Coen brothers' new film lives up to Oscar hype

The prospect of snagging a suitcase of $2 million from a dead drug dealer once seemed fairly enticing, but thanks to “No Country for Old Men,” it may be best to leave the money and run.

The four-time Academy Award-winner hit stores on DVD yesterday, after a successful box office run (grossing over $133 million worldwide) and an even more dominate showing among critics and various film award panels. 

“No Country” dominated the 2008 Oscars, claiming both Best Director and Best Picture.

Set near the Texas-Mexico border in 1980, “No Country” follows the paths of Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) and Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) as they are caught in the bloody aftermath of a heroin deal gone awry.

A welder and Vietnam War vet, Moss’ entanglement arises from his naiveté as he stumbles across the crime scene, as well as the money while hunting by the Rio Grande. Chigurh, wanting what’s owed to him, tracks Moss and the money across Texas leaving the elderly Sheriff Bell perplexedly trying to make sense of it all.

Despite Moss’ desperate attempts to elude Chigurh, the money case comes complete with tracer, a fact Moss doesn’t realize until Chigurh is just outside his hotel room with a shotgun. After a brutal shootout in the streets that leaves both men injured, Moss feebly escapes to Mexico and Chigurh ponders his next move.

While hospitalized across the border, Moss is visited by Carson Wells (Woody Harrelson) – a bounty hunter well versed in the madness of Chigurh. Wells tries to strike up a deal with Moss that involves saving Moss and his wife, Carla Jean (Kelly MacDonald) in exchange for the money, but Moss refuses.

As Moss attempts to meet Carla Jean in El Paso to give her the money and remove her from harm’s way, he’s completely unaware that Chigurh, Bell and a band of Mexican drug dealers are hot on his trail.

The result, like the rest of the movie, is bloody and brutal.

Faithfully adapted by Joel and Ethan Coen from the 2005 Cormac McCarthy novel, “No Country” serves as a ferocious two hours of virtually flawless cinema with hardly a shred of fat; each successive scene building on the mounting tensions and intensity of the last.

The Coen brothers, whose previous work includes “Fargo” (Best Picture, 1997), “The Big Lebowski” and “Miller’s Crossing,” present the McCarthy novel in an unforgiving and rough fashion, not sparing the audience a single moment to sit back comfortably and watch.

The only musical score heard is the ominous footsteps of Chigurh, the heavy breathing of Moss defending his life and the weathered Bell sip his coffee.

Javier Bardem’s performance as the argon-bottle toting madman Anton Chigurh rightfully won him an Oscar this year for Best Supporting Actor. Bardem possesses the demented look and mannerism of McCarthy’s character: eyes gleaming with insanity when he strangles an officer with his own handcuffs; the way he bets peoples’ lives on the flip of a coin; even his second-rate mop-top haircut.

It’s no surprise that “No Country” was this year’s big winner at the Oscars. Now, the Coen brothers bring their gritty magnum opus to the small screen with the force of a sawed-off shotgun. So if you ever do come across that money, make sure the case doesn’t include a transceiver, friendo.

Amazon.com cited the DVD list price for “No Country for Old Men” as $34.99.