I know, I know. I only gave it a C, and it was nominated for a zillion awards and everyone is talking about it along with “There Will Be Blood,” and yeah, it was decent.
Don’t get me wrong; there were some really cool aspects to it. I really enjoyed some things, but all things considered, I just didn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to.
Llewelyn Moss is your typical West Texan. He lives with his lovely wife, Carla Jean, in a very nice trailer park community. He is an expert welder, has a few guns and a sharp pick-up truck. As luck would have it, he stumbles across a drug deal gone wrong, full of blood, dead Mexicans, a flat-bed truck full of heroin and a briefcase with about $2 million cash (probably non-sequential bills) in it.
What is an honest, lower-middle class man to do? Keep it of course, and defend it at all costs.
A lot of people are interested in the money. Mexican dealers, a famous mercenary and a psychopathic serial killer are all after the loot.
As Moss tries to shake his pursuers he finds himself engaged in a deadly game of tag, especially with the maniac killer, Anton Chigurh, a firm and principled man, who just happens to be extremely fascinated with fate and also happens to enjoy killing people.
This movie was pretty cool.
Each scene is very intentional and very filling, and since there is no real music, per se, it really allows the outstanding acting to carry the movie along.
The characters take the story on their shoulders and move it along at a good pace, developing themselves and their tensions to their full potentials as the script would allow.
The lack of overtures and background music allows the dialogue, sound effects and other sounds to come through crisp and clear, while also keeping your attention firm.
So really, it was a very well put together movie, in fact a very original film, and the closest book to movie adaptation since “Gone With The Wind.”
So, why only a C?
Good question, however, I’m not sure I have a good answer. Pretty much when it was over, I was there sitting in my seat, thinking to myself, “Hmph. That really wasn’t that good.”
Here we have conflicting forces: on one side, I want to say that due to all of the above positive aspects of the movie, I should probably be acknowledging its awesomeness that everyone else is recognizing, but because of my post-viewing reflection and initial gut reaction to it, I want to express my subjective opinion that it wasn’t really that good.
It probably is a really good movie, maybe if I saw it another time I would rethink my initial reaction to it, but for the sake of integrity I will stand on my probably unpopular view.
Sorry Cohens, I understood what you were doing, but it just didn’t hit home I guess.
I would suggest maybe going on a Monday. Some of you will probably like it, and some of you probably won’t.
If you don’t give a crap about what I think then go see it! Right now! In fact, buy two tickets so you can see it again when you’re done!
R.I.P. H.L. – you were the most promising Batman villain yet. And cute.

Questions or comments?
Contact Jonathan at
JPRobert1732@winona.edu