Reviews
No Country for Old Men; Alien Vs Predator — Requiem
Writer-directors Joel and Ethan Coen orchestrate an unbearably tense game of cat-and-mouse against the barren Texan borderlands in the frequently bloody thriller No Country for Old Men, based on the book by Cormac McCarthy. Surpassing the near-perfect 1996 caper Fargo, the film is a breathtaking demonstration of concise storytelling and filmmaking brio, coupled with powerful performances and the blackest humour.
It is unquestionably one of the best films of this or any year. The menacing tone is established from the beginning when a police officer takes a telephone call and cheerfully tells a superior, "Yes sir, I got it under control," oblivious to the serial killer creeping up behind him.
No-one is immune from that most cruel and unforgiving mistress, fate. "This country's hard on people . . . you can't stop what's coming," remarks one elderly figure, catching scent of the dread and foreboding that pervades every frame.
The Coens use violence sparingly and to devastating effect. Most of the protagonists end up on a mortuary slab; their deaths anything but painless at the hands of Javier Bardem's psychopath - a humourless, menacing and relentless hunter with his own twisted morality. A wife or girlfriend, who stumbles unwittingly into the fray, is potential collateral damage, paying the price for their significant other's countless sins. "You bring the money and I'll let her go, else she's accountable," the assassin tells one spouse without a flicker of compassion.
The sucker in question is trailer park loser Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), who thinks he has hit the jackpot when he stumbles on the aftermath of a drugs deal, and a suitcase containing $2.4m. Unfortunately, Llewelyn is caught stealing the cash by the dealers and they despatch hit man Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) to kill the thief and reclaim their loot.
As the killer edges closer to his prey, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) gives chase, following Anton's trail of destruction, shadowed by bounty hunter Carson Wells (Woody Harrelson).
No Country For Old Men holds us in vicelike grip as these men slowly gravitate towards one another, destined to collide in a hail of bullets. The Coens crank up the tension until we're holding our breath, knuckles white with nervous anticipation. Our only respite is a bravura set piece like a late night shootout that spills on to the streets, or the retrieval of the stolen money from its hiding place in a motel room. Bardem chills to the bone with a genuinely discomfiting portrayal of an unstoppable angel of death, with scintillating turns from Brolin and Jones, the latter tingeing his role with humour almost as dry as the Texan desert.
"It's a mess, ain't it?" quips Ed's hapless deputy, Wendell (Dillahunt).
"If it ain't, it'll do 'til the mess gets here," replies the sheriff.
It'll do very, very nicely.
In space, no-one can hear you scream. So, in Aliens Vs Predator - Requiem, two of the big screen's most feared extra-terrestrial killing machines descend on American suburbia, where the blood-curdling cries can be heard for miles. The flimsy logic begins and ends there in this low concept sequel, directed by the Brothers Strause (aka visual effects wizards Colin and Greg).
Crudely bridging the narrative divide between Predator 2 and the original Alien, Requiem curls its lip in disdain at the two-dimensional humans, whose sole purpose is to suffer the most sadistic demise imaginable. Thus, a ward full of expectant mothers are terrorised by a Predalien (the hideous offspring of an Alien incubated inside a Predator) and a young boy witnesses a creature erupt from his father's chest shortly before he suffers the same grisly fate.
Several factors determine a character's survival: the amount of screen time devoted to their back story (insufficient or none), the presence of a loved one who can be slain in their place, the companionship of a small child or dog, and the length of their Christian name (the shorter the better).
Anyone who whimpers "We're not gonna make it, are we?" is clearly a goner, as are those bedraggled survivors who separate themselves from the rest of the group and stand forlornly in an open doorway or corridor, where one of the pernicious beasties can pick them off with ease.
The bloodletting begins in earnest when a spaceship containing the Predalien and some face-huggers crash-lands close to the town of Gunnison in central Colorado. Sheriff Eddie Morales (Ortiz) struggles to maintain control of the situation, aided by ballsy soldier Kelly (Aylesworth), who has just returned from a tour of duty in Iraq, quick-thinking ex-con Dallas (Pasquale) and his brother Ricky (Lewis).
"People are dying. We need guns!" barks Dallas.
"The National Guard will be here soon," replies Eddie weakly.
"Not soon enough," answers Dallas. Thankfully, a hunter Predator is despatched to earth to clear up the rapidly multiplying infestation of Aliens, and slay the pernicious hybrid.
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