I think I have a new favorite movie villain in Javier Bardems Anton Chigurh, the psycho-killer who operates with surgical precision throughout the Coen brothers’ movie ‘No Country for Old Men’, and sports a fancy hairdo in the process. This movie slots in nicely in the Coen brothers filmography, in which the hilarious are succeeded with the gritty. This is a gritty one, make no mistake about it, but as always, the violence is somehow matter-of-fact. There are three main storylines; Josh Brolin is the hunter who stumbles upon a suitcase of drug money and tries to make a run for it, Javier Bardem is said hired killer and Tommy Lee Jones is the sheriff. These storylines are running parallel to each other; sometimes they (almost) cross. Through all the sometimes graphic novel-like violence there is a contemplative mood, which has a strange overall tranquil effect. Good story by Cormac McCarthy.
