No Country For Old Men
No Country For Old Men is an excellent example of a movie that is more about the journey than the destination. Not only that, but the journey we are taking does not steadily follow one character's perspective. No Country For Old Men is about three main characters' parallel trip through an imperfect, stark, fascinating world.
Upon first viewing this movie, I thought it ended rather abruptly. After thinking about it I realized that I had missed the climax of the movie; I had misunderstood the characters. There was a reason that what could have been the biggest action sequence in the film is not shown (we only see the result). That reason is that the Coen brothers are more interested in creating pervasive, engrossing tension than they are in showing gory action (although there's plenty of that too). The level to which they bring this tension is incredible. The way they show the preparations Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem go through before their confrontations is brilliant. We see the level of control and desperation these characters exhibit with every action. There are not many good modern westerns, but this one is excellent. 4.5/5
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