No Country for Old Men: His Name is Anton Chirugh, and Hell Follows With Him

The title of this article, taken from a Bible verse (Revelations "And the name that sat on him was Death, and Hell follows with him) seemed appropriate for what was the centerpiece for the Coen brother most recent movie on life and death in West Texas. The camera sets us up with a view of road and nothingness in the desert plains. Tommy Lee Jones (The Fugitive) plays a sheriff that knows evil. He opens us to recalling someone he lead down death row in Huntsville: "I once lead a boy down death row. He killed his 14-year-old girlfriend. Papers called it a crime of passion. He said, "there wasn't any passion to it. I'd been thinking about killing someone for as long as I can remember. I'd do it again if I was out of here. I'm sure I'm going to hell." And I said he'd be there in about 15 minutes."

Give me a minute to explain as there's alot of characters to go around, all significant. Josh Brolin (American Gangster) plays a naive but goodhearted hunter, Llewellynn Moss who stumbles upon the remains of a drug deal gone bad. Everyone is dead or dying. They even shot the dog. He figures there had to be a last man standing, and so he follows a trail to a shade tree. Under the shade is a dead man and a bag full of cash that will serve has half of everyone's motivation in the movie.

Next comes Anton Chirugh (Javier Bardem of Collateral), a psychotic killer half-tracking the money, half-tracking the kill of Moss. He's armed with a cattle stun gun, which shoots a rod inches deep into the cattle's brain and then retracks. Used on a person, it leaves the question, "where's the bullet?" Many people are killed in his path, and anyone who would recognize or pose a threat to him is quickly dispatched is a subtle, brutal, merciless manner. He doesn't smile, winch or hesitate. If he is unsure of killing someone, he flips a coin. He is the boy Jones' character sent to the chair matured and perfected into an elusive killer. He silence of his weapons and the efficiency of the stun gun on both markless killing and popping locks open show his skill. The fact Moss can avoid being snuck up on by him is impressive in itself.

The other player in the game is Carson Welles (Natural Born Killers star Woody Harrelson), a bounty hunter hired to retrieve the money and tries to do so by offering to keep Moss alive.

At a first glance, this looks like a promising thriller with plenty of twists and turns. It is promising with twists and turns, but don't expect this to be a great shootout between the two with great one-liners along the way. I wasn't surprised it wasn't, I was surprised it was so far seperated. The movie focuses on the amoral killer, who wouldn't be interesting if it wasn't for the fact he is so well portrayed, he looks like the coldheart that inspired coldhearts before him. I couldn't help but think of the character Bone from the little known caper The Lookout where an old man with a shotgun and dark shdes (giving him black pits for eyes) looks like death in a trenchcoat. I can see Chirugh teaching Bone the proper way to being coldhearted.

There are suspenseful moments and a degree of predictability. However, the well-crafted plot and violence should not mislead you. This is about Chirugh's astonishing craft, Moss' desperate, but smart and very aware attempts at avoiding and out-manuvering him, and Jones' sheriff coming to terms with with such an evil character in his county. It is a mix of characters that stays interesting by the plot movement, memorable by characters, and entertaining by dialogue. One note I must mention is the Coen brothers' great sense of sound editing and film editing. The camera work and cuts allow us to always know what the character is sensing when the other characters are nearby. The sound of a light unscrewing, the careful view of a trail of blood before a cut to a shocked expression before a second quick cut to leaping out of the way puts us in the shoes of the characters without making it explicitly so. This clarity is very important to action movies, but most action movies miss it. Coen brothers make a character study and nail it.

Don't expect a big showdown in the end. The killings tend to be more execution by Chirugh than anything. Jones' sheriff is more dialogue than action. But then again, walking away, I don't think the movie needed the shootout and intense dialogue to end with. The Coen brothers aren't about topics or messages, but they are clear on characters. Jones is disturbed, just like any of us would, at seeing the trail of such evil, just as Moss tries desperately and intelligently to getting away. Welles is humorous because he is the only character not shocked by the existance of Chirugh, but never sounds like he is giving him too much credit. Welles answers when asked how dangerous Chirugh is, "compared to what? The blubonic plague?"

The movie is excellent in craft, does not lecture with a message, and keeps you going. Walking out, I wanted to watch it again, this time looking at characters instead of trying to predict them big shootout.