No Country For Old Men (2007)

No Country for Old Men

The trailer starts of with showing shots of deserted and isolated locations, then a dark voice is heard alongside a flip of a coin, coming from Anton Chigurh. The man he is speaking to seems intimidated and rather lost. The shots change and you see dead people which slowly increases more tension, especially after the sound of the click of the gun. The two dead bodies are seen again. The red car accompanying them suggests danger, as the colour red could signal blood. The music becomes more even paced and shows shots that involve money. As money is the root of all people, this could potentially mean that money is what causes the corruption and danger that happens in the film. The danger is re-emphasized as a young, innocent looking woman says "I got a bad feeling." Sheriffs appear in the next few shots, proposing that a crime is about to be investigated. Intensity increases as loud quick noises are heard, for example a "bang" and a "pop." Then, an explosion is seen; the audience are fully aware that there is increasing danger involved. Shots of weaponry, glass shattering, murder and car crashing are seen as the music picks up its pace then drops again. The music going up and down allows the film to play with the audience's emotions and anxiety. The trailer targets young adults and older who enjoy the adrenaline that thrillers offer.

This American crime thriller is adapted from the Cormac McCarthy's novel; No Country for Old Men. It is about a man who is particularly ordinary, but his life takes an unusual twist as chance provides him fortune that does not belong to him. The thriller could be described a a a cat and mouse thriller as the three men run over eachothers ways in the desert landscape of West Texas in 1980. The film looks at both fate and circumstance alongside adhering to the genres plot, which is villain driven.

Opening Scene

Deep drums, and rattle-like sounds are heard alongside the voice of a man. This creates a level of tension which seems constant as long shots of desolate locations are shown; the shots earlier were sunsets. The man is soft spoken and has an unalarming type of voice. He explains how he used to work with his father which causes the audience to feel some sort of compassion towards the soft spoken character. As you get further into the shots, the music gets deeper and slower. "He killled a 14 year old girl," those words pierce though the audience's ears because of the cruelty done to a young girl. It causes the audience begin to sympathies mixed with increased anxiety. He continues to tell the audience that the papers said it was a "crime of passion," but the speaker informs that the murder told him that "there weren't no passion to it." This suggests the murderer is cold hearted, and sinister. The murder tells the speaker he is willing to do it again because he was hungry to kill someone for a long time. The murder is finally shown being arrested with long dark hair, highlighting his dark, obscure character we are about to discover. The shots of the isolated areas could imply that the murder caused chaos and corruption in a quiet, more or less harmful area. What makes this film different from other thriller is that it is not fast paced and action packed in the beginning but the suspense is elongated.

"The Nature of You." 

Carson Wells is going up the stairs, following behind him is Chigurh. He pats his face to wipe away sweat; the anxiety of both him and the audience grows suspicious. They both enter a room, Wells unarmed and Chigurh, armed with a large weapon. The conversation remians calm and level with a everlasting smirk coming from Chigurh, but the tension continues to rise. Wells attempts to make a comprmoise with $14, 000 he can withdraw for him; instantly a smile grows on Chigurh's face; there is hope that he might accept and set Wells free. Also, says he knows what Chigurh's looking for and where it can be found. The compromise sounds rather promising, both the audience and himself hoping it all is enough to promise him his life. Wells informs him with a rhetorical question, "do you have any idea how crazy you are?" "you mean the nature of this conversation?" "I mean the nature of you." The information insults him and perhaps aggravates Chigurh but his facial expressions do not give away much, but certainly he is not amused. The phone rings loudly, starling the audience; then Chigurh smirk returns to his face shoots him abruptly and unexpectedly.

"Call it."

"What's the most you ever lost in a coin toss?" was the question which caught the shop keeper of guard. Chigurh emphasizes on the word "most." The innocent shop keeper is unaware of what is going on but the audience can definitely sense fear in both his face and body language. Chigurh keeps telling the shop keeper to "call it." The man informs him that he hasn't put anything up and Chigurh responds he's been putting it up his "whole life." The murder is referring whether he gets to play God and kill him, or let him live. He pursues his actions, emotionless and remorseless. He does not end up killing the elderly shop keeper, but the scene is most definately intense.

"Chigurh's Crash"

Chigurh gets crashed into by another car which immediately leaves the audience in shock The shots viewing the crash are long, allowing the audience to sink in what just happened. He limps out the car in pain. As the audience, it is difficult to sympathize with him because he is a heartless murder. However, two young boys on bikes approach him and decide to sympathize with him. The driver of the car that crashed into him does not come into the scene, making us unaware of who is responsible. The young boys see that his bone is sticking out his arm, and Chigurh tells one of the boys to give him his short, and he accepts. There is still no remorse, or kindness shown in Chigurh's face or action which makes the audience continue not to sympathize with him.

Anton Chigurh

Chigurh is a hitman who is hired. He wears dark and dull clothes to represent himself as a character with no sense of remorse or compassion for people around him. The murderer shows no emotions, and continues killing people without a care in the world. He is a cruel, and evil man who gains satisfaction from killing and creating great amongst other human being which contributes to the tension in the film. For example, an innocent shop owners life is put the edge as he asks the man to flip a coin to decide whether he gets to live it not. The captive bolt pistol is his main weapon of choice and used this to manipulate his power by killing people or shoot locked doors. Chigurh does not speak a lot, which increases the fear factor he has control of. His lack of speech makes the audience wonder what sick and twisted thoughts he might have planned. We don't know entirely what to expect as he is a dark and speech withdrawn character. He keeps the audience guessing and gripping to their seats.