No Country for Old Men (2007)

No Country for Old Men (2007)
Another great one from the Coen Brothers
27 January 2009 - 3 out of 3 users found this review helpful.
INSTANT CLASSIC.: YES, this film is as good as the critics say. YES, the performances are as good as the Academy says. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN is one of my favorite films and I have watched it many, many times. Javier Bardem, makes an excellent screen villain, this guy is really scary, you would not want him chasing you. Josh Brolin, and Tommy Lee Jones turn in Solid Performances, and Woody Harrelson also. I'm saving my praise for KELLY MACDONALD, one of my favorite actors. KELLY nails that southern accent. which is always surprising because her speaking voice is so Scottish, she does not have a lot of screen time but when she is on screen, you will know, you are watching a great performance. I absolutely give NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN <> Ten Stars 10**********

This is a spoiled brat Hollywood formula version of the classic film NIGHTFALL. It is so parallel to Nightfall that there is no doubt that McCarthy wrote it as a brattish rewrite of the classic film.
By "brat" I mean it is contrived to appease the control freak nature of the immature and spoiled American. I doubt this will fare well in the future, and if anything, it will cause a renewed interest in Nightfall, with Aldo Ray and Brian Keith.
Like Nightfall, we have an investigator who feels he is in over his head in a case of money stolen from hoodlums.
Like Nightfall, the hero stumbles across stolen money and is also in over his head.
Like Nightfall, there is a sadist who makes a game out of killing his victims.
Like Nightfall, the sadist has an ally who is repulsed by the sadist, and is killed by the sadist.
The only difference is that "No Country" presents the hoodlums as the "gods" that dorks worship so much.
Also, in total plagiarism of Nightfall, the sadistic killer entices his victims to believe there is a contest, when in reality, the killer is going to decide the fate no matter what. In "No Country", it's the toss of a coin, but anyuone who knows sadists knows that it's a rigged contest.
"No Country For Old Men" presents the sadist in the usual Hollywood formula of being immortal and godlike. In "Nightfall", the sadist is a mortal. "No Country" endeavors to contrive every bit of the story to show that if you're sadistic enough, you are immortal, the true Hollywood formula since about 1965. (Godfather and other gangster movies, Leone westerns, almost all horror movies e.g.).
So, we have a total lack of risk taking in McCarthy writing the total "safe" Hollywood story, to join the innumerable other such Hollywood stories that fail to either inspire or instruct, meant only to make the Beavis and Butthead viewers guffaw with delight.