ncfom.jpg Even though No Country for Old Men is set to be released on DVD in just one month, I decided to go see it in the theater over the weekend. My decision was based on all the critical acclaim the film has received since it first started hitting the major film festivals last May (Cannes) and since it was first released here in the U.S. in November. The latest effort from the Coen brothers made nearly every major critic’s Top 10 list for 2007, and has been nominated for a boatload of awards, including the Oscar for Best Picture of the Year.

Unfortunately, I should know by now that buzz and award nominations don’t necessarily translate into a film that I can enjoy. In fact, that lesson was recently driven home when I saw — and disliked — Juno, another Best Picture contender. Add in the Coen brothers, who sometimes hit a home run (Fargo) and sometimes strike out (O Brother, Where Art Thou?) as far as my tastes are concerned, and it becomes clear that No Country for Old Men was a total crapshoot for me.

The dice came up snake eyes.

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): On the surface, No Country for Old Men tells a very simple, straightforward story. Llewelyn Moss (played by Josh Brolin) comes across the scene of a drug deal gone bad. Almost all the men are dead, and he follows a blood trail a short distance away where he finds another body — this time with a satchel containing $2 million in cash. Llewelyn grabs the money before hightailing it back to his trailer.

Later that night, Llewelyn decides to return to the scene of the slaughter. When he was there the first time around, one of the dying men had asked him for water. Llewelyn was too concerned about finding the money to comply, but now has a guilty conscience or something, so he goes back with a gallon jug of H2O. That turns out to be a mistake, as he’s chased by a couple of other people who are looking for the money, including Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem).

Llewelyn manages to escape on foot, but since he left his vehicle behind, it was only a matter of time before Chigurh would track him down. He therefore tells his wife Carla Jean (Kelly Macdonald) to go to her mother’s house for a few days while he takes the money and tries to throw Chigurh off the scent.

But Chigurh, a murderous fiend who thinks nothing of plugging random victims in the forehead with a bolt pistol used to stun cattle before slaughter, had planted a transponder in the money satchel before the drug deal, so it’s relatively easy for him to find Llewelyn in each rundown motel he tries to hide at.

The rest of the film then deals with the cat and mouse game between Llewelyn and Chigurh, while also introducing a couple of other characters such as Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) and bounty hunter Carson Wells (Woody Harrelson) before wrapping up with one of the most unsatisfying endings I’ve ever seen.

My Reaction: Wow, I seriously cannot believe that No Country for Old Men has received such stellar reviews across the board. I didn’t think the film was all that great, and while there were some excellent moments, I believe the work as a whole is flawed.

First of all, I didn’t think either Llewelyn or Chigurh were particularly interesting, nor did their actions mesh with what I’d expect “real” people to do. I mean, how stupid does someone have to be to go back to a crime scene several hours later to bring water to a guy that in all likelihood was dead by that time? As soon as Llewelyn revealed himself to be a total idiot like that, I couldn’t bring myself to care whether he lived or died.

How about Chigurh? What the hell kind of caricature of a villain was he supposed to be? Why would anyone carry around that cattle stun gun (that looked like it weighed about 50 pounds) instead of a standard weapon? It’s like I could see the writer thinking to himself, “Hmm, how can I make this character more unique? Oh, I know — I’ll saddle him with a weapon that no one would ever really use!” Um, yeah, that’s just brilliant.

And what was up with that transponder? Do you mean to tell me that Chigurh just happened to get lucky and come across the signal while driving along the highway? What a fortunate coincidence, considering all the damn places that Llewelyn could have gone to hide in. Speaking of which, if I were in his position, I would have headed north instead of south. Mexico was way too obvious a destination, wasn’t it?

One more thing about Chigurh: Why in the hell is Javier Bardem getting nominated (and winning) all these big awards? All he did was walk around with the same expression on his face while shooting people with that stupid cattle gun. He barely even had any lines worth remembering! If that’s all it takes to get an Academy Award nom, Arnold Schwarzenegger should have 3 statues for his portrayal of the Terminator!

The ending… don’t even get me started. I absolutely hate non-endings like that! Yes, I know “real life” doesn’t work out perfectly with a nice, pat ending, but when I go see a movie, I expect it to have things decided one way or the other.

I do have to admit that the Coen brothers did a good job of creating a ton of tension in some of the scenes. There were a few times where my heart was pounding pretty quickly as I waited to see what would happen. But of course, not much ever did happen, what with Llewelyn dying offscreen and Chigurh getting away in the end.

Overall, I was extremely disappointed by No Country for Old Men, and I consider it one of the most overrated films I’ve ever seen in my life. I make no pretense of being a movie connoisseur; I just know what I like. I didn’t like this at all, so I’m giving it only 4.0 stars out of 10.