No Country For Old Men (Coen Brothers)

[taebin]

Saw it earlier this afternoon. Tommy Lee Jones was awesome. Played his part to perfection. The rest of the movie? Just fucking weird. 3/4's of the movie is really well done and flows from scene to scene. Then it just seems to hit a wall, where the audience is left going, "Ehhh, what the shit?" Rest I'll put in spoilers, but I'd say 6/10.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

So does anyone have any idea why the main killer guy goes completely psychotic and decides to just start offing everyone? From what I gathered, he was originally hired by the guy in the office to retrieve his money from the busted drug deal. The crazy fuck ends up shooting the two guys out in west Texas, and continuing to hunt down Moss. So then the office guy hires Woody Harrelson to track down Chigurh and his money, but Chigurh ends up killing him. So then the office guy sends a bunch of random Mexicans after the money by tipping them off where Moss's wife is staying (Odessa), they meet them at the bus stop and find out she's meeting Moss in El Paso, somehow find out he's fucking some bitch in a hotel room, and jack the money and take off right when Tommy Lee Jones is pulling up. Chigurh shows up at the office guy's building and blasts him for sending the Mexicans in the first place. He said something like "You gave the Mexican's the receiver." What receiver was he referring to? Moss had already dumped the transponder in the case back at the hotel room. Fast forward a few scenes, Chigurh is hiding in the hotel room looking for the money when Tommy Lee Jones pulls up. He walks in, but instead of killing him, Chigurh flips a coin and it turns up heads so he leaves him alone and vacates through the air conditioning vent? Only way I could figure he got out of there. Alright so then he shows up at Moss's wife's house, she refuses to flip the coin, kills her, gets in a car wreck, and wanders off down the road with a compound fracture. Then we see Tommy Lee Jones at some guys house (his dad's, uncles, friends?) talking about quitting his job and more random shit. Next scene, he's talking about a dream he had where his dad and him are riding horses and his dad builds a campfire. FADE TO BLACK, END SCENE, AND CUT!!!!!!!! Like 3 people in my theatre yelled, "What the fuck??" when the credits came on. I sure was thinking it.

[Jedah]

Well, fuck. This simply isn't playing in Virginia. What a let down, I don't normally go out to see movies anymore, and I'm really waiting for this one.

[Awanka]

In the SF bay area this is playing in like one theatre 80 miles away. WTH.

[Algol Devilstar]

Originally Posted by taebin

Saw it earlier this afternoon. Tommy Lee Jones was awesome. Played his part to perfection. The rest of the movie? Just fucking weird. 3/4's of the movie is really well done and flows from scene to scene. Then it just seems to hit a wall, where the audience is left going, "Ehhh, what the shit?" Rest I'll put in spoilers, but I'd say 6/10.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

So does anyone have any idea why the main killer guy goes completely psychotic and decides to just start offing everyone? From what I gathered, he was originally hired by the guy in the office to retrieve his money from the busted drug deal. The crazy fuck ends up shooting the two guys out in west Texas, and continuing to hunt down Moss. So then the office guy hires Woody Harrelson to track down Chigurh and his money, but Chigurh ends up killing him. So then the office guy sends a bunch of random Mexicans after the money by tipping them off where Moss's wife is staying (Odessa), they meet them at the bus stop and find out she's meeting Moss in El Paso, somehow find out he's fucking some bitch in a hotel room, and jack the money and take off right when Tommy Lee Jones is pulling up. Chigurh shows up at the office guy's building and blasts him for sending the Mexicans in the first place. He said something like "You gave the Mexican's the receiver." What receiver was he referring to? Moss had already dumped the transponder in the case back at the hotel room. Fast forward a few scenes, Chigurh is hiding in the hotel room looking for the money when Tommy Lee Jones pulls up. He walks in, but instead of killing him, Chigurh flips a coin and it turns up heads so he leaves him alone and vacates through the air conditioning vent? Only way I could figure he got out of there. Alright so then he shows up at Moss's wife's house, she refuses to flip the coin, kills her, gets in a car wreck, and wanders off down the road with a compound fracture. Then we see Tommy Lee Jones at some guys house (his dad's, uncles, friends?) talking about quitting his job and more random shit. Next scene, he's talking about a dream he had where his dad and him are riding horses and his dad builds a campfire. FADE TO BLACK, END SCENE, AND CUT!!!!!!!! Like 3 people in my theatre yelled, "What the fuck??" when the credits came on. I sure was thinking it.

The spoiler section does not bode well for this film.

[Kiksar]

Probably the best movie of the year so far for me.

edit, spoiler response to taebin:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

The Mexican's found the motel by way of the transponder. That combined with Woody Harrelson being sent after him, him being a bit crazy, and what Woody referred to as being a man with "standards" contributed to him killing the guy who hired him. I don't believe Llewelyn was fucking the chick at the place in El Paso as she was dead in the pool and him in a room. The Mexican's followed Llewelyn's wife and her mom to the bus station or whatever, got info on where they were going (if I remember right), and beat them there to get the money. Beyond that it seems like it'd probably be easier for you to watch it again to figure out some of what was going on with Tommy Lee Jones' character, his conversation with the retired guy about the way his uncle died, and the dream of his father. Not being a dick, all of that just had a lot to do with the major subplot of him trying to figure life out.

Also, theater reactions are strange, I saw a sold-out show and pretty much everybody applauded at the end.

[taebin]

So after reading your reply Kiksar, I started thinking, "Maybe I just didn't get it. Guess I wasn't in the right frame of mind." Then I stumbled upon this quote at ESPN.com from "The Sports Guy" Bill Simmons doing his weekly NFL picks.

Originally Posted by Bill Simmons

By the way, if somebody has a good explanation for the last 25 minutes of that movie, I'd love to hear it. Everyone at my theater applauded when it was over, like something special had just happened. Meanwhile, I was sitting there going, "Wait, it's over? What the hell just happened?" Without spoiling it, from the moment we see a hotel pool for the first time, the wheels come off so fast that it's like Norv Turner took over for the Coen Brothers. So frustrating.

Good to know I wasn't the only one. And with regards to Tommy Lee Jones' character. Yeah I understand he was trying to figure life out. How fucked up it is. He lived in Small Town, Texas and just couldn't believe the way the world is going. I could glean that tidbit from the conversation he had with the sheriff in the diner at the end. But I've lived in Small Town Texas too, and it never caused me to have dreams of my dad riding a horse next to me then building a campfire. I don't really see a coorelation. Anyhoo, glad you liked it and got your moneys worth I guess. Still a letdown for me.

[Algol Devilstar]

Friend said he really enjoyed it and that it's not your typical Hollywood movie... whatever that means.

[Hippos II]

saw a screening a couple weeks back, solid movie indeed. the best part though was right after the movie ended, some guy yelled out "what?" and everyone busted out laughing.

[Burkex]

I just saw this movie. It finally came out today in Florida after I waited weeks for it, limited releases piss me off. As for the movie, I thought it was great. Hell I loved it. I thought the 3 main characters did such an amazing job I wouldn't be surprised if a few of them get academy award nominations. The one guy with the compressed air canister was one of the best roles I have seen in a movie in a long time. He really stole every scene that he was in and I am going to see it again just to see that dude.

Oh and I didn't realize Moss was the older brother, Brand, from the Goonies till today. Pretty sad.

I'll try to answer more of Taebin's questions:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

First off I guess the end of the movie was unclear to some people, I am guessing these are the same people who left to go to the bathroom or were concentrating more on their big bag of popcorn. Anyways, at the end of the movie I heard some guy in my theater yell: "No way" and some people said something like "That's it?" The fade to black did come a bit sudden but if you listened to Tommy Lee Jones's character all movie long and think about the title of the movie you would be clear about why it ended like that. He started off as the narrator and finshed the same way basically. In the end the world was changing and he just decided that he was too old. He discussed this many times throughout the movie, once with the other sherriff in Odessa and with his partner in the coffee house and so on.

Here is my explination of the movie as I saw it:

I think the killer, named Anton Chigurh originally set up the deal and planned to buy the drugs with the $2 million. He was then going to end up with the drugs and then later track down the money and get it back. But drug dealers ended up all killing one another in the desert and the money ended in the hands of a stranger (Moss). This was not the plan. Because the plan was so messed up he shot the two guys who showed him what had happened, they messed up and he has his principles, so they had to pay for this. He had the transponder and could track the money. I must note that I think he would have been at that drug deal but he was side tracked because at the beginning of the movie he was pulled over and arrested by a cop, this caused him to miss the entire drug deal and things went wrong because of it. Now the businessman in the office learned that the drug deal had gone bad and he was missing his drugs and his money and he was the one who invested the $2 million in the drug deal. It was his money and he was buying the drugs. He had originally hired Anton Chigurh to do the job but when the money went missing he then hired some mexicans to find the money. I guess he was unsure if Anton Chigurh had pulled a fast one on him and if anything he was just doubling his chances of getting the money back. So the businessman gave the mexicans another transponder to try and find it. Later on after some mexicans died (because of Anton Chigurh) he also hires Woody Harrelson to try and find his money. Woody's character was a bounty hunter and he had knowledge of the type of person that Anton Chigurh was so the businessman thought this might help him. Later on from Woody's character we learn all about Anton Chigurh and he tells us that "He has his principles" and we also learn he is a bit crazy too. At this point Anton Chigurh realizes that the mexicans were given a transponder because they keep popping up where the money is. He also realizes that he must of hierd Woody's character too and that is why he goes back and kills the businessman in the office. The Mexicans then track down Llewelyn Moss because his dumbass Mother in law told him the name and place of hotel they were going to meet Moss at. So they went there first and got into a gunfight with Moss. Moss killed a few mexicans and they killed him. The mexicans also killed the chick in the pool with the crossfire. The Mexicans looked for the money and were unable to find it so they quickly left because they knew the police were on the way with all that gunfire someone had to call the cops. After the police arrive and they search the room they leave and still have the crime scene tape in front of the room. Anton Chigurh now knows that that is where Moss died and he has a hunch that the money is in the same place it was before, in the AC duct. So he goes there in the middle of the night, sees the room with the police tape in front of it, and breaks in with his air hose thingy and gets the money. Tommy Lee Jones then comes back to the crime scene and sees that the lock was blown open and he knows that Anton Chigurh was just there. Now Anton Chigurh was still in the room but Tommy Lee thought he had just missed him again like he did earlier with the milk. Tommy Lee also realizes that the money was in the AC duct and that Anton Chigurh had come back for it and now has the money and so he was probably done killing. But Anton Chigurh went to Moss's wife's house to kill her because he has principles and he told Moss he would kill her unless Moss gave him the money, so that is what she died in the end. And he did kill her because he checked his shoes to see if there was blood on them. Then some car ran a red light and he got fucked up but he ended up walking away. He was the killer that got away with the money. So it was nonhollywood because the bad guy got away with the money.

Also the movie took place in 1980 I believe because the Quarter was from 1958 and he said it took 22 years to get to him. That whole scene btw with the gas station guy was awesome.

I really hope that explains some stuff to you. And I really hope that they make a sequal with the Anton Chigurh character. He was just way too bad ass and way too crazy to not be in another movie.

Badass:


This was funny as all hell btw:

[eVasiege]

Yea just saw it as well and the reactions of the audience in the end were basically what was expected. I personally thought it was great. Not top #55 on imdb's list great, but still worth watching. The flow of the storyline was a bit awkward as random events seemed to happen for no reason(or ones that were too complex to try and reason), but the characters, acting and humor were awesome.

[Lyenae]

The movie was worth going to see, but ffs trainwreck storyline.

[eVasiege]

Plus, where the hell was the soundtrack? There was like one 20 second segment of ambient when he was asking the guy all the questions at the gas station and that was it.

[Astrocreep]

It was pretty good in some parts and WTF in the the rest.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Why did Moss not right away take the money and hit vegas or whatever with his wife and start a new life? that transponder never would have led anyone onto him that far away. instead he comes home like finding millions of dollars is nothing new, puts the money away and goes to bed, then later wakes up drives his car to the death scene and gets caught and leaves his truck behind so everyone knows he was the one who most likely took the cash. fucking idiot.

I got the last 25 minutes, it was just stupid. most of the movie is straightforward black and white then it goes all fucking surreal. It doesnt show the scene which had the lead character killed. it makes you think it wasnt really him that died and that maybe he was setting up Sugar(sp) with the help of Tommy Lee Jones and the scene where he shows up to kill Moss's wife i figured Moss and Jones would pop out at the last second and kill mr badguy. Nope they not only didnt do that, they didnt even show the wife kill scene either. so all we have is Mr Badguy wiping his shoes outside as a hint the wife was actually killed.

Jones was great as always, Moss was pretty good and very believable and of course this Sugarh guy stole every scene he was in. but the ending? gimme a fucking payoff. dont leave fucking questions hanging at the end of the film. As plausible as your response seems, Burkex the questions you are left with are not answered so clearly.
And yeah where the fuck was the soundtrack? even low budget movies from the 70s like this one is emulating had soundtracks in them
good movie til the big gyp at the end. sort of reminds me of the ending of Chinatown

[Kiksar]

Originally Posted by eVasiege

Plus, where the hell was the soundtrack? There was like one 20 second segment of ambient when he was asking the guy all the questions at the gas station and that was it.

Is this a serious question? If this movie doesn't make a decent amount of money and people are throwing questions like this around I'll lose even more faith in humanity having any idea what good ideas are.

Originally Posted by Astrocreep

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Why did Moss not right away take the money and hit vegas or whatever with his wife and start a new life? that transponder never would have led anyone onto him that far away. instead he comes home like finding millions of dollars is nothing new, puts the money away and goes to bed, then later wakes up drives his car to the death scene and gets caught and leaves his truck behind so everyone knows he was the one who most likely took the cash. fucking idiot.

I got the last 25 minutes, it was just stupid. most of the movie is straightforward black and white then it goes all fucking surreal. It doesnt show the scene which had the lead character killed. it makes you think it wasnt really him that died and that maybe he was setting up Sugar(sp) with the help of Tommy Lee Jones and the scene where he shows up to kill Moss's wife i figured Moss and Jones would pop out at the last second and kill mr badguy. Nope they not only didnt do that, they didnt even show the wife kill scene either. so all we have is Mr Badguy wiping his shoes outside as a hint the wife was actually killed.

Jones was great as always, Moss was pretty good and very believable and of course this Sugarh guy stole every scene he was in. but the ending? gimme a fucking payoff. dont leave fucking questions hanging at the end of the film. As plausible as your response seems, Burkex the questions you are left with are not answered so clearly.
And yeah where the fuck was the soundtrack? even low budget movies from the 70s like this one is emulating had soundtracks in them
good movie til the big gyp at the end. sort of reminds me of the ending of Chinatown

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

God I hate you fucking people.

[Thunderbane]

I'm curious how many people here have seen Miller's Crossing, or hell, there are plenty of other Coen Brothers movies with subtle details - but Miller's Crossing is the best I think.

I've yet to see this movie, so I won't comment too much. However, I can't wait to see it, and based on what people have been saying, even with the "What?" ending, it sounds like a damn good movie.

I just think that movies lately don't require the audience to pay much attention anymore. That or sometimes people don't think parts are important and are left unprepared for later parts in movies. But that's been my peeve with movies as of late, lots of them lacking on the intelligence requirement.