Blu-ray Review: No Country For Old Men

“There are no clean getaways” – no truer is this phrase than in No Country For Old Men. Adapted from the 2005 novel written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy, this extraordinary film is directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, and is part western, part thriller, and is relentlessly violent.

Set in the desert landscape of 1980’s West Texas, welder and Vietnam veteran Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) is out hunting when he comes upon the corpses of several Mexican drug runners and their vehicles. It’s the scene of a drug deal gone tragically wrong, and Moss finds two million dollars in a satchel near the massacre. Rather than reporting the incident to the police, Moss takes the money and drives back to his trailer and wife, Carla Jean (Kelly MacDonald). Feeling unsafe, Moss sends his wife off to Odessa while he travels separately with the money.

Two million dollars going missing is bound to raise alarm bells, and it’s not long before people are sent out to retrieve the lost funds. One of those people is deadpan sociopath Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) who not only has a funny haircut but a slaughterer’s gun. Chigurh is a dispassionate killer who leaves behind dead bodies wherever he goes, and after some investigating, tracks Moss down to a room at a motel. Chigurh also finds three Mexicans after the same prize and kills them with a silenced shotgun. In the meantime, Moss makes an escape with the money. The chase is on.

More details after the jump.

As the cat-and-mouse game continues, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) and Deputy Wendell (Garret Dillehunt) follow clues to the drug massacre site, and discover information that indicates Moss may be involved somehow. They start their own investigation. Meanwhile in an office building in Dallas, bounty hunter Carson Wells (Woody Harrelson) is meeting with the businessman who hired Chigurh in the first place. Wells has dealt with Chigurh before and likens him to the bubonic plague. The businessman hires Wells to “neutralize” Chigurh and get the money back.

As Moss hitchhikes to a small border town, he is pursued by Chigurh, who in turn is being sought by Wells, and not too far behind are Sheriff Bell and Deputy Wendell. Will Moss be able to get away with the money or will his life be ended by the figure of evil that is Chigurh?

Winner of four awards including Best Picture at 80th Annual Academy Awards, No Country For Old Men has a run time of 122 minutes and is rated 16V. This Blu-ray release presents the film re-mastered in High Definition (HD) and comes with special features including:

• The Making of No Country for Old Men — Interviews with directors and cast about the production of the film.
• Working with the Coens — Interviews and behind-the-scenes footage of the Coen Brothers as they went about shooting the film.
• Diary of a Country Sheriff — Compares the film characters Sheriff Ed Tom Bell and Anton Chigurh.

No Country For Old Men was kindly supplied for review by Nelmari Claassens, SterKinekor Entertainment Marketing Manager for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Go to www.bluraydisc.co.za to view the latest Blu-ray news, reviews, and competitions featured on the Blu-ray newsletter. Sony Pictures can be found on the Web at www.sonypictures.com.