No Country for Old Men

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⭐10/10

Again, I just finished watching the movie shortly after reading the book, but it's not the first time I've seen it though it's been a while. It's a Coen Bros adaptation, and they seem to follow the source material super carefully for books they adapt. I think McCarthy pretty much writes screenplays with his novels so it works really well, but for that reason it's hard to deferentiate the two mediums. I think the Coens go for a bit of a dark-comedy style horror movie, making it a bit lighter than the book, but essentially it's the same thing nearly line for line. 

I give most of my thoughts on the story in my book review, so I'll try to keep this a little more brief. To summarize my thoughts: it's a perfect movie, and Javier Bardem gives one of the most iconic performances for a villain ever with a terrifying haircut.  That first confrontation between the two main characters stood out to me as a perfect way to direct horror or suspense. It gave me real, honest chills despite having seen this movie multiple times, and is kinda the Coens signature in some ways. Actually, speaking of the Coens, what a perfect movie for them to adapt! It may appear an odd choice for them, but I find a lot of their movies deal with regular people getting wrapped up in things beyond themselves, so when they finally run into real villains it makes that terror palpable for the audience, knowing what they are capable of. 

Anyways, I also wanted to point out the final thirty minutes or so which were a highlight in the book, but maybe even better in the movie, a credit to the actors performing them. Barry Corbin comes in and gives the best 15 minutes you have ever seen as Uncle Ellis, delivering some of the best book-to-cinema writing in history. I think there is a lot of profundity in that scene, and it's captures beautifully. Book or movie, I think McCarthy captures so much on the nature of death and evil, the absurdity of reality, the finality of death. Beautiful, hard-hitting stuff. 

Yeah, this is why we watch movies. Bravo. 

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