No Country for Old Men

Movie review from Nick at Nite

No Country for Old Men

For the very first time in my life, I have read a book that was made into a movie, seen the movie, and concluded that the movie was better than the book. I struggled through darn near every page of Cormac McCarthy’s story of violence meets Texana meets chance. I blame my struggle on Mr. McCarthy’s rejection of some of the basic tenets of writing, chiefly his refusal to include quote marks for any conversation between characters. It is a basic construct of writing. Apparently, one I need to accurately follow a written conversation. In any event, his story must be a good one because it translates well on the big screen. It may help that the acting is so good. The book and movie follows a Cowboy who comes across a big briefcase of money and the trouble that ensues as a crazed man with a bad haircut tries to chase the Cowboy and the big briefcase down. Perhaps I am just numb to it, but I did not find the violence in the movie to be too much to take. That said, a mess of people end up dead and there is gunplay and blood involved. I give the book a “C.” I give the movie an “A.”