This movie was insane. And the ending blindsided us! Anton Chigurh is one of the most interesting villains we've ever seen. What do you think? We have EARLY ACCESS to IT FOLLOWS and ROBIN HOOD: MEN IN TIGHTS on our Patreon and FULL LENGTH reactions! www.patreon.com/raggedypack Come Hang out in our Discord discord.gg/HQFtGkCf37
“If the rule you followed led you to this, if what use was the rule?” The ending of the movie is often misunderstood. Anton is a dead man. He has murdered both sides of the drug exchange and stolen the money and now needs medical care. Not the first aide he gave himself earlier but a serious hospital stay. The film (and the book) are meditation on free will (Moss) and predetermination (Anton). The Cohen’s changed the ending so that Anton doesn’t get away with it. “The coin don’t have no say.” If he just let Carla Jean go Anton gets away with it. But because he lives by his rule of predetermination he is destined to be at that intersection when some random guy runs a red light. In the film he’s a dead man walking, we just don’t see it. We know this because the film gets less and less violent after the confrontation at the motel. Only one death is shown that being the management of the American side of the cartel. Carson, the chicken man, the beer lady, the Mexican cartel members, the mother, Carla Jean, and after the credits role Anton all die without us seeing it happen. The only good man, Tommy Lee Jones character, gets out alive but still feels like a failure.
@@BabyNoah22 Believe what you want. But the filmmakers made choices to differ from McCarthy. In the end she does call it and dies. Anton gets away with it. The car crash doesn’t happen. That’s not my opinion, but their interpretation of the story. Anton has made enemies of both murderous cartels. He needs real medical attention or he’ll die of infection. It took Carson 3 hours to find Moss in the hospital. It’s all there in the movie.
“You can’t stop what’s comin’, and it ain’t all waiting for you. That’s vanity.” That’s the overarching message of this story. That’s what makes Llewellyn’s off-screen death at the hands of the cartel one of the best things about this movie. It just illustrates that fate doesn’t care who you are, your death is just as meaningless as the next person’s. Life doesn’t always tie your story up in a nice bow.
The book explains why Anton was arrested at the start of the film - if memory serves, someone insulted him in a bar, so he broke the guy's neck, then allowed himself to be arrested to see if he could escape. Which he did.
Yeah. He tells Carson that he allowed it to see if he could get out after killing a man the night before. Which is just insane. That deputy should have tightened those cuffs a little more.
28:19 he wasn't checking if anyone was hiding....he was getting familiar with the layout of the room.. first time through the door, what he could see in the dark (as well as exactly where the light switch was coming through by the door). then 2nd time through the door fast, what it'd look like busting in while flicking the light on quickly. then he went to see what he could see in the tv reflection. then the reflection in the bathroom miroor from that room. and then feeling the thickness of the walls with his hands ...before he went to bust in the Mexicans' hotel room. (all hotel rooms, at least on the same floor, for the most part, are all set up the same way usually - some furniture MAY be situated differently, but the layout: light switches, heaters/air conditioners, bathrooms...ALL the same, no doubt)
The ending monologue is about a couple things. First, it's about how Tommy Lee Jones's character is accepting that his career is over, and how he's also resigned for the eventual end of his life - because his father's spirit is out there "waiting for him" in the afterlife, whenever he gets there. But it's also about how he's holding on to a sense of hope in the midst of the world's awfulness - because his father was carrying a torch with him, and was planning to making a fire out there in the darkness and cold.
The only film I can genuinely call a masterpiece in accomplishing what it set out to do: don’t underestimate the audience. The film has no score, not a lot of sound design and the dialogue is very quick witted and sharp. We’re led to believe Llewelyn is the lead when it’s actually Tom Bell because the film is told from his perspective. He’s the literal old man and he realizes that after Llewelyn’s death. Chigurh is not actually behind the door, but Tom Bell’s fear and anxiety he describes at the beginning manifests as Chugurh to us the audience hiding behind and the Coen Brothers trust the audience is smart enough to know all of this with minimal dialogue. You guys should also react to True Grit (2010), The Tragedy of MacBeth (2021), Fargo (1996) and The Ladykillers (2004), The Big Lebowski (1998), Raising Arizona (1987) and Intolerable Cruelty (2003), all great films from the Coens.
You're missing my favorite, O Brother Where Art Thou, which is worth watching just for the soundtrack and the magnificent Roger Deakins cinematography, and that's not to mention the most creative adaptation of The Odyssey ever filmed.
Notice that the 3 main characters never act face to face in a scene. Even the shootout at night was at distance. The lack of music to carry scenes is a show of how great the script is.
He basically says at the end that the world doesn't make sense anymore. There used to be a code, or reason....and it's not a place for old men who lived in that world. Everything is random. Which is why there's no climax. It's just another day in a senseless world.
Randomness is a major theme of this movie; ending with the random way in which Anton is injured - a bad driver was able to do to Anton what cartel killers and a very resourceful Moss were not. Even then, Anton walks away as the movie ends
Here's the meaning of the sheriff's two dreams about his father as I see it. In the first one where he loses the money is a metaphor for his failures as a cop & his inability to change destiny. The second dream is about hope for the future as he realizes his father will be with him in spirit. But then he says, "and then I woke up." which may mean that the idea of hope is only an illusion & the world is really as doomed as he feels.
It's about his retirement. And death. To a man who defines himself through work, retirement IS death. That is where his father has "gone before". Into death. He's waiting for him in the afterlife.
His father in his dream represents a heroic figure that must exist for a group of people, country, or civilization to carry on and show you the way forward. Without a figure like this, during dark and desperate times, people fall into despair, and society can completely collapse. Somebody must carry the fire (torch) to light the way forward. Hence, Jones saying, " He was carrying fire. He had gone up ahead and was fixing to make fire up there amongst all that cold and all that dark. And I knew that when I got there, he'd be there."
That thing he uses is a bolt gun I think, it fires a metal piston back and forth with air used to kill cows and pigs. Had to look it up the first time I watched this movie.
That's the law of the world, or nature if you prefer that word. You will only get sympathy and compassion from an extremely small amount of your own species. Any other species, ecosystem, natural disaster, weather pattern, planet, Sun, solar system, or galaxy does not owe you anything, nor care about your survival. This is the essence of our reality.
The Mexican cartel caught up with Llewelyn at the motel in El Paso because Carla Jean's mother spilled the beans about where they were going to the guy who was helping her with her bags. Llewelyn didn't drop his guard because of the pool lady. He had no chance against so many guys with automatic weapons. The randomness of fate is a constant theme of the movie. Llewelyn tried to control things, but fails. So does Carson Wells. Sheriff Bell sees that things are outside his control, which is what leads him to retire. Even Anton, who seems himself as an instrument of fate, is not above random chance.
In the book the cartel was tapping the sheriff's phone, and when Carla Jean told him her whereabouts, they sent a single killer in a Barracuda to kill Llewelyn.
The direction, the script and the cast are absolutely outstanding. But Javier Bardem's acting as hitman Anton Chigurh is out of this world. It's sensational. The film was nominated for eight Oscars in 2008, four of which it won: Best Picture, Best Director (Coen brothers), Best Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem) and Best Adapted Screenplay. It was also nominated in the categories Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Sound and Best Sound Editing.
Updated response The crow scene is Anton testing “fate”. He feels like he’s the deliverer of fates decisions. Also why he uses a coin, he’s letting fate decide his next action. Him shooting at the crow (which is just sitting there and clearly an easy target) validates that he doesn’t make the decision, fate does. I believe the ending of the film is also telling us that maybe Anton is right that fate exists. At the end with everything we know (anton being evil, being the villain, and now almost getting taken out by a car crash and walking away from it)… fate is reminding him and letting us know that Fate is in charge and don’t test it. There is no happy ending bc fates decisions are random. You just never know what’ll happen… (ex: the ending with the villain geting away )
that is not true, they were right that going back with the water actually saved Llwellyn bc it tipped him off people were after him. If he didn't go back he'd just be a sitting duck at home with the tracker
@@Shawn-st2lx maybe. Who's to say they would have ever gotten in range. Because he went, they knew who he was, his family, his history, how he'd act. All because of his car. And the information they got from it.
Good catch by Cojo pointing out Anton checking his boots after his visit to Carla. I'd like to think that he does not kill her, that she somehow appealed to him by refusing to choose head or tails and telling him it's all HIM and not the coin. But, in the book he kills her, so ... :/
Tommy Lee Jones played Harvey Two-Face in "Batman Forever", a psychopathic villain who used a coin toss to decide whether or not to kill people. Weird huh?
It always amuses me to see how many people miss the fact that Ed Tom Bell describes Anton's captive bolt stunner to Carla Jean while never connecting it to his current case. To Sheriff Bell, it's not a weapon, it's a tool used to dispatch livestock. Arguably, it's the same thing to Chigurh, but Bell can't piece the two together, coming up against something he can't understand.
He didn't have a "slip up" with the girl. They were shot in to very different areas. The mistake he made was he didn't know the cartel was after him and his mother in law talks to much
In the book he was found interacting with a teenaged girl (17 IIRC) but because Llewelyn is dead he can't explain what they were talking about or if he was cheating on his wife. I think the conversation with the pool lady and fade to black was meant to replicate that. It's up to the audience. In the book it's extra sad because Carla has to deal with that information as well.
The guy in blue just wanna watch it all on screen... come on, man, a movie is not entirely about that. This movie compells you to make the brain work. You gotta do it. It's a complete masterpiece, from beginning to end.
You guys know what a film noir is obviously so the end of the movie is the entire point. It's about a sense of pitiless doom. Inevitable. What's coming. It's a neo noir like Se7en. Don't hate on that ending. It's challenging and on top of that you're broadcasting. Feeling chaotic, cheated and discarded is deliberate.
It’s based on a bestselling novel el by Cormac McCarthy and the film won multiple Academy Awards. It’s also directed by multiple Award -winning directors the Coen Brothers (Joel and Ethan) responsible for movies like Fargo.
I recommend watching a couple videos that explain someone the meaning in some scenes and how what you see is more symbolic than literal and Wendigoon on yt has a great video on chigur’s character
I saw this in theaters twice when I was 19. It was such a unique experience in the theater without any score or music. And the movie was amazing obviously. The second time I saw it was when I went with a friend who hadn’t seen it and I was down to go with him because this was before the days of TH-cam movie reactions
and yes, that is a slaughter house dispatch air gun. My father was a truck driver in the 70s and took me to one......................eating beef now is difficult for me. I would rather eat an old, hunted buck in the last years of his life.
I,m 70 years old and the world i knew don't exist anymore. I live in Sweden and the country has changed dramatacally in a short period of time. Now we have a crimescene i think most of us didn't thought was possible just a decade ago, you know with young people running around shooting and killing each other and sometimes bystanders. Bombs are exploding on a regular basis, hurting and killing people randomely. Our politicians had been warned for this situation to come for a long time but they have refused to listen. Anyway you can't stop what's comin' but they had a good chance, now it is to late. Maybe these thoughts are jus Vanity, well it is what it is.
This movie is based on a novel with the same name by Cormac McCarthy. He also wrote The Road which is made into a movie. The Road might be the most depressing book/movie ever made and it is amazing. He also wrote Blood Meridian which is considered to be one of the greatest American novels of all time and is considered to be completely unfilmable. It might be the most violent novel ever made. The audiobook is AMAZING.
at 28:21 the point of him opening his room door on & on i think it was him training for the moment when he would enter Llewellyn's room, to memorise visually the distance from certain points across the room, different spots for hiding, like inspecting the battlefield before a battle so as to act quickly if needed. I bet he sensed there might at least someone expecting him when he would enter trough that 138 room's door - either Llewellyn, either the cartel people so he needed to be prepared.
in westerns this isn't supposed to be how they end..but this is real life, there's no battle royale or mexican standoff, the bad guy shoots good guy in the back, tough sheriff feels too outmatched/scared to open the door and face what's on the other side and retires, bad guy gets away with the loot, he tries to make sense of a dream that might have meaning..maybe there is meaning, but then again they're usually just BS He thought he'd become good enough as Sheriff to keep his town safe but the world just became too big and too fast and too disrespectful and violent for him to ever stay ahead of it.
Two common themes in Coen movies. The control money has on our lives and the randomness of life and death. Most people feel the same way, not liking the ending and that LLewlyn's off screen death. When you rewatch it you appreciate that the Coens didn't want to make a standard action movie. Point of the movie we don't get to choose our ending in real life.
Regarding the ending. I had the same reaction. But upon reflection. I get it. No Country For Old Men. This new world doesn't make sense. The criminals are not just after money, they are insane. There is not just crime but EVIl. It doesn't make sense. It is non sequiter. That is what the guy was talking about in the beginning of the movie. And he was talking about the end of the road at the end of the movie, the dream. It doesn't really make sense. And that is the point. He was trying to figure it out too. And that is what the movie leaves you with. A feeling of incompletion. Dischordance. Modern times are nuts. They don't make sense. The Sheriff couldn't take the measure of it, and felt uncomfortable with it. Just like we feel when the movie ends when it does, with no resolution. There is no beginning, middle and ending. It is just random. Databyter
My first reaction of yours, and it’s a good one. This movie is one of very few perfect adaptations of the novel. Ordinarily I’m content to let the two mediums exist exclusively on their own without one burdening the other. But this one is rare perfection.
Another Coen brothers Masterpiece. I'm surprised you cut out Tommy Lee Jones last lines. Talking about his dreams about his father and knowing what's coming next. A lot of this movie was from the perspective of the Sherriff (the old man) who knows death is near after retirement. The sadness in that last bit of film hits me hard every time I see it. Many layers to this film and I think it's the Coen Brother's best.
This movie has like zero music in it. It's about 2 hours long. There are no car chases. There's only 1 small explosion. The pacing is slow. But it keeps your attention every second, and almost hypnotizes the viewer.
Javier Bardem also starred in a movie adapted from another Cormac McCarthy book "the counselor" also starring Micheal Fassbender, Brad Pitt & Cameron Diaz who plays the most wicked villianess ever. It's set in modern day El Paso & Javier is a big time drug dealer.
@@deadassdgaf100 Fargo is my personal favourite by them. But there are so many worth watching. Barton fink...The big lebowski...burn after Reading...Raising Arizona. Some classics not seen by many
@@michaelhandy4968 I rank Fargo higher than No Country because, like their best films, it was original with the Coens. No Country is artfully filmed (Roger Deakins great as usual) and it's a pretty faithful adaptation of a novel, with the typical Coen touches. But O Brother is my favorite, for the creativity of the concept, filming the Odyssey transported to the Depression era South with a great Americana soundtrack and that Deakins cinematography. Then there's the highly underrated Hudsucker Proxy among their classic earlier works, Raising Arizona, Fargo and Lebowski.
The casing. He picked up the casing because who leaves their litter on the ground? Heh. Hunter's and other nature lovers didn't leave their crap behind.
Freaking hilarious that you guys became so enthralled by Javier Bardem’s riveting performance (which he won a best supporting actor academy award for) that you changed your minds about him and the hair cut 😂😂😂
"You can't stop what's coming." To see what came, watch THE COUNSELOR, also written by McCarthy. It's an update on the Texas border drug scene. Very grim.
Also from my understanding and what I read from others, the whole Anton being in room is Tommy Lee Jones fear of what’s to come, he’s THINKING Anton is in there when he really isn’t, he’s been gone. Tommy Lee jones character is almost purposely falling behind because he’s afraid of what’s to come, what new crazy person is around the corner. Throughout the film he’s bringing up stories of these new kids, people finding new ways to act crazy and kill and how disturbing and frightening these new things are. He’s afraid to confront it (as well as afraid he has no control on this kind of evil) and it’s cost him his job and the lives of others (Josh broLin’s character and his wife)
This is my favourite film. And I just had to read the book. The book obviously is way more descriptive on Anton Chigurh. But the most eye-catching chapter to read is when Anton speaks with Carla-Jean. In the book, he didn't want to kill her because it wasn’t her fault but the greed of Llewellyn. Anton explains with compassion why he needs to kill her. He is sympathizing with the victim since she was the only innocent one in the entire story who didn't care for the money, After they talk for a an entire chapter about just everything and in the end, he says that the best he can do is offer her the coin toss. She calls it and loses and then breaks down and cries to him over all the death and the fact that he’s the one choosing which side of the coin. Anton allows her to get comfortable and choose to say goodbye and then he shoots her. And stays with her until she passes then leaves the house. I can understand why they never put it in the book but the fact that the author had written it so both characters were breaking down was just so well written it’s honestly my favourite choater oitnof everything else.
You can often tell how much a person who recorded a reaction to a movie appreciated or understood that movie by what parts they chose to edit out aaaand... you guys didn't get the movie. That's not a problem. Most people don't. This movie digs at an essence of American idealism that most people aren't familiar with anymore - the romanticization of times past in which, had you lived among them, you'd have to face the disillusionment of realizing that they weren't any less crazy than the times we now find ourselves in.
In the early 90s I did a series of assembly programs all over the Northeast with "animals nobody loves". I stayed in different hotels each night and rarely spent more than 55.00. Most were 32-38 bucks, and I found a few for 20 dollars even.
32:29 - Most older buildings skipped the 13th floor due to superstitions. This is why older building so not have a #13 on the elevator, so intead, they mark it as #14.
interesting to think.. Moss might have been able to take out Chigur.. it would have been an epic battle at any rate. but he never got a chance because he was zerg rushed by the cartel. I like how the movie just steals that away from the audience. it's fitting to the story. not only is there no justice and evil wins, but the "hero's journey" story is also subverted. it leaves the audience feeling deflated and introspective. the real protagonist of the story is the sheriff, and we get to share with him the impact of all the violence and meaninglessness of it all.
30:00 - Those guys were Mexican cartel guys. They must have been able to track him to the same room and got there first. When they didn't find him, they simply waited. Fortunately they were the ones shot first.
Yeah, the American buyers (the Matacumbe Petroleum Company) also gave the cartel a tracker, which further pissed Anton off. "You use the one appropriate instrument" was his philosophy.
A big part of the movie is to present how life doesn't play out the way you expect and there is a large element of randomness to it all. It's also the inverse of a traditional cowboy movie, that still carries a lot of the tropes of a cowboy movie but all of the expectations of a traditional cowboy movie play out inverted.
I like to think Carla (Llewelyn wife). Was the only person who shook Anton. Which is why he got in that car wreck. Not cause he wasn't at fault. But more of a symbolic event. IMO anyways.
hell yes fellas, this is some true cinema right here. hope this turns you on to more Coen brothers films. & if we got any Raggedy readers, check out the author of the novel this is based on, Cormac McCarthy. he’s.. insanely good.
To quote their other movie Burn After Reading, "What did we learn? I guess we learned 'not to do it again...' Fucked if I know what it is we DID... Jesus fucking Christ..." That scene pretty much wraps up the entire Coen body of work. They're like a modern Camus. They're obsessed with absurdity, nonsense and chaos because they understand that that's the way things are. Looking for patterns just gets you more lost. There's no plan. We're lumps of carbon looking for the reason that we exist and totally lost on the humor of the fact that there isn't one. It's fucking hilarious. If we can learn that and then laugh at it we'll be in on the cosmic joke and it will be exuberant as hell, but until then we're just the butt of it. It's so assy. So... SO assy
This movie was insane. And the ending blindsided us!
Anton Chigurh is one of the most interesting villains we've ever seen. What do you think?
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FARGO react to that Coen Bros. movie 100%
The writer is Cormac McCarthy (hence the literary depth) and the Coens honored his work. Plus, they are the Coens.
“If the rule you followed led you to this, if what use was the rule?”
The ending of the movie is often misunderstood. Anton is a dead man. He has murdered both sides of the drug exchange and stolen the money and now needs medical care. Not the first aide he gave himself earlier but a serious hospital stay. The film (and the book) are meditation on free will (Moss) and predetermination (Anton). The Cohen’s changed the ending so that Anton doesn’t get away with it. “The coin don’t have no say.” If he just let Carla Jean go Anton gets away with it. But because he lives by his rule of predetermination he is destined to be at that intersection when some random guy runs a red light. In the film he’s a dead man walking, we just don’t see it. We know this because the film gets less and less violent after the confrontation at the motel. Only one death is shown that being the management of the American side of the cartel. Carson, the chicken man, the beer lady, the Mexican cartel members, the mother, Carla Jean, and after the credits role Anton all die without us seeing it happen. The only good man, Tommy Lee Jones character, gets out alive but still feels like a failure.
@@BrianLenz-n4t sorry bud...but thats only your opinion. Its a pleasant fiction though...
@@BabyNoah22
Believe what you want. But the filmmakers made choices to differ from McCarthy. In the end she does call it and dies. Anton gets away with it. The car crash doesn’t happen. That’s not my opinion, but their interpretation of the story. Anton has made enemies of both murderous cartels. He needs real medical attention or he’ll die of infection. It took
Carson 3 hours to find Moss in the hospital. It’s all there in the movie.
“You can’t stop what’s comin’, and it ain’t all waiting for you. That’s vanity.”
That’s the overarching message of this story. That’s what makes Llewellyn’s off-screen death at the hands of the cartel one of the best things about this movie. It just illustrates that fate doesn’t care who you are, your death is just as meaningless as the next person’s. Life doesn’t always tie your story up in a nice bow.
Absolutely 💯
2024. What do you think now? Jehovah. Prove me wrong without getting mad.
The book explains why Anton was arrested at the start of the film - if memory serves, someone insulted him in a bar, so he broke the guy's neck, then allowed himself to be arrested to see if he could escape. Which he did.
Yeah. He tells Carson that he allowed it to see if he could get out after killing a man the night before. Which is just insane. That deputy should have tightened those cuffs a little more.
28:19 he wasn't checking if anyone was hiding....he was getting familiar with the layout of the room..
first time through the door, what he could see in the dark (as well as exactly where the light switch was coming through by the door). then 2nd time through the door fast, what it'd look like busting in while flicking the light on quickly. then he went to see what he could see in the tv reflection. then the reflection in the bathroom miroor from that room. and then feeling the thickness of the walls with his hands
...before he went to bust in the Mexicans' hotel room.
(all hotel rooms, at least on the same floor, for the most part, are all set up the same way usually - some furniture MAY be situated differently, but the layout: light switches, heaters/air conditioners, bathrooms...ALL the same, no doubt)
The ending monologue is about a couple things. First, it's about how Tommy Lee Jones's character is accepting that his career is over, and how he's also resigned for the eventual end of his life - because his father's spirit is out there "waiting for him" in the afterlife, whenever he gets there. But it's also about how he's holding on to a sense of hope in the midst of the world's awfulness - because his father was carrying a torch with him, and was planning to making a fire out there in the darkness and cold.
The only film I can genuinely call a masterpiece in accomplishing what it set out to do: don’t underestimate the audience. The film has no score, not a lot of sound design and the dialogue is very quick witted and sharp. We’re led to believe Llewelyn is the lead when it’s actually Tom Bell because the film is told from his perspective. He’s the literal old man and he realizes that after Llewelyn’s death. Chigurh is not actually behind the door, but Tom Bell’s fear and anxiety he describes at the beginning manifests as Chugurh to us the audience hiding behind and the Coen Brothers trust the audience is smart enough to know all of this with minimal dialogue. You guys should also react to True Grit (2010), The Tragedy of MacBeth (2021), Fargo (1996) and The Ladykillers (2004), The Big Lebowski (1998), Raising Arizona (1987) and Intolerable Cruelty (2003), all great films from the Coens.
You're missing my favorite, O Brother Where Art Thou, which is worth watching just for the soundtrack and the magnificent Roger Deakins cinematography, and that's not to mention the most creative adaptation of The Odyssey ever filmed.
@@flarrfan I do like O Brother but it’s not a favorite of mine
I would consider There Will be Blood, Whiplash, Arrival and Inglorious Basterds as masterpieces as well.
@@TannerDLink hard agree with u. It still amazes me neither Paul Dano or Amy Adams earned Oscar nods for There Will Be Blood and Arrival respectively.
True Grit bangs so hard. Killer performances from Steinfield and Bridges.
Notice that the 3 main characters never act face to face in a scene. Even the shootout at night was at distance. The lack of music to carry scenes is a show of how great the script is.
When you boys are 60 years old and the world you know now no longer exists.....You'll Get It. 😃
Amen. Some days I don't even recognize the world anymore.
I was 28 when this movie came out. I'm 44 now and the world I grew up feels like a dream compared to the world as it is now.
I'm only 38 years old and I have the feeling the world I know is slipping away from me.
I feel like a lot of you kinda misunderstood the movie.
It never did. That's the point. False nostalgia and the futility of age and death.
The ending is a masterpiece. The themes in this movie are incredible. The more you've seen it, the better it gets
Winner of 4 Oscars including Best Picture.
BUT BUT NO PEW PEW SHOOTOUT THO!?!
He basically says at the end that the world doesn't make sense anymore. There used to be a code, or reason....and it's not a place for old men who lived in that world. Everything is random. Which is why there's no climax. It's just another day in a senseless world.
Randomness is a major theme of this movie; ending with the random way in which Anton is injured - a bad driver was able to do to Anton what cartel killers and a very resourceful Moss were not. Even then, Anton walks away as the movie ends
Even the instrument of death himself is subject to the whims of nature.
Here's the meaning of the sheriff's two dreams about his father as I see it. In the first one where he loses the money is a metaphor for his failures as a cop & his inability to change destiny. The second dream is about hope for the future as he realizes his father will be with him in spirit. But then he says, "and then I woke up." which may mean that the idea of hope is only an illusion & the world is really as doomed as he feels.
It's about his retirement. And death. To a man who defines himself through work, retirement IS death.
That is where his father has "gone before". Into death. He's waiting for him in the afterlife.
His father in his dream represents a heroic figure that must exist for a group of people, country, or civilization to carry on and show you the way forward. Without a figure like this, during dark and desperate times, people fall into despair, and society can completely collapse. Somebody must carry the fire (torch) to light the way forward. Hence, Jones saying, " He was carrying fire. He had gone up ahead and was fixing to make fire up there amongst all that cold and all that dark. And I knew that when I got there, he'd be there."
That thing he uses is a bolt gun I think, it fires a metal piston back and forth with air used to kill cows and pigs. Had to look it up the first time I watched this movie.
Correct
Anton can be seen as the Angel of Death; death is remorseless, random and inevitable
That's the law of the world, or nature if you prefer that word. You will only get sympathy and compassion from an extremely small amount of your own species. Any other species, ecosystem, natural disaster, weather pattern, planet, Sun, solar system, or galaxy does not owe you anything, nor care about your survival. This is the essence of our reality.
This movie was made by the Coen Brothers. They also made Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Raising Arizona and many other great movies.
"This climax is gonna hit"
Anton: Not in the sense that you mean
😂
The Mexican cartel caught up with Llewelyn at the motel in El Paso because Carla Jean's mother spilled the beans about where they were going to the guy who was helping her with her bags. Llewelyn didn't drop his guard because of the pool lady. He had no chance against so many guys with automatic weapons.
The randomness of fate is a constant theme of the movie. Llewelyn tried to control things, but fails. So does Carson Wells. Sheriff Bell sees that things are outside his control, which is what leads him to retire. Even Anton, who seems himself as an instrument of fate, is not above random chance.
In the book the cartel was tapping the sheriff's phone, and when Carla Jean told him her whereabouts, they sent a single killer in a Barracuda to kill Llewelyn.
The direction, the script and the cast are absolutely outstanding.
But Javier Bardem's acting as hitman Anton Chigurh is out of this world. It's sensational.
The film was nominated for eight Oscars in 2008, four of which it won: Best Picture, Best Director (Coen brothers), Best Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem) and Best Adapted Screenplay. It was also nominated in the categories Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Sound and Best Sound Editing.
Updated response The crow scene is Anton testing “fate”. He feels like he’s the deliverer of fates decisions. Also why he uses a coin, he’s letting fate decide his next action. Him shooting at the crow (which is just sitting there and clearly an easy target) validates that he doesn’t make the decision, fate does.
I believe the ending of the film is also telling us that maybe Anton is right that fate exists. At the end with everything we know (anton being evil, being the villain, and now almost getting taken out by a car crash and walking away from it)… fate is reminding him and letting us know that Fate is in charge and don’t test it. There is no happy ending bc fates decisions are random. You just never know what’ll happen… (ex: the ending with the villain geting away )
$2M in 1980 is about $8M today!!! Imagine a suitcase of $8 MILLION!!! Wow!
Anton rents a room to see build of rooms wall thickness and lighting.
This Film Is A Rorschach Test. Everyone Sees What They Want To See
Javier won the best actor for this movie and when he gave his acceptance speech he thanked the Cohen bros for making him wear the craziest wig ever.
Reality of life. Great film. No Hollywood formula happy ending. Nothing hidden. Choices and random events. Real life stuff.
Its not the taking of the money that got him killed, it was going back to give the driver water. No good deed goes unpunished.
Somewhat true, the tracker would've given him away and it might have done so when he was at home not expecting any visitors.
that is not true, they were right that going back with the water actually saved Llwellyn bc it tipped him off people were after him. If he didn't go back he'd just be a sitting duck at home with the tracker
@@Shawn-st2lx maybe. Who's to say they would have ever gotten in range. Because he went, they knew who he was, his family, his history, how he'd act. All because of his car. And the information they got from it.
Good catch by Cojo pointing out Anton checking his boots after his visit to Carla. I'd like to think that he does not kill her, that she somehow appealed to him by refusing to choose head or tails and telling him it's all HIM and not the coin.
But, in the book he kills her, so ... :/
That lady in the office had zero time for Chigura’s shit
She’s my favorite character. Even if there wasn’t someone else I feel like Anton would have let her live for sticking to her principles
19:24 - "Is that something they kill cows with?" You are the first person to guess what this was.
Tommy Lee Jones played Harvey Two-Face in "Batman Forever", a psychopathic villain who used a coin toss to decide whether or not to kill people. Weird huh?
That film was disgusting.
It always amuses me to see how many people miss the fact that Ed Tom Bell describes Anton's captive bolt stunner to Carla Jean while never connecting it to his current case. To Sheriff Bell, it's not a weapon, it's a tool used to dispatch livestock. Arguably, it's the same thing to Chigurh, but Bell can't piece the two together, coming up against something he can't understand.
He didn't have a "slip up" with the girl. They were shot in to very different areas. The mistake he made was he didn't know the cartel was after him and his mother in law talks to much
He might have slipped up as well. The 2 aren't mutually exclusive.
In the book he was found interacting with a teenaged girl (17 IIRC) but because Llewelyn is dead he can't explain what they were talking about or if he was cheating on his wife. I think the conversation with the pool lady and fade to black was meant to replicate that. It's up to the audience. In the book it's extra sad because Carla has to deal with that information as well.
@@PillarOfWamuu It's implied in the book he was faithful. The Sheriff makes a point of verifying that.
@@r.plante2916 I think most people that knew him till believe he cheated. Or something to that effect. It's been a while.
The
Cormac McCarthy novel, of the same name as well worth the read. This screenplay is one of the best adaptations you’ll see.
That tank has a rod in it that the air shoots forward, they use it to put down animals like candle or sheep.
Anton and Carson were special forces in Vietnam, that's the reason they were so highly trained.
Moss, as well.
@kiamckenz He kind of a "Grim Reaper", but not free of death himself, as shown end of the movie in the car crash.
Definitely not the 4 brightest guys in the world. The guy who said "I'd be dead in this universe" ... he aint lying.
The guy in blue just wanna watch it all on screen... come on, man, a movie is not entirely about that. This movie compells you to make the brain work. You gotta do it. It's a complete masterpiece, from beginning to end.
He strikes me as a "Marvel" guy.
@@ahoyforsenchou7288 Absolutely 😆😅
The ending is a reality check lol.
You guys know what a film noir is obviously so the end of the movie is the entire point. It's about a sense of pitiless doom. Inevitable. What's coming. It's a neo noir like Se7en. Don't hate on that ending. It's challenging and on top of that you're broadcasting. Feeling chaotic, cheated and discarded is deliberate.
According to the book, Llewelyn Moss was a sniper in Vietnam.
Got actors from Dune, Men In Black, Fear The Walking Dead and Hunger Games all in the same movie.
The Sheriff, Jones, won the toss with Anton, and his life was spared... leaving him feeling outmatched and confused. Hence the title of the movie.
The Sheriff won the toss, thats when he realized it was, "No Country for old men!"
McCarthy meant to subvert western tropes. The maverick is killed, the sheriff is always a step behind and gives up, and the villain triumphs.
1:10:15: Very disturbing that you guys can confirm the only Josh Brolin reference you have is to Marvel movies.
It's pretty typical; at least it will get them interested in other cinematic works.
@@kojiattwood yes, like other Marvel movies?
@@ZoeDuneCorp hah! Touche 🤷
its pretty sad,tbh
It’s based on a bestselling novel el by Cormac McCarthy and the film won multiple Academy Awards. It’s also directed by multiple Award -winning directors the Coen Brothers (Joel and Ethan) responsible for movies like Fargo.
I recommend watching a couple videos that explain someone the meaning in some scenes and how what you see is more symbolic than literal and Wendigoon on yt has a great video on chigur’s character
Wendigoon does a fantastic job at breaking down the book and the movie.
I saw this in theaters twice when I was 19. It was such a unique experience in the theater without any score or music. And the movie was amazing obviously. The second time I saw it was when I went with a friend who hadn’t seen it and I was down to go with him because this was before the days of TH-cam movie reactions
The dog was doing the "doggie paddle", ........there is a reason we have that term.
and yes, that is a slaughter house dispatch air gun. My father was a truck driver in the 70s and took me to one......................eating beef now is difficult for me. I would rather eat an old, hunted buck in the last years of his life.
I,m 70 years old and the world i knew don't exist anymore. I live in Sweden and the country has changed dramatacally in a short period of time. Now we have a crimescene i think most of us didn't thought was possible just a decade ago, you know with young people running around shooting and killing each other and sometimes bystanders. Bombs are exploding on a regular basis, hurting and killing people randomely. Our politicians had been warned for this situation to come for a long time but they have refused to listen. Anyway you can't stop what's comin' but they had a good chance, now it is to late. Maybe these thoughts are jus Vanity, well it is what it is.
This movie is based on a novel with the same name by Cormac McCarthy. He also wrote The Road which is made into a movie. The Road might be the most depressing book/movie ever made and it is amazing.
He also wrote Blood Meridian which is considered to be one of the greatest American novels of all time and is considered to be completely unfilmable. It might be the most violent novel ever made. The audiobook is AMAZING.
I always thought 'No Country for Old Men' title suggested that most people died young in the wild west.
at 28:21 the point of him opening his room door on & on i think it was him training for the moment when he would enter Llewellyn's room, to memorise visually the distance from certain points across the room, different spots for hiding, like inspecting the battlefield before a battle so as to act quickly if needed. I bet he sensed there might at least someone expecting him when he would enter trough that 138 room's door - either Llewellyn, either the cartel people so he needed to be prepared.
in westerns this isn't supposed to be how they end..but this is real life, there's no battle royale or mexican standoff, the bad guy shoots good guy in the back, tough sheriff feels too outmatched/scared to open the door and face what's on the other side and retires, bad guy gets away with the loot, he tries to make sense of a dream that might have meaning..maybe there is meaning, but then again they're usually just BS
He thought he'd become good enough as Sheriff to keep his town safe but the world just became too big and too fast and too disrespectful and violent for him to ever stay ahead of it.
“This climax is gonna be lit”
Yeahhhhh, about that….😬
glad you guys are doing more movies.. and picking great ones.. amazing reaction. Subscribed
I saw this in the theater and didn’t know I was going to love it more than I did
Two common themes in Coen movies. The control money has on our lives and the randomness of life and death. Most people feel the same way, not liking the ending and that LLewlyn's off screen death. When you rewatch it you appreciate that the Coens didn't want to make a standard action movie. Point of the movie we don't get to choose our ending in real life.
Most people didn't like it? I think most are just surprised.
The Coens were a perfect match for Cormac McCarthy. He once said that all the great stories are about life and death.
Josh Brolin was the teenager in the Goonies and the younger Tommy Lee Jones in Men in Black sequels..such a good duo
One of the greatest films ever.
Regarding the ending. I had the same reaction. But upon reflection. I get it. No Country For Old Men. This new world doesn't make sense. The criminals are not just after money, they are insane. There is not just crime but EVIl. It doesn't make sense. It is non sequiter. That is what the guy was talking about in the beginning of the movie. And he was talking about the end of the road at the end of the movie, the dream. It doesn't really make sense. And that is the point. He was trying to figure it out too. And that is what the movie leaves you with. A feeling of incompletion. Dischordance. Modern times are nuts. They don't make sense. The Sheriff couldn't take the measure of it, and felt uncomfortable with it. Just like we feel when the movie ends when it does, with no resolution. There is no beginning, middle and ending. It is just random. Databyter
My first reaction of yours, and it’s a good one. This movie is one of very few perfect adaptations of the novel. Ordinarily I’m content to let the two mediums exist exclusively on their own without one burdening the other. But this one is rare perfection.
Another Coen brothers Masterpiece.
I'm surprised you cut out Tommy Lee Jones last lines.
Talking about his dreams about his father and knowing what's coming next.
A lot of this movie was from the perspective of the Sherriff (the old man) who knows death is near after retirement.
The sadness in that last bit of film hits me hard every time I see it.
Many layers to this film and I think it's the Coen Brother's best.
Watch everything the Coen brothers were involved in. Geniuses. Imagine the balls it would take to pitch a movie with no score
Anton Chigurh stalks around like Jason or Michael Meyers.
This movie has like zero music in it. It's about 2 hours long. There are no car chases. There's only 1 small explosion. The pacing is slow. But it keeps your attention every second, and almost hypnotizes the viewer.
Javier Bardem also starred in a movie adapted from another Cormac McCarthy book "the counselor" also starring Micheal Fassbender, Brad Pitt & Cameron Diaz who plays the most wicked villianess ever. It's set in modern day El Paso & Javier is a big time drug dealer.
The Coen brothers have made some great movies. Check out Fargo by them
O' Brother, Where Art Thou as well.
@@deadassdgaf100 Fargo is my personal favourite by them. But there are so many worth watching. Barton fink...The big lebowski...burn after Reading...Raising Arizona. Some classics not seen by many
@@michaelhandy4968 I rank Fargo higher than No Country because, like their best films, it was original with the Coens. No Country is artfully filmed (Roger Deakins great as usual) and it's a pretty faithful adaptation of a novel, with the typical Coen touches. But O Brother is my favorite, for the creativity of the concept, filming the Odyssey transported to the Depression era South with a great Americana soundtrack and that Deakins cinematography. Then there's the highly underrated Hudsucker Proxy among their classic earlier works, Raising Arizona, Fargo and Lebowski.
@@flarrfan Fargo is in my top 10 movies of all time. It came out when I was in school and I loved it ever since. It's a classic
"It's directed by two brothers?" Welllll sounds like these guys have a lot of movies to see haha.
I think you misunderstood the ending. The ending is supposed to make you uneasy. It's not wrapped up nicely. It's supposed to leave you feeling off.
The casing. He picked up the casing because who leaves their litter on the ground? Heh. Hunter's and other nature lovers didn't leave their crap behind.
This is my second favorite film after Casablanca. Both were Best Picture winners.
*doesnt insta-kill the deer*
"It's not gonna be 3 stars."
underrated joke 😂😂
🤠
Funny how Brolin plays the young Tommy Lee Jones in MIB3 :D
Freaking hilarious that you guys became so enthralled by Javier Bardem’s riveting performance (which he won a best supporting actor academy award for) that you changed your minds about him and the hair cut 😂😂😂
React to the FEAR STREET trilogy, an interesting and brutal Netflix saga, even a new film is already in development, it's worth checking out.
"You can't stop what's coming."
To see what came, watch THE COUNSELOR, also written by McCarthy. It's an update on the Texas border drug scene. Very grim.
Always funny to ask so many questions while the movie explains your question at the exact moment
Also from my understanding and what I read from others, the whole Anton being in room is Tommy Lee Jones fear of what’s to come, he’s THINKING Anton is in there when he really isn’t, he’s been gone. Tommy Lee jones character is almost purposely falling behind because he’s afraid of what’s to come, what new crazy person is around the corner. Throughout the film he’s bringing up stories of these new kids, people finding new ways to act crazy and kill and how disturbing and frightening these new things are. He’s afraid to confront it (as well as afraid he has no control on this kind of evil) and it’s cost him his job and the lives of others (Josh broLin’s character and his wife)
This is my favourite film. And I just had to read the book. The book obviously is way more descriptive on Anton Chigurh. But the most eye-catching chapter to read is when Anton speaks with Carla-Jean. In the book, he didn't want to kill her because it wasn’t her fault but the greed of Llewellyn.
Anton explains with compassion why he needs to kill her. He is sympathizing with the victim since she was the only innocent one in the entire story who didn't care for the money, After they talk for a an entire chapter about just everything and in the end, he says that the best he can do is offer her the coin toss. She calls it and loses and then breaks down and cries to him over all the death and the fact that he’s the one choosing which side of the coin.
Anton allows her to get comfortable and choose to say goodbye and then he shoots her. And stays with her until she passes then leaves the house.
I can understand why they never put it in the book but the fact that the author had written it so both characters were breaking down was just so well written it’s honestly my favourite choater oitnof everything else.
In case you don't know, the Assassin is the same guy who plays Freeman Stilgar in Dune movie. Also a Villain from James Bond Skyfall
You can often tell how much a person who recorded a reaction to a movie appreciated or understood that movie by what parts they chose to edit out aaaand... you guys didn't get the movie. That's not a problem. Most people don't. This movie digs at an essence of American idealism that most people aren't familiar with anymore - the romanticization of times past in which, had you lived among them, you'd have to face the disillusionment of realizing that they weren't any less crazy than the times we now find ourselves in.
In the early 90s I did a series of assembly programs all over the Northeast with "animals nobody loves". I stayed in different hotels each night and rarely spent more than 55.00. Most were 32-38 bucks, and I found a few for 20 dollars even.
32:29 - Most older buildings skipped the 13th floor due to superstitions. This is why older building so not have a #13 on the elevator, so intead, they mark it as #14.
Those people on the 14th floor know what floor they're really on
@@woahblackbettybamalam Mitch Hedburg. 😊
There's that, but I also took it was a security measure by the Matacumbe Petroleum Company. The office had a special coded elevator.
interesting to think.. Moss might have been able to take out Chigur.. it would have been an epic battle at any rate. but he never got a chance because he was zerg rushed by the cartel. I like how the movie just steals that away from the audience. it's fitting to the story. not only is there no justice and evil wins, but the "hero's journey" story is also subverted. it leaves the audience feeling deflated and introspective. the real protagonist of the story is the sheriff, and we get to share with him the impact of all the violence and meaninglessness of it all.
Conjunto music not Mariachi . Good review I will subscribe.
30:00 - Those guys were Mexican cartel guys. They must have been able to track him to the same room and got there first. When they didn't find him, they simply waited. Fortunately they were the ones shot first.
Yeah, the American buyers (the Matacumbe Petroleum Company) also gave the cartel a tracker, which further pissed Anton off. "You use the one appropriate instrument" was his philosophy.
A big part of the movie is to present how life doesn't play out the way you expect and there is a large element of randomness to it all. It's also the inverse of a traditional cowboy movie, that still carries a lot of the tropes of a cowboy movie but all of the expectations of a traditional cowboy movie play out inverted.
If you like Tommy Lee Jones and Harrison Ford then I wholeheartedly recommend The Fugitive 1993.
seeing the four of you together feels like I'm watching a movie reaction from the conjuring universe 😅
I like to think Carla (Llewelyn wife). Was the only person who shook Anton. Which is why he got in that car wreck. Not cause he wasn't at fault. But more of a symbolic event. IMO anyways.
No. He got into the car wreck because even the instrument of death himself is subject to the randomness of nature.
The "call log" was Llewellyn's phone bill. An artifact of a bygone era.
A series about Coen brothers films reactions would be awsome!!!
31:40 it was the 80's and tracking technology was all new.
Javier Bardem won an Oscar for his brilliant performance.
hell yes fellas, this is some true cinema right here. hope this turns you on to more Coen brothers films. & if we got any Raggedy readers, check out the author of the novel this is based on, Cormac McCarthy. he’s.. insanely good.
In the book Anton had just left the motel room & was sitting in his car in the parking lot when the sherrif arrived.
Liked the video for Igli and Corey
17:29 is why I watch reactions. Great stuff! :)
To quote their other movie Burn After Reading, "What did we learn? I guess we learned 'not to do it again...' Fucked if I know what it is we DID... Jesus fucking Christ..." That scene pretty much wraps up the entire Coen body of work. They're like a modern Camus. They're obsessed with absurdity, nonsense and chaos because they understand that that's the way things are. Looking for patterns just gets you more lost. There's no plan. We're lumps of carbon looking for the reason that we exist and totally lost on the humor of the fact that there isn't one. It's fucking hilarious. If we can learn that and then laugh at it we'll be in on the cosmic joke and it will be exuberant as hell, but until then we're just the butt of it. It's so assy. So... SO assy