so the critics gave it a GREAT review and i have to agree that thematically, visually, and audiolly, the movie is stunning. it is dark and gritty and the dialogue is great. but the ending - i lament the ending or lack there of. would it be fair to say that a movie should have a beginning, a middle and an end? i mean those three could be in any particular order, eg mis en scene or what not, but i personally want to know what happens to the characters at the end of the movie, especially in a crime thriller were a cop and killer is involved. i know i wasn't alone in being unable to appreciate the movies end, because a bunch of people laughed with me in disbelieve when the credits abruptly started rolling. thoughts?
No Country For Old Men
- Thread starter ubercaffeinated
- Start date
the ending shocked everyone in the theater...i didn't feel satisfied at first but it was a great movie and in retrospect, the ending could've been worse.
the ending was fine, and went along with one of the themes in the movie.
i mean hell, look at one of the last scenes where he's talking to his old man.
"you can't do anything to stop it" "it ain't all waiting on you, that's vanity"
i mean hell, look at one of the last scenes where he's talking to his old man.
"you can't do anything to stop it" "it ain't all waiting on you, that's vanity"
but that's so anticlimactic! why are we listening to the story of a cop that retires interwoven into the story about a lunatic killer? why go through the song and dance, and then force us to listen to a long sob story about how old and tired he is of being a cop? they went through all the motions and then stopped.
yeah that wouldn't make sense if all you wanted to do was make a cop/killer movie. but maybe that's not all they wanted to do?
maybe they expected you to be left with questions.
what was the nature of the killer. he saw himself as just an instrument of fate, but when fate intervened he was still set on self preservation.
though the means differed, greed motivated many in the film to be just as callous as the sociopath.
greed even allowed many of the tragedies in the film to happen.
but when has greed not had this effect? seems it always has and always will.
the movie was very complete IMO.
the movie wasnt about catching the killer. the movie was about the killer catching his victim.
the movie wasnt about catching the killer. the movie was about the killer catching his victim.
K1052
Elite Member
- Aug 21, 2003
- 53,001
- 47,055
- 136
The cop was trying to fight something he couldn't understand (Anton the killer). Even though he didn't he still kept trying even though it was futile. The old man's story illustrated another man in a situation he couldn't win but kept trying anyway and the end result was the same.
Llewelyn didn't really understand Anton either but he knew how to deal with the situation itself. Probably from being a Vietnam vet and used to violent circumstances that seemingly make little sense or lack reason.
i was so shocked about this movie, i thought it would be an action movie (based on previews)
but its all about allegories, metaphors, and drawn-out monologues.. no wonder the critics gave this movie an A
but its all about allegories, metaphors, and drawn-out monologues.. no wonder the critics gave this movie an A
Haha. What did you expect from the Coen brothers? You're not the only one though. My grandfather wanted to go see it thinking it would be like a traditional good guy vs. bad guy Western shoot-em-up. Luckily for him, I convinced him not to go see it.
To be fair: that's how the book ended, although I think the Coen brothers were attracted to the book because of its Fargo-esque "how can people be like this?" theme.
A few points about this movie (spoilers below):
-After all I heard about Bardem's performance, I expected a major bad-ass but the scene where talks to that guy in the store he just seemed annoying, like a little kid who refuses to give you a straight answer to whatever you're asking or one of those people w/ Asperger's syndrome who keeps asking you inappropriate questions but can't sense that it's inappropriate.
-The whole "nothing in life has any meaning, it's just a bunch of stuff happens and then you die" is quite possibly the most trite message it is possible for a movie to have and yet, people always say, "Brilliant!" like they don't want to get left out of the intelligentsia.
-Now, I remember Miller's Crossing. That was a genre movie that was original, yet the story was satisfying. That was more or less true of The Man Who Wasn't There as well.
-Geez what was up with Harrelson's character. "I will spot the money, then leave it be neither taking it for myself nor letting my bosses know. I will let an assassin get the drop on me in a public place, then let him take me to a private one, despite knowing all about him and his reputation"
-Basically there was nothing in this movie that wasn't already done, and better, by The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Bardem's character was pure conceit, no connection to reality. In fact that's true of all the characters, but especially his. Having the protagonist die and the bad guy get away with it is not in and of itself a profound statement.
-I'm not sure why they couldn't cast an actual elderly actress as the mother instead of the ubiquitous-in-indie-films Beth Grant (_Donnie Darko_, _Little Miss Sunshine_).
-After all I heard about Bardem's performance, I expected a major bad-ass but the scene where talks to that guy in the store he just seemed annoying, like a little kid who refuses to give you a straight answer to whatever you're asking or one of those people w/ Asperger's syndrome who keeps asking you inappropriate questions but can't sense that it's inappropriate.
-The whole "nothing in life has any meaning, it's just a bunch of stuff happens and then you die" is quite possibly the most trite message it is possible for a movie to have and yet, people always say, "Brilliant!" like they don't want to get left out of the intelligentsia.
-Now, I remember Miller's Crossing. That was a genre movie that was original, yet the story was satisfying. That was more or less true of The Man Who Wasn't There as well.
-Geez what was up with Harrelson's character. "I will spot the money, then leave it be neither taking it for myself nor letting my bosses know. I will let an assassin get the drop on me in a public place, then let him take me to a private one, despite knowing all about him and his reputation"
-Basically there was nothing in this movie that wasn't already done, and better, by The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Bardem's character was pure conceit, no connection to reality. In fact that's true of all the characters, but especially his. Having the protagonist die and the bad guy get away with it is not in and of itself a profound statement.
-I'm not sure why they couldn't cast an actual elderly actress as the mother instead of the ubiquitous-in-indie-films Beth Grant (_Donnie Darko_, _Little Miss Sunshine_).
OrganizedChaos
Diamond Member
- Apr 21, 2002
- 4,524
- 0
- 0
this is the book version, lack of apostrophes is McCarthy's style of writing:
I had two dreams about him after he died. I dont remember the first one all that well but it was about meetin him in town somewheres and he give me some money and I think I lost it. But the second one it was like we was both back in older times and I was on horseback goin through the mountains of a night. Goin through this pass in the mountains. It was cold and there was snow on the ground and he rode past me and kept on goin. Never said nothin. He just rode on past and he had this blanket wrapped around him and he had his head down and when he rode past I seen he was carryin fire in a horn the way people used to do and I could see the horn from the light inside of it. About the color of the moon. And in the dream I knew that he was goin on ahead and that he was fixin to make afire somewhere out there in all that dark and all that cold and I knew that whenever I got there he would be there. And then I woke up.
I loved the movie, but I read the book last year so I knew what to expect. When I was reading the book I literally thought I either somehow skipped a chapter or my book was missing a chapter...suddenly you go from Llewelyn (sp?) & the hitchhiker girl (changed to the girl by the pool in the movie) meeting & then the Sheriff shows up to view the crime scene & their bodies. It was definitely jarring.
Cnce I finished the book and let it roll around inside my mind for a while, I can appreciate what McCarthy was trying to do. Still, I think most readers & viewers of the movie are justified in feeling cheated that they never got the showdown they expected between the "hero" & "villain".
I was a little surprised that they cut out the speech for Tommy Lee Jones about what he went through in WWII and how he didn't deserve to be seen as a hero, but that would have stretched out what was already a "talky" ending for another 5 minutes or so.
For anyone who read the book, didn't the book also have Tommy Lee Jones' character interviewing the two boys who saw Javier Bardem's character after his car wreck? I seem to recall more of a suggestion that it gave Jones a lead on catching him.
Cnce I finished the book and let it roll around inside my mind for a while, I can appreciate what McCarthy was trying to do. Still, I think most readers & viewers of the movie are justified in feeling cheated that they never got the showdown they expected between the "hero" & "villain".
I was a little surprised that they cut out the speech for Tommy Lee Jones about what he went through in WWII and how he didn't deserve to be seen as a hero, but that would have stretched out what was already a "talky" ending for another 5 minutes or so.
For anyone who read the book, didn't the book also have Tommy Lee Jones' character interviewing the two boys who saw Javier Bardem's character after his car wreck? I seem to recall more of a suggestion that it gave Jones a lead on catching him.
Platypus
Lifer
- Apr 26, 2001
- 31,046
- 321
- 136
Don Vito Corleone
Elite
- Feb 10, 2000
- 30,029
- 67
- 91
I really loved this movie. I disagree that it was incomplete. It was complete... the killer got away, and the sheriff really had little chance of ever catching him.
On the down side, some dipwad who had read the book spoke at great length about the ending of the book to his wife about 3 feet away and thereby spoiled the ending for me before the previews even started.
On the down side, some dipwad who had read the book spoke at great length about the ending of the book to his wife about 3 feet away and thereby spoiled the ending for me before the previews even started.
Dorkenstein
Diamond Member
- Jul 23, 2004
- 3,554
- 0
- 0
All I can say is that I'm getting a pageboy haircut and a cattle killing thingmajig.
And the end of the movie was soul-crushingly depressing for me.
And the end of the movie was soul-crushingly depressing for me.
The movie was awesome but I just went wtf when the credits started rolling. I was totally not paying attention between the sheriff and that old guy. The way it ended was too abrupt for me.
Total agree... whenever you want a critic to get a hardon, just have the "nothing in life has any meaning" message. They'll give you thumbs up!! and they will suck on your c*ck...
Sounds like a good movie. I'll go see it
Agreed. This movie is such a retread... or perhaps I'm just a bit older and I've seen this type of movie so many times.....???
I don't think it's a retread at all. What other movies cover this exact story? This movie reminded me more of The Conversation and The Pledge than anything else, but was a lot less paranoid and far more grounded in reality than either of those stories. This movie does not AT ALL have the message that "nothing in life has any meaning". Not even close.
I really enjoyed the movie and the ending. The ending only enforces the point of the whole movie. IMO, those who are dissapointed with it will think that the ending was trivial, but in reality, the ending they expected to see (the traditional movie ending) is the trivial one.
TRENDING THREADS
-
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)- Started by DisEnchantment
- Replies: 25K
-
Discussion Intel Meteor, Arrow, Lunar & Panther Lakes + WCL Discussion Threads
- Started by Tigerick
- Replies: 23K
-
Discussion Intel current and future Lakes & Rapids thread- Started by TheF34RChannel
- Replies: 23K
-
-
Facebook
Twitter