As I have stated in past writings, I love westerns. I think the western is an underappreciated, underused film genre by film makers today. This is why I loved 2007 because we were treated to three well-made and vastly different westerns: "3:10 to Yuma", "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford", and . . . "No Country for Old Men"? Who said westerns had to be all cowboys, horses and six-shooters? What Joel and Ethan Coen did was make a western with Texans, pickup trucks and submachine guns; call it a Neo-western.

Based on the wonderful novel of the same name by Cormac McCarthy, "No Country" tells the story of Llewelyn Moss, who while out on a day of hunting stumbles upon a massacre. Moss finds trucks and bodies riddled with bullet holes, and in the back of one of these trucks he finds the stash. In that truck, Llewelyn finds a large amount of heroin and more than two million dollars in cash. Moss, like any other down on his luck fellow, takes the money and runs. And from here, the chase is on.

Moss's first pursuer is Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, played by the always stellar Tommy Lee Jones. Ed Tom knows that Llewelyn is in a mess of trouble. One of the best lines in the movie describes this. Upon arriving at the crime scene, Ed Tom's deputy comments, "this sure is a mess ain't it sheriff?" Ed Tom responds, "Well if not, it'll do 'till the mess gets here." Ed Tom knows that a storm is coming. That storm comes in the form of Anton Chigurh, the other man hunting Llewelyn Moss. Chigurh, played to perfection by Javier Bardem, is a sociopathic hitman out to find Moss and take back the money to his unseen employers. Chigurh is the epitome of evil. He is probably the best on-screen villain since Anthony Hopkins played Hannibal Lecter in "Silence of the Lambs".

So what makes this a western? Well, first you have the lone man running from the law and from the bad-guy: Llewelyn is running from Chigurh. You have the honorable and weathered sheriff that really just wants to help the man in the middle: Sheriff Bell wants to help Llewelyn and keep him from getting killed. You have the proverbial man in the black hat, bent on retrieving what he sees as stolen property. This man lets nothing and nobody get in his way: Chigurh is that man in the black hat, even going so far as killing some of his possible employers along the way. You also have the essential western supporting characters: the dutiful wife that refuses to tell where her husband is, her overbearing mother that hates the lackey of a son-in-law, the sheriff's knowledgeable wife, and the even more honorable and more weathered former sheriff whom the current sheriff goes to for advice. Just because it lacks cowboys and Indians does not mean it is not a western. "No Country" has every element that makes a magnificent western.

The Coen Brothers, as stated above, adapted the film from Cormac McCarthy's novel. I read the book about a week before seeing the film because I wanted to compare the two. Early reviews spoke of how the Coens perfectly captured the feel of McCarthy's book. I loved the book, it is an amazing piece of literature, and upon seeing the film I knew that those critics were correct. The Coen Brothers capture ever nuance of the book. They have the language of the book down exactly as it was in the novel. The other part that worried me is Sheriff Bell's opening monologue at the beginning of each chapter. They are essential to seeing who the Sheriff Bell is and his feelings on the world. I was very happy to see that those monologues were often incorporated in conversations between Sheriff Bell and another character. I have never seen a film so faithful to its source material. Besides the script, The Coen Brothers direct this film flawlessly. Every shot is well thought out and perfect for the situation. The Coens really know how to use the landscape. Much like they did with the snows of Minnesota in "Fargo", the Coens capture the barren desserts of Texas in "No Country". Also like "Fargo" is the use of the local flare. With "Fargo" we get the "yah-sures" and "don't cha knows" of Minnesotans. in "No Country" we get the "yeps" and "ain'ts" of Texans. It adds a lighter side to a very dark film.

The acting is superb. Josh Brolin has been one of the great stories of 2007. Between his roles in this film and Ridley Scott's "American Gangster", Brolin really shoots himself into leading man status. Brolin plays Moss as McCarthy wrote him; quiet, reserved and desperate. Tommy Lee Jones is always on the top of his game, and as Sheriff Bell he gives us even more. He is the complete opposite of his Oscar winning role in "The Fugitive." In that film, he was loud and brash. In "No Country," Jones plays Sheriff Bell with a tired "I've seen enough" attitude. Jones is wonderful in this film. But "No Country for Old Men" belongs to Javier Bardem. Early film festival reports stated that the Academy could just hand Bardem his Oscar now. And truly they should have and just gotten it over with because Bardem is brilliant. The first time you see Anton Chigurh you know something is wrong with him. With his goofy pageboy hair cut, his laser stare and expressionless face, Bardem is truly terrifying. His performance has already given him numerous critics' choice awards for Best Supporting Actor, he received a Golden Globe for the same, and now has been nominated for an Oscar. "No Country for Old Men" is Javier Bardem's showcase.

As I write this, the Oscar nominations have just been announced. Aside from Bardem's nomination, "No Country for Old Men" was awarded seven other nominations; eight total nominations including Best Director (the Coen Brothers), Best Adapted Screenplay (the Coen Brothers) and Best Picture of the year. This film is a site to behold. And if you start to picture this film being made fifty years ago with James Dean, Jimmy Stewart and Vincent Price in the lead roles, you may start to agree with that western analogy.