The Coen Brothers’ incredible new movie No Country for Old Men is one of the most memorable films of the year. It has lingered in mind each and every day since seeing it two weeks ago. It is a purely entertaining class act of drama, action, and suspense, and it features the most dynamic performance of the year by Javiar Bardem, playing one of the most ruthless, scary, and believable villains I’ve ever seen in a movie. This guy is terrifying. There is one major character and subplot of the movie, unfortunately, that didn’t really work for me, that seemed appropriate for a different kind of film but not for this movie. Maybe I expected too much. This film is so good on so many levels that my minor problems with it shouldn’t be taken too seriously. This is, in essence, a movie not to be missed.

The less you know about the movie, the better it is. I avoided all the reviews, all the plot summaries, all the trailers. I think all I had seen before I saw the film were some TV spots, most of which featured that amazing shot of Javiar Bardem walking away from an exploding car. All you need to know going into this film is that it is about one man named Llewelyn (Josh Brolin) and his botched attempt to steal some cash in Texas, 1980. There’s a killer Anton (Bardem) hot on his trail, who is willing to murder anyone his path to get between him and the retrieval of the money. And then there’s the old town Sherrif Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) who is investigating the trail that Anton has set for himself. That’s it. That’s all you need to know. The delight of the movie is in the not knowing where it’s going to go next. The Coen Brothers always keep the audience guessing from beginning to end. I was shocked a lot at certain developments, and I was never spoon-fed a single plot twist. This is a real-deal thriller.

And that’s all I want to say for those of you who haven’t seen the movie. If you haven’t seen it yet, go. Don’t walk. Run. The rest of my review is only for those who have seen it, because I want to talk about the problems I had with the third act of the film, as well as moments that I loved. Go see it. I’ll be talking with you soon.

Where do I start with the enthusiasm? How about the assured directing from Joel and Ethan Coen? It might be controversial to say I’ve never been a huge fan of these guys. I really like Fargo and O Brother Art Thou, but I didn’t really get Raising Arizona or The Big Lebowski. And their last two films, Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers, were mediocre at best. Where did this movie come from? This is by far their best work to date. I don’t really talk (or think) about the skill of a director when it comes to the pace, camera-work, and editing, but it is on such a high level here that it has to be mentioned. The cinematography is breath-taking. The performances are terrific. The editing (which the brothers do themselves) is particularly skillful, allowing suspense in certain scenes to play out to the point of audience exhaustion.

There is one scene in the movie that would’ve made Alfred Hitchcock proud. This previous phrase is often used as a cliche in reviews, but I think in this case, it’s an appropriate one to use. Llewleyn knows Anton is close to finding him. Shacked up on a small motel room, Llewelyn finds the mechanism that Anton is using to track him. And suddenly, in a terrifying manner, Llewelyn hears the beeping of the transmitter coming from outside his room. It’s too late. There’s nothing he can do. Except lift up his gun, point it at the front door, and hope for the best. The Coen Brothers allow just this part of the scene to go on. And on. And on. We wait for Anton. We don’t see him. It’s quiet. And dark. And we sit in agony.

After the business in the room, Llewelyn escapes, and what follows is two or three minutes of the most exhilarating chase scene I’ve seen in years. The quality of the sound with every gun shot that leaves Anton’s weapon is deafening, scary, and real. A moment in which Llewelyn gets into a truck and tells the driver to keep going, only to then be pummeled with gun shots that shatter the windshield, obliterate the driver, and cause Llewelyn to duck down and slam his foot down on the pedal, is breathless, pure, visceral filmmaking. I won’t even go into the events that happen after this, because the action doesn’t end. It just keeps going and going for another few minutes. This 10-minute block of film is the greatest recent example of why I love movies. Genius.

And then there are the small moments. Absolutely chilling scenes. My favorite may be a moment when Anton walks into a small gas station in the middle of nowhere and has a conversation with the attendant. It seems harmless at first, but after awhile we start to realize that Anton may well kill this guy, too. He has no rules, no conscience. The attendant starts to realize there’s something wrong with him too, that the wrong thing said could send him into an early grave. Anton asks about his life, his wife. Why is this scene going on for so long? It’s uncomfortable? Are we going to ever see this attendant character again? Probably not. But it works because we’re slowly starting to see the madness behind Anton. And it sets up a piece of the character’s philosophy that will come into play later.

I also loved a scene in which a guy named Carson (played by the underused Woody Harrelson) comes face to face with Anton. They are both sitting down, Anton with his sweet trusty gun in his hand pointed at Carson, and Carson is the first to really vocalize in Anton’s presence just what a mindless killer he is. “Do you have any idea how crazy you are?” Carson asks. It’s a fair question. Maybe not in Anton’s eyes. The phone rings, the two stare at each other, and in a wonderful shot from behind Carson’s chair, Anton shoots Carson dead before answering the phone. Harrelson, who has been a little MIA in movies as of late, gets a few moments like this one to shine in the movie, and he is electric in this scene, showing fear along with courage as he tries to reason with Anton. But of course, he won’t hear any of it. We sit in the audience, knowing what’s going to happen to this guy, but hoping that maybe, just maybe, Anton will have a moment of weakness. But deep down we know what’s coming. Anton is a monster.

The performances are all great, but it’s Javiar Bardem that stands out as a force to be reckoned playing this monster we love to fear. He is the perfect casting choice of the year this side of Ellen Page in Juno. With his strangely attractive bowl cut and average joe wardrobe, he doesn’t appear on first glance like someone who would be a mad killing machine. It’s in the eyes that we first see the rage. It’s early in the movie. He’s choking a sheriff who has brought him in for questioning, and the shot, high up, looking down at the two characters, is the first to reveal the intensity, and also the blankness, of this guy. He’s kind of like the Terminator of West Texas. But even more frightening. Because he’s human. Bardem will most likely win Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards this year for his tremendously effective performance, and I will be the first to roar in applause for the guy. He has created a character for the ages.

Josh Brolin, who’s had a great year for himself with performances in Grindhouse, In the Valley of Elah, and particularly his note-worthy scummy turn in American Gangster, delivers his career-best performance here. He’s our vulnerable protagonist, the guy we follow for the majority of the running time and the guy we want to succeed in out-witting Anton. But even Llewelyn has some deep flaws of his own, and he’s not perfect. Brolin turns in a terrific believable performance that holds the movie together and keeps it from falling all on Bardem’s shoulders. Kelly McDonald is worth mentioning as Llewelyn’s wife, who becomes part of Anton’s plan pretty early on as a pawn to use in his hunt for Llewelyn. She could’ve played the scared wife cliche easy, but she’s smarter than that. McDonald brings intelligence and sass to a role that offers a few terrific scenes, including her last one, when she stands up to Anton in a way that seemingly no other character can. It’s a chilling, wonderfully played scene.

And there’s Tommy Lee Jones, who is the utmost example of class. His character and personality in this is so far removed from the other characters and non-stop suspense and action that it’s jarring at first. He is great in the role, playing him with the nice subdued quality he gave his character in the formally mentioned In the Valley of Elah. He’s a tremendous actor, with an Oscar to prove it, and he’s just as good as he’s ever been in his two films of 2007. It’s with his character and subplot, however, that I found my biggest gripe with the movie. I understand why he’s in the movie. And I like that we’re given breathing room from the action and faster pace of other scenes to spend time with this sheriff, an example of an aging man who isn’t able to contend with the kind of violence happening today.

In the end, I just felt that his character didn’t warrant the amount of screen-time he received in relation to the other much more gripping, much more interesting material with Brolin and Bardem. I love that the film is unpredictable, and that it certainly doesn’t end the way we expect or even want, but I couldn’t help but be a little let down by the last fifteen minutes of the movie. I really really really wanted a showdown between Bell and Anton. I was practically biting my fingernails in excitement for the upcoming showdown between the two men. How in the world would Jones stand up against this guy? But that scene never comes. We think it might, at one confusing point, but it doesn’t. Instead, we’re given a random car crash in the end that sends Anton walking off into the sunset a free man, and then a final scene where Bell sits at a table and tells a story about his father. I admired all these elements, but I didn’t fall in love with them.

When the movie ended, I was initially disappointed at the outcome. I was first upset at the way Llewelyn’s death is handled. We spend most of the movie with the guy, then see his death off-screen. That’s followed pretty soon after by a scene in which Bell walks up to the motel room that Llewelyn was found dead in, and we see Anton on the other side. Bell kicks the door in and finds nobody in sight. Huh? Where did Anton go? It’s as if the Coen Brothers are just toying with us, teasing us about giving us the showdown we want and never get. And then the way the movie ends just left me wanting more, frustrated that I wasn’t left in total awe at the very good film I had just seen.

Part of me feels upset with these petty criticisms. The movie is what it is. Criticizing a film for an ending that I wanted but never see isn’t necessarily a fault by the filmmakers. It’s just a simple reaction from me that couldn’t go ignored. What I can say is just that I responded to first two-thirds with Brolin and Bardem’s material so well that I couldn’t help but feel like the Jones material wasn’t up to par. It’s rare to see scene after scene this good. I’m taking one little mark off my rating due to these reactions (as well as the casting of Beth Grant in an awkward mother role that took me completely out of the movie), but that’s not to say this isn’t as good as some other four-star movies this year. It really is in a league by itself despite my feelings about the Jones subplot. I really do think, in this case, the movie may work better for me on second viewing.

No Country for Old Men has filled me with passion. Look at this review. This may be the longest rant I’ve written yet about a film. I am passionate about this movie. It’s inspired me just as much as my favorite film of the year, Into the Wild. It features scenes of such visceral intensity that I can’t wait to watch it again. I want to study the film, look at how the Coen Brothers piece together all the elements to create atmosphere and suspense. And I want to congratulate Javiar Bardem for doing such a great job. He’s one of the first and foremost reasons to check out the film. He’s that good. No Country for Old Men is, despite my problems with it, an instant classic, and a film that I won’t soon forget.