Today, I saw NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. It was pretty faithful
to the book, up to and including the denouement, which wraps
up nothing.
The book was noir, so was the movie. (My definitions, Jim,
not yours.) I was looking for a tacked-on happy ending based
on what I had read of comments here and in other places, I
was wrong.
It started off slowly. After that, it was stop and go with
periods of action followed by slow spots of more movement
than tension. My original thought was that it was paced well,
but after thinking about it, my opinion is that the pace was
iffy. Most of the acting was fine to terrific, although I
thought Woody Harleson was a bit weak, but so was his
character in the book. Tommy Lee Jones was born to play the
sheriff, but he's born to play most of the parts he
takes.
They used an Hispanic actor for Chaghur(sp). He was almost
perfect. He spoke pure Texas English except for one scene
when his Spanish accent showed relatively big. They should
have re-shot that scene.
It has plenty of blood and gore, like the book, but I heard
some disappointed movie-goers, including a loud "That's it?"
from a 60-something gentleman in the seat behind me when the
screen went to black.
It did not drag on like the book. In the book, about the last
40 pages were poetic philosophy, what the Coen Brothers
integrated well over the course of the two hours and four
minutes.
The figures of speech that came straight from the novel were
on target.
I'd say, "wait for the DVD," but I don't think it will play
on a smallish screen. It might be fine if you have a '48
screen or better and don't sit too far away, but less than
that, eh, I don't think so. The other problem, I think, is
that it is too slow for TV. I haven't gotten the knack of
watching big scenery films on the TV screen.
Jack Bludis
http://crimespace.ning.com/profile/JackBludis
http://jackbludis.com/
Recent Story at http://backalleywebzine.com/
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