Definitely not for Old Men and not for me too....

Maybe it's a great movie, well it is a great movie, of course it is, who am I kidding, i don't remember the last movie that gutted me so badly. Yes it is a great movie. But in a highly (and i mean highly in comparison to the empire state building) depressing way. I don't know what the Coens are playing at. If they are going to make such a fantastic movie they might choose a slightly less gut wrenching subject. No country for old men is dark in a way that would put Cradle of Filth to shame. There is a character here, Anton Chigurh played by Xavier Bardem who makes Dr Hannibal Lector seem like a gentleman who plays golf and spends weekends with his wife and 2 kids. I mean as scary as Lector was he was still someone different from all of us and not a common man. Anton is common. Well that's what Bardem makes you believe and that's why what he does is so much more chilling. Now we have seen evil men on screen who laugh out loud or exclaim their greatness after commiting a gruesome crime. Anton simply looks on and you would think he feels nothing at that point until on a closer look you can see quiet distinctly the thrill in his eyes. Initially I thought he was playing the cool guy. I thought when he said what he said was actually said coz he wanted to be funny. Then in the gas station when he tosses the coin in front of the owner and asks him to call it I realized with slowly spreading dread that this man would kill just for kicks.This man enjoys every moment of murder. And he has a very innovative way of murdering people. I won't even go into that for it's plain cold and hideous and crude. Of course later on in the movie he uses a gun which gives some semblance of culture to his murderous existence. After that everytime he looked at someone and his gaze lingered for more than a few seconds on that person, a chill ran through every atom in me. I was actually praying in my head, please not another one. And it must be something about Xavier Bardem's performance that he makes even a watcher of the movie, sitting on the sidelines, sit up straighter and in some cases recoil just by smiling slowly. Who is this guy and were was this powerhouse of a performer? Well he is after some money and that money is with Llewlyn played by Josh Brolin who thinks he can out run his hunter. Also we have a sheriff in the form of Tommy Lee Jones who is about to retire and can't understand what is happening around him. He is lucky I would say for he doesn't yet know Anton. The movie opens with the lines, " I once caught a man who had killed a girl. The police called it an act of passion but the man told me that he simply wanted to kill someone and he had wanted to do so for some time". There are sequences that stand out vividly in memory. The gas station coin tossing, the cark park shootout, the hotel cat and mouse chase, oh all of them plain cold murderous. I don't know if this movie had an emotional core at all. Atleast Anton doesn't want you to believe so. But on second thoughts yes there was. Tommy Lee Jones brings it along as he speaks. He has resigned to the events and circumstances. They are beyong his control. He is too old now to control them. As one of his friend's tells him. You can't stop what's coming, and it won't wait for you. Expecting it to wait is just vanity. Again sadness, maybe I was wrong in looking for happiness in this movie. Maybe it was intended to be devastating. I don't know, i just hope i don't live to watch another movie of such "greatness".