Brothers Coen, this time a fairly modern yet characteristically outlandish tale of woe about a scrappy hunter who stumbles across a fortune in drug money, thus stirring up the unfortunate attention of some very bad men. Be warned though that the Coens have chosen to make an art of anti-climax in No Country of Old Men: while the movie doesn’t lack for violent confrontations, several happen off camera or fail to materialize at all.

   The acting and dialogue are first rate, starting with Javier Bardem’s implacable killer, continuing with Josh Brolin’s crafty Army vet, and leavened by Tommy Lee Jones’ dry Texas wit.

4. Acting

   Really Great 4.5

   Playing the central character, Javier Bardem fills the screen as a real life Frankenstein, larger than life and terrifying in his calm intensity. Josh Brolin takes his second star turn of the year (the other being in American Gangster) as a Texas good ole’ boy who’s accomplished with guns, welding and derring-do alike. And Tommy Lee Jones playing a Texas sheriff is like Olivier playing Hamlet: a master wringing nuances from the tiniest lines and gestures.

5. Male Stars Perfect 5.0

   Tommy Lee Jones is a known – and beloved – commodity. Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin are rising stars on the make. Both have obvious movie star presence, Bardem with his long strong face and taunting baritone voice, Brolin with his father’s good looks, athlete’s build, and quiet charisma. Neither are kids, but both are likely to have many starring roles in their futures.

6. Female Stars Really Great 4.5

   Kelly Macdonald plays the Texas trailer wife to perfection. Her scenes with Josh Brolin are southern fried perfection.

7. Female Costars Great 4.0

8. Male Costars Perfect 5.0

   Woody Harrelson, a natural born hoot, contributes an entertaining turn as an upper echelon organized crime fixer.

10. Film

    Really Great 4.5

    A somewhat convoluted tale with many characters moving in and then being snuffed out, the story always remains clear, a testament to masterful direction. That said, the brothers Coen – always idiosyncratic – here choose to play hide and seek with key junctures in the plot, an affectation that left some in the theater I was in crying out for resolution.

11. Direction Perfect 5.0

12. Play Perfect 5.0

    The Coen brothers adapted the script from a novel by Cormac McCarthy, apparently with much success, since the dialogue is pungent yet naturalistic.

13. Music Great 4.0

14. Visuals Perfect 5.0

    Texas has never looked more beautiful. Every shot – indoors and out – is precise and rich.

15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 2.0

    The level of violence is run-of-the-mill for R rated thrillers, though Bardem’s character uses a killing device that hasn’t been seen on the silver screen before.

17. Sex Innocent 1.0

18. Violence Brutal 3.4

19. Rudeness Salty 1.7

21. Reality

    Glib 1.5

    This many bodies being strewn around towns and gulches over this many days would in real life attract a small army of law enforcement and media attention, leading me to give it a CircoReality factor of 2, or 2x reality. Brolin’s character’s ability to take a licking and keep on ticking, not to mention apparently losing pints of blood from a gut shot, warrants a BioReality factor of 1.5, or 1.5x reality.

22. Circumstantial Glib 2.0

23. Biological Glib 1.5

24. Physical Natural 1.0