Blu-ray Review: No Country For Old Men

Note: No Country For Old Men will be released on Blu-ray on March 11. Click link to pre-order from Amazon.com.

Simply put, this film is an example of filmmaking at its very finest. No Country for Old Men was written, produced and directed by Joel and Ethan Cohen and is based on The Road a novel by author Cormac McCarthy. The film features a series of tremendous performances by the entire cast, including Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson, Kelly MacDonald and especially Javier Bardem who turns in a truly amazing performance as totally psychopathic killer intent on recovering money stolen in a drug deal gone bad. He takes the terms creepy and disturbing to a whole new level.

As for the story line, Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) stumbles on a suitcase containing $2 million at the site of a drug deal gone bad. Fleeing with the money, he is stalked relentlessly by a hired gun Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) from town to town and who will stop at nothing, no matter how gruesome, to recover that money. As Moss flees with the cash, a small town sheriff, Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), tries to close in on both men. This is a riveting and tension filled film about evil, death and the total randomness of it all. Life and death literally determined by the flip of a coin. Weighty stuff indeed.

No Country for Old Man has been nominated for 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem), Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound editing and Best Film Editing. All nominations are richly deserved. This is must see film and is very highly recommended.

THE VIDEO: 4 7/8 out of 5

This film boast some absolutely beautiful photography and it really shines in this transfer which is a sight to behold. Encoded with AVC and presented in its original aspect ratio of 2:35:1, this is one great looking film on Blu-Ray. This transfer boasts some gorgeous rich and nicely saturated colors and is bathed in a slight golden hue characteristic of the Texas dessert where much of the film takes place. It simply looks spectacular in high def. Blacks are deep and the image is crystal clear with excellent detail. Shadow detail is excellent as well, as you are able to detect all the subtle background details visible in the darker areas of the film such as the interiors in the seedy motels featured in the parts of the film. The film has that three dimensional you are looking through a window that is characteristic of the best looking high def. This transfer is without a doubt reference in almost all respects. However, the transfer is not perfect as I could detect some slight video noise in a handful of the darker scenes in the film. The video noise was very minor but enough to keep the transfer from rating a 5 out of 5. This transfer is otherwise perfect and a joy to watch.

THE AUDIO: 5 out of 5

As good as the the video on this release is, the audio is even better, rating a perfect score in my book. The high rez audio track is presented here is a 5.1 PCM track at 48 kHz/24 bit and frankly is one of the best tracks I have heard. From the opening scene, the quality of the audio is readily apparent with a beautifully recorded narration by Tommy Lee Jones that sounds as though he is sitting in the room with you. The quality of the audio on the dialogue track on this release is amazing. The sound is full, smooth, rich, open and perfectly balanced. Bass is deep and tight. There are dynamics here in spades. Even though it is a dialogue driven film for the most part, the surrounds are used perfectly to create a wonderfully immersive feel. The sound field greatly adds to the tension and pace of the film and makes the amazing performance given by Javier Bardem even creepier and more disturbing than it otherwise already is. This film presents a nearly perfect marriage between sound and visuals which really drives this film. This is wonderful stuff and filmmaking at its finest.

IN CONCLUSION

This is one amazing film. While I recognize that it may not be for everyone due to some rather intense and disturbing violence, it is an example of filmmaking at its very finest. The audio and video on this Blu-Ray release is simply superb. Very highly recommended.

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