No Country For Old Men analysis

No Country For Old Men
2007

No country for old men is one of the many films we have been watching and assessing during the past few weeks of media studies. It is a film  Adapted from Cormac McCarthy’s novel; the film tells the story of an ordinary man to whom chance delivers a fortune that is not his. 

The  cat-and-mouse drama see three men cross each other's paths in the desert landscape of the 1980s West Texas. The film examines the themes of circumstance and fate whilst adhering to the genre’s  plot that is villain driven.

The official trailer for this film is very effective. Most of this is because of the speed and pace of the scenes some of which are slow paced, however the tension and the action is very intense. The trailer is slow paced mostly all the way through until it gets towards the end. Towards the end of the trailer, it speeds up to match the action of the killer Chigurh (Javier Bardem) played by on the run. It really grabs the audiences attention as the trailer makes them feel on the edge. The target audience would be people who particularly enjoy thrillers, action and mystery. The trailer of the film is very intense which makes the audience wonder if the film would be just as good. The first setting of the film shown is a deserted part of the Wild West. It makes the audience suggest that this film may just be about cowboys or some sort of Western film. The setting makes the audience judge the film before it has really started. However, the setting shows the audience where the majority of this film is set and may give some ideas about what the characters might be like.

The film opens using Non-Diagetic sound spoken by the Sheriff. The Sheriff talks about how times changed in the Wild West. It makes a big impact as it gets the audience questioning how it has changed and why the Sheriff says this. 

The costumes of this film are very different bearing in mind the film is based in Texas in the 1980s. Llewelyn Moss (the protaganist) wears a cowboy hat, boots and carries a pistol, just like a cowboy in the Western films. The Sheriff wears his uniform, however they are very different compared to the ones our police officers use. He wears the uniform with the cowboy hat and sheriff badge. Anton Chigurh does not look like the typical killer. He wears all black, including his hair, Straight and short and he does not have a particular costume to make him look like a villain. Doesn't look like a villain from the Wild West and He does not wear a cowboy hat, boots or  a pistol, instead only carries a gas tank.

The characters in this film are introduced very intensely. The villain, Anton Chigurh is the first character to be introduced. He is being arrested, yet he ends up strangling the sheriff who arrested him. Llewelyn Moss is introduced by firing a gun at a deer. He then walks into a crime scene and finds himself in trouble. The characters are introduced this way to show the audience what they are capable of and to show that they both are powerful. It creates an intense atmosphere throughout the entire film.