Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 159 (click to see context) from:
* ThirteenIsUnlucky: Well's line about counting the floors to the building and there being one missing is in reference to the practice of skipping floor "13" because the number is considering unlucky. Of course, there still is a thirteenth floor in the building, it's only the label that's changed. It's a subtle indication that the people at the top of the organization are kidding themselves about what they can control.
to:
* ThirteenIsUnlucky: Well's line In the scene where Wells gets hired at the "corporate office", he makes a comment about counting the floors to the building and there being one missing missing. This is in reference to the practice of skipping floor "13" in larger buildings because the number is considering considered unlucky. Of course, there still is a thirteenth floor in the building, it's only the label that's changed. It's a subtle indication that the people at the top of the organization are kidding themselves about what they can control.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
*ThirteenIsUnlucky: Well's line about counting the floors to the building and there being one missing is in reference to the practice of skipping floor "13" because the number is considering unlucky. Of course, there still is a thirteenth floor in the building, it's only the label that's changed. It's a subtle indication that the people at the top of the organization are kidding themselves about what they can control.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Stating the obvious...
Changed line(s) 16 (click to see context) from:
* ArbitraryGunPower: In RealLife, a cattle-gun would barely be able to DENT a [[spoiler: door-lock]], much less [[spoiler: blow it completely out of the door.]]
to:
* ArbitraryGunPower: In RealLife, a cattle-gun would barely be able to DENT a [[spoiler: door-lock]], much less [[spoiler: blow it completely out of the door.]]]] Though one could argue that one of the most psychotic and dangerous people ever may have made a few accommodations to his main method of breaking into houses and killing victims.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
trivia
Deleted line(s) 18 (click to see context) :
* ActorAllusion: A very dark example. When ruminating on the state of the world, Sheriff Bell references the recent murder of a federal judge. The murder occured in real life and was committed by hitman Charles Harrelson, father of Woody Harrelson who plays Wells.
Deleted line(s) 35 (click to see context) :
* BeamMeUpScotty: Contrary to what the trailers and DVD chapter listing will tell you, Chigurh never says "Call it, friendo"; they're in two different lines ("What business is it of yours where I'm from...friendo?"/"Call it.")
Deleted line(s) 42 (click to see context) :
* CareerResurrection: It helped get Creator/JoshBrolin noticed again after a long down period in his career.
Deleted line(s) 52 (click to see context) :
* DawsonCasting: Carla Jean is a teenage wife in the novel and is played by 30-year-old Kelly [=MacDonald=] in the film.
Deleted line(s) 78,79 (click to see context) :
* FakeAmerican: KellyMacdonald, who plays Carla Jean, hails from Scotland.
* FakeNationality: Possibly-Mexican Anton Chigurh is played by Spaniard Javier Bardem.
* FakeNationality: Possibly-Mexican Anton Chigurh is played by Spaniard Javier Bardem.
Deleted line(s) 150 (click to see context) :
* TheRedStapler: The demand for silenced, pistol-grip shotguns increased as a result of Chigurh's primary weapon.
Deleted line(s) 166 (click to see context) :
* ThrowItIn: During early readings, Spanish actor Javier Bardem attempted unsuccessfully to downplay his accent; the Coens liked the resultant mangled, unidentifiable dialect so much that they encouraged him to speak like that for the entire film, hence Chigurh's strange and unsettling accent.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* PetTheDog: Llewelyn goes back to the scene of the gunfight with a full carton of water, out of sympathy for the driver he refused to help earlier ("I ain't got no damn agua") who was probably dead anyway.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
YMMV trope. Moving. Also, as per our Spoiler Policy, we do not spoil tag trope names. Removing some natter, and a duplicate trope.
Changed line(s) 32 (click to see context) from:
* [[spoiler: TheBadGuyWins: That this seems to happen more and more in the modern world is what drives Sheriff Bell over the DespairEventHorizon.]]
to:
* [[spoiler: TheBadGuyWins: That [[spoiler:That this seems to happen more and more in the modern world is what drives Sheriff Bell over the DespairEventHorizon.]]
Changed line(s) 53 (click to see context) from:
* DeadpanSnarker: Llewelyn Moss is (at least at first) a carefree one. His wife Carla Jean Moss is a fretful one. Ed Tom Bell is a wistful, morose one. Anton Chigurh is a cold and deadly one.
to:
* DeadpanSnarker: DeadpanSnarker:
** Llewelyn Moss is (at least at first) a carefree one. His wife Carla Jean Moss is a fretful one. Ed Tom Bell is a wistful, morose one. Anton Chigurh is a cold and deadly one.
** Llewelyn Moss is (at least at first) a carefree one. His wife Carla Jean Moss is a fretful one. Ed Tom Bell is a wistful, morose one. Anton Chigurh is a cold and deadly one.
Changed line(s) 64 (click to see context) from:
* DownerEnding: Basically, [[spoiler:The Bad Guy Wins]]. Not only [[spoiler: is the Decoy Protagonist murdered (off-screen),]] but then [[spoiler: the villain murders the hero's teenage wife (again, off-screen) and escapes justice, leaving an old man to contemplate his inability to act in the face of so much seemingly pointless violence of the world]].
to:
* DownerEnding: Basically, [[spoiler:The Bad Guy Wins]]. [[spoiler:TheBadGuyWins]]. Not only [[spoiler: is the Decoy Protagonist DecoyProtagonist murdered (off-screen),]] but then [[spoiler: the villain murders the hero's teenage wife (again, off-screen) and escapes justice, leaving an old man to contemplate his inability to act in the face of so much seemingly pointless violence of the world]].
Changed line(s) 72 (click to see context) from:
* FaceDeathWithDignity: Carla Jean, in the film.
to:
* FaceDeathWithDignity: FaceDeathWithDignity:
** Carla Jean, in the film.
** Carla Jean, in the film.
Deleted line(s) 78 (click to see context) :
* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: Delivered to the sheriff near the end of the film: you can't stop bad things.
Changed line(s) 95 (click to see context) from:
* [[spoiler:TheHeroDies: Moss himself at the end.]]
to:
* [[spoiler:TheHeroDies: Moss TheHeroDies: [[spoiler:Moss himself at the end.]]
Changed line(s) 103,106 (click to see context) from:
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Chigurh.
** He uses a pneumatic cattle bolt gun as a a lock-breaker and once as an improvised weapon.
** His primary firearm is a silenced Remington 11-87 with a pistol grip.
* InfoDrop: In the film, the date is only revealed from the fact that a 1958 coin "has traveled 22 years to get here".
** He uses a pneumatic cattle bolt gun as a a lock-breaker and once as an improvised weapon.
** His primary firearm is a silenced Remington 11-87 with a pistol grip.
* InfoDrop: In the film, the date is only revealed from the fact that a 1958 coin "has traveled 22 years to get here".
to:
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Chigurh.
**Chigurh. He uses a pneumatic cattle bolt gun as a a lock-breaker and once as an improvised weapon.
** Hisweapon, and his primary firearm is a silenced Remington 11-87 with a pistol grip.
*InfoDrop: InfoDrop:
** In the film, the date is only revealed from the fact that a 1958 coin "has traveled 22 years to get here".
**
** His
*
** In the film, the date is only revealed from the fact that a 1958 coin "has traveled 22 years to get here".
Deleted line(s) 141,142 (click to see context) :
* PetTheDog: Llewelyn goes back to the scene of the gunfight with a full carton of water, out of sympathy for the driver he refused to help earlier ("I ain't got no damn agua") who was probably dead anyway.
** Of course there is the fact he didn't call an ambulance for him and waited several hours before deciding to go back, so more of a KickTheDog moment really...
** Of course there is the fact he didn't call an ambulance for him and waited several hours before deciding to go back, so more of a KickTheDog moment really...
Changed line(s) 171 (click to see context) from:
* WhamLine: Doubles as BadassBoast.
to:
* WhamLine: WhamLine:
** Doubles as BadassBoast.
** Doubles as BadassBoast.
Deleted line(s) 175 (click to see context) :
* WorldHalfEmpty: The movie and the book take an extremely cynical view on human nature. The stark reality of it all drives Bell to retire.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
** Anton can even make a ''COIN FLIP'' absolutely terrifying.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 24 (click to see context) from:
* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler:Chigurh now has to track the money to Mexico]].
to:
* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler:Chigurh now has to track the money to Mexico]].Mexico... if he can get there with a shattered, useless arm]].
Changed line(s) 45,47 (click to see context) from:
* ChessWithDeath: In a couple instances, Chigurh lets a coin toss decide whether or not he'll kill someone.
* ContractOnTheHitman: Carson is hired to kill Anton after [[spoiler: Anton kills the managerials and the Mexicans at the motel, causing his boss to think he'd gone rogue.]]
* CrapsackWorld: Sheriff Bell seems to believe that this is what the world is becoming. His old mentor later sets him straight. The world isn't becoming a crapsack, it's always been that way.
* ContractOnTheHitman: Carson is hired to kill Anton after [[spoiler: Anton kills the managerials and the Mexicans at the motel, causing his boss to think he'd gone rogue.]]
* CrapsackWorld: Sheriff Bell seems to believe that this is what the world is becoming. His old mentor later sets him straight. The world isn't becoming a crapsack, it's always been that way.
to:
* ChessWithDeath: In a couple instances, Chigurh lets a coin toss decide whether or not he'll kill someone.
* ContractOnTheHitman: Carson is hired to kill Anton after [[spoiler: Anton kills the managerials and the Mexicans at the motel, causing his boss to think he'd gone rogue.someone. [[spoiler:Carla Jean "wins" in a twisted sort of way by deconstructing Chigurh's coin toss logic.]]
* ContractOnTheHitman: Carson is hired to kill Anton after [[spoiler:Anton kills the managerials who'd come with him out to survey the deal gone bad, as well as the Mexicans at the motel, causing his boss to think he'd gone rogue.]]
* CrapsackWorld: Sheriff Bell seems to believe that this is what the world isbecoming.becoming, as does his friend in El Paso, who complains about [[TheNewRockAndRoll teens coloring their hair and wearing nose rings]]. His old mentor later sets him straight. The world isn't becoming a crapsack, it's always been that way.
* ContractOnTheHitman: Carson is hired to kill Anton after [[spoiler: Anton kills the managerials and the Mexicans at the motel, causing his boss to think he'd gone rogue.
* ContractOnTheHitman: Carson is hired to kill Anton after [[spoiler:Anton kills the managerials who'd come with him out to survey the deal gone bad, as well as the Mexicans at the motel, causing his boss to think he'd gone rogue.]]
* CrapsackWorld: Sheriff Bell seems to believe that this is what the world is
Changed line(s) 62 (click to see context) from:
* DisposablePilot: Moss hitches a ride with a bystander, who is killed at the wheel as Moss watches. Later, he hitches another ride with an entirely different man, who is also killed for his trouble, but that happens long after he was separated from Moss.
to:
* DisposablePilot: Moss hitches a ride with a bystander, who is killed at the wheel as while Moss watches.talks to him. Later, he hitches another ride with an entirely different man, who is also killed for his trouble, but that happens long after he was separated from Moss.
Changed line(s) 67 (click to see context) from:
* EasterEgg: The credits include an attribution for "The One Right Tool", a reference to a line of dialogue in the film. (Right above it is a credit for "Serious Matters".)
to:
* EasterEgg: The credits include an attribution for "The One Right Tool", a reference to a line one of dialogue in the film. Chigurh's apparent reasons for turning on his employer. (Right above it is a credit for "Serious Matters".Matters": i.e.: lawyerin' stuff.)
Changed line(s) 77 (click to see context) from:
* FakeNationality: Apparently Mexican Anton Chigurh is played by Spaniard Javier Bardem.
to:
* FakeNationality: Apparently Mexican Possibly-Mexican Anton Chigurh is played by Spaniard Javier Bardem.Bardem.
* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: Delivered to the sheriff near the end of the film: you can't stop bad things.
* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: Delivered to the sheriff near the end of the film: you can't stop bad things.
Changed line(s) 107 (click to see context) from:
* TheIngenue: Carla Jean Moss.
to:
* IronicEcho: Not verbally exchanges, but when Chigurh [[spoiler:gets into a car collision that gives him a nasty open fracture (read: the bone piercing the skin]], he asks two youths for his shirt as a (partial) disguise in exchange for a lot of money. Llewellyn did it earlier after getting wounded by Anton, asking three college-age kids for a coat in exchange for a lot of money.
* TheIngenue: Carla JeanMoss.Moss, who is geniunely innocent of Llewellyn's antics.
* TheIngenue: Carla Jean
Changed line(s) 115 (click to see context) from:
* LaserGuidedKarma: Subverted. [[spoiler: Chigurh gets T-boned by a speeding car a few minutes after killing Carla Jean. However, it turns out he only broke his arm and some of his ribs, and he's just too resilient be defeated by it.]]
to:
* LaserGuidedKarma: Subverted. [[spoiler: Chigurh gets T-boned by a speeding car a few minutes after killing Carla Jean. However, it turns While Chigurh's shown to have fixed his wounds before, the sort of fracture he receives is going to put him out he only broke his arm and some of his ribs, and he's just too resilient be defeated by it.commission for a long while (if not permanently) without real medical aid.]]
Changed line(s) 122 (click to see context) from:
* MoodWhiplash: The mariachi band.
to:
* MoodWhiplash: The entire scene with the mariachi band.band - they wake up Llewyn from his tense firefight with Chigurh, and [[LettingTheAirOutOfTheBand stop when they see his blood-covered shirt.]]
Changed line(s) 139 (click to see context) from:
** Of course there is the fact he didn't call an ambulance for him and waited several hourse before deciding to go back, so more of a KickTheDog moment really...
to:
** Of course there is the fact he didn't call an ambulance for him and waited several hourse hours before deciding to go back, so more of a KickTheDog moment really...
Changed line(s) 141 (click to see context) from:
* PoliceAreUseless
to:
* PoliceAreUselessPoliceAreUseless: The cops are either shot or are too late - and even then, Ed Tom is either unwilling or unable to do more, such as help federals and DEA agents with investigating the bizarre murder scene. [[spoiler:In the end, he decides he's had enough after Llewellyn is killed right before he manages to reach him.]]
** Chigurh wears the same haircut as [[Film/HardBoiled Mad Dog.]]
Changed line(s) 160 (click to see context) from:
* SlasherSmile: Chigurh sports a [[NightmareFuel lovely]] one during the strangling scene
to:
* SlasherSmile: Chigurh sports a [[NightmareFuel lovely]] one during the strangling scenescene.
Changed line(s) 164,165 (click to see context) from:
* UselessProtagonist: Sheriff Bell
* VillainousBreakdown: Anton Chigurh arguably suffers a flicker of one when [[spoiler: Carla Jean refuses to call his coin toss, thus making her the first person in the film to take a stand in direct and face-to-face defiance of his "principles."]] Even moreso in the book. [[spoiler: He apologizes (plainly, but still does) as she starts to sob, and starts to really having to defend his principles to her in order to go through with killing her.]]
* VillainousBreakdown: Anton Chigurh arguably suffers a flicker of one when [[spoiler: Carla Jean refuses to call his coin toss, thus making her the first person in the film to take a stand in direct and face-to-face defiance of his "principles."]] Even moreso in the book. [[spoiler: He apologizes (plainly, but still does) as she starts to sob, and starts to really having to defend his principles to her in order to go through with killing her.]]
to:
* UselessProtagonist: Sheriff Bell
Bell, who doesn't bother with investigating further
* VillainousBreakdown: Anton Chigurh arguably suffers a flicker of one when [[spoiler: Carla Jean refuses to call his coin toss, thus making her the first person in the film to take a stand in direct and face-to-face defiance of his"principles."]] "principles", and flat out states that his deference to "chance" is a thin excuse for him doing what he does.]] Even moreso in the book. [[spoiler: He apologizes (plainly, but still does) as she starts to sob, and starts to really having to defend his principles to her in order to go through with killing her.]]
* VillainousBreakdown: Anton Chigurh arguably suffers a flicker of one when [[spoiler: Carla Jean refuses to call his coin toss, thus making her the first person in the film to take a stand in direct and face-to-face defiance of his
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 108 (click to see context) from:
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: In the end, both the Mexican hitmen and Chigurh escape justice.]]
to:
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: In [[spoiler:Played with. Llewellyn manages to take out one of the end, both the Mexican hitmen sent after him and sends the rest retreating in fear. Chigurh escape justice.does kill his wife, but she defies his nonsensical logic - and shortly after, gets a bone fracture that he will not be able to treat himself - one that may wind up killing him later on.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 11,12 (click to see context) from:
The film was honored with numerous awards: it received three British Academy of Film awards, two Golden Globes, and {{Academy Award}}s for Best Picture, Best Director ([[Creator/TheCoenBrothers Joel and Ethan Coen]]), Best Adapted Screenplay (by [[Creator/TheCoenBrothers Joel and Ethan Coen]]), and Best Supporting Actor (JavierBardem).
to:
The film was honored with numerous awards: it received three British Academy of Film awards, two Golden Globes, and {{Academy Award}}s for Best Picture, Picture (Scott Rudin, [[Creator/TheCoenBrothers Ethan and Joel Coen]]), Best Director ([[Creator/TheCoenBrothers Joel and Ethan Coen]]), Best Adapted Screenplay (by [[Creator/TheCoenBrothers Joel and Ethan Coen]]), and Best Supporting Actor (JavierBardem).
(Javier Bardem).
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 7,8 (click to see context) from:
There's just one small hitch: an assassin has been sent after the stolen money, and he is ''a complete sociopath''. Anton Chigurh is a man willing to do ''absolutely anything'' -- to "[[{{Ubermensch}} follow a supreme act of will]]", as he puts it -- in order to get what he is after...and it's no longer just the money he's after.
to:
There's just one small hitch: an assassin has been sent after the stolen money, and he is ''a complete sociopath''. Anton Chigurh is a man willing to do ''absolutely anything'' -- to "[[{{Ubermensch}} follow a supreme act of will]]", as [[BlueAndOrangeMorality he puts it it]] -- in order to get what he is after...and it's no longer just the money he's after.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 142 (click to see context) from:
* PragmaticAdaptation: The style in which the novel is written would seem to be difficult to adapt to film, but the Coens manage to do it justice by translating [=McCarthy=]'s stark language into stark imagery and audio design.
to:
* PragmaticAdaptation: The style in which the novel is written would seem to be difficult to adapt to film, but the Coens manage to do it justice by translating [=McCarthy=]'s stark language into stark imagery and audio design. This resulted in it being one of the few films that is widely regarded to be superior to the book.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
*LaserGuidedKarma: Subverted. [[spoiler: Chigurh gets T-boned by a speeding car a few minutes after killing Carla Jean. However, it turns out he only broke his arm and some of his ribs, and he's just too resilient be defeated by it.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
* BlackAndWhiteMorality: Moss mistakenly believes that this is how the world works.
Changed line(s) 170 (click to see context) from:
* WrongGenreSavvy: Llewelyn Moss.
to:
* WrongGenreSavvy: Llewelyn Moss. He refuses to accept that the world isn't as black and white as he believes it is and acts like he's a stereotypical action hero. [[spoiler: This flaw ends up getting him killed.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 95 (click to see context) from:
* HollywoodSilencer: Chigurh's shotgun has a report no louder than that of a BB gun.
to:
* HollywoodSilencer: Chigurh's Remington 11-87 shotgun has a report no louder than that of a BB gun.
Changed line(s) 103 (click to see context) from:
** His primary firearm is a silenced pistol grip shotgun.
to:
** His primary firearm is a silenced Remington 11-87 with a pistol grip shotgun.grip.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 41 (click to see context) from:
* CareerResurrection: It helped get Josh Brolin noticed again after a long down period in his career.
to:
* CareerResurrection: It helped get Josh Brolin Creator/JoshBrolin noticed again after a long down period in his career.
Changed line(s) 174,175 (click to see context) from:
* YouLookFamiliar: Creator/TommyLeeJones, Josh Brolin, and several minor cast members would also appear in ''Film/InTheValleyOfElah'', released the same year. Both films were also shot by the same DP, Roger Deakins.
to:
* YouLookFamiliar: Creator/TommyLeeJones, Josh Brolin, Creator/JoshBrolin, and several minor cast members would also appear in ''Film/InTheValleyOfElah'', released the same year. Both films were also shot by the same DP, Roger Deakins.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 171 (click to see context) from:
* YouKeepTellingYourselfThat: It practically defines the character of Anton Chigurh.
to:
* YouKeepTellingYourselfThat: It practically defines the character of Anton Chigurh. The film version stresses this even further - [[spoiler: in the book, he manages to intimidate Carla Jean into calling the coin toss. In the film, we never see her break. She refuses to give him that 'out', and it's the closest he gets to a defeat.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 58 (click to see context) from:
* DespairEventHorizon: Bell just about crosses it [[spoiler: after the deaths of Llewelyn and Carla Jean]]. A conversation with his Uncle Ellis reminds him that criminality and senseless violence have always been part of life in the region. Bell's narration ends on an ambiguous note as he relates two dreams he had. (They seem to allude to CormacMcCarthy's masterpiece ''TheRoad''.)
to:
* DespairEventHorizon: Bell just about crosses it [[spoiler: after the deaths of Llewelyn and Carla Jean]]. A conversation with his Uncle Ellis reminds him that criminality and senseless violence have always been part of life in the region. Bell's narration ends on an ambiguous note as he relates two dreams he had. (They seem to allude to CormacMcCarthy's masterpiece ''TheRoad''.''Literature/TheRoad''.)
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 173 (click to see context) from:
-->'''Carson Wells:''' You can't make a deal with him. Even if you gave him the money he'd still kill you. He's a peculiar man.
to:
-->'''Carson Wells:''' You can't make a deal with him. Even if you gave him the money he'd still kill you.you just for troubling him. He's a peculiar man.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 29 (click to see context) from:
* BadAss:
to:
* BadAss: {{Badass}}:
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: Moss simply walks over the US-Mexican border into Mexico, past the only Mexican night shift customs officer, who is asleep. TruthInTelevision however justifies this - you can indeed cross the border ''to'' Mexico without as much as a passport control, but getting ''back'' to the US is a '''totally''' different affair altogether.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Deleted trope.
Deleted line(s) 46 (click to see context) :
* ConstantineCurse: Moss and Chigurh trigger a series of bloody tragedies all around Texas.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 130 (click to see context) from:
* NostalgiaAintLikeItUsedToBe: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with.]] Sheriff Bell often muses about how someone like Chigurh wouldn't have gotten away with anything in the "old days", but this claim is undermined at the end when his uncle Ellis tells him a tale of how his grandfather was killed in cold blood on his own porch in 1908 by a trio of Native Americans, and then says to him flat out that claiming the "old days" were better or more moral is nothing but vanity.
to:
* NostalgiaAintLikeItUsedToBe: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with.]] Sheriff Bell often muses about how someone like Chigurh wouldn't have gotten away with anything in the "old days", but this claim is undermined at the end when his uncle Ellis tells him a tale of how his grandfather was killed in cold blood on his own porch in 1908 1909 by a trio of Native Americans, and then says to him flat out that claiming the "old days" were better or more moral is nothing but vanity.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
** Or it might've been if not for the subversion.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
** [[spoiler:Unfortunately, Carla Jean's death is ambiguous only in the movie.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* [[spoiler:TheHeroDies: Moss himself at the end.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* HappilyMarried: Ed Tom Bell and Loretta; Llewelyn and Carla Jean (though they snark at each other occasionally).
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 170 (click to see context) from:
to:
* YouLookFamiliar: Creator/TommyLeeJones, Josh Brolin, and several minor cast members would also appear in ''Film/InTheValleyOfElah'', released the same year. Both films were also shot by the same DP, Roger Deakins.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* LampshadeHanging:
--> '''Carla Jean''': You don't have to do this.
--> '''Chigurh''': People always say the same thing.
--> '''Carla Jean''': What did they say?
--> '''Chigurh''': They say "you don't have to do this".
--> '''Carla Jean''': You don't have to do this.
--> '''Chigurh''': People always say the same thing.
--> '''Carla Jean''': What did they say?
--> '''Chigurh''': They say "you don't have to do this".
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
moved to namespace
Added DiffLines:
[[quoteright:275:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/no-country-for-old-men-movie-poster_8408.jpg]]
->''[[ImplacableMan You can't stop what's coming.]]''
A neo-western thriller. When rugged Vietnam veteran Llewelyn Moss finds the horrific aftermath of a botched drug deal and takes a suitcase filled with money, he sets in motion a spiral of violence beyond his control or comprehension. An old and unhappy sheriff, Ed Tom Bell, is determined to prove that there's still a place for justice in an otherwise unfair and cruel world as he sets out to find Moss and protect him from the owners of the money.
There's just one small hitch: an assassin has been sent after the stolen money, and he is ''a complete sociopath''. Anton Chigurh is a man willing to do ''absolutely anything'' -- to "[[{{Ubermensch}} follow a supreme act of will]]", as he puts it -- in order to get what he is after...and it's no longer just the money he's after.
The novel was written by CormacMcCarthy, a grizzled old man who refuses to discuss his books beyond their often disturbing content. The movie was written and directed by Creator/TheCoenBrothers -- two oddballs with a great sense of black humor and a love for twisted storylines -- but this breathtaking and chillingly eerie film is considerably bleaker than anything else they've done.
The film was honored with numerous awards: it received three British Academy of Film awards, two Golden Globes, and {{Academy Award}}s for Best Picture, Best Director ([[Creator/TheCoenBrothers Joel and Ethan Coen]]), Best Adapted Screenplay (by [[Creator/TheCoenBrothers Joel and Ethan Coen]]), and Best Supporting Actor (JavierBardem).
----
!'''Contains examples of:'''
* ArbitraryGunPower: In RealLife, a cattle-gun would barely be able to DENT a [[spoiler: door-lock]], much less [[spoiler: blow it completely out of the door.]]
* ActionSurvivor: Llewelyn Moss in some parts. [[spoiler: Not so much by the end.]]
* ActorAllusion: A very dark example. When ruminating on the state of the world, Sheriff Bell references the recent murder of a federal judge. The murder occured in real life and was committed by hitman Charles Harrelson, father of Woody Harrelson who plays Wells.
* AloneWithThePsycho: Most characters in the story find themselves alone and helpless with Anton Chigurh. [[spoiler: No one ever shows up to rescue them]].
* AmbiguousSituation:
** It's never made explicit whether Chigurh killed [[spoiler: the hotel manager, the accountant, and Carla Jean, though he checks the soles of his shoes ''after'' leaving Carla Jean's home]];
** Does Bell's dream symbolize hope, or despair?
* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler:Chigurh now has to track the money to Mexico]].
* AntiHero: Moss is probably a Type IV. Bell gradually goes into [[ClassicalAntiHero Type I]].
* AnyoneCanDie: One of the themes of the film.
* TheAtoner: Sheriff Ed Tom Bell. Mostly in the book; just hinted at in TheFilmOfTheBook.
* AxCrazy: Anton Chigurh is a subversion. Even if they [[BlueAndOrangeMorality don't make sense to a normal person]], Chigurh has his reasons, and he's more coldly logical than crazy. He does, however, have one of the primary traits of a true AxCrazy, which is the immense amount of danger involved in even speaking to him.
* BadAss:
** Anton Chigurh. DiscussedTrope.
** Moss himself is a Vietnam veteran.
* [[spoiler: TheBadGuyWins: That this seems to happen more and more in the modern world is what drives Sheriff Bell over the DespairEventHorizon.]]
* BadassBoast: "I'm going to make you ''my special project''."
* BavarianFireDrill: In a particularly disturbing example, Chigurh steals a random passerby's pickup truck by pulling him over in a police car, and manages to get him to stand back completely complacent as he blows his brains out with a cattle bolt
* BeamMeUpScotty: Contrary to what the trailers and DVD chapter listing will tell you, Chigurh never says "Call it, friendo"; they're in two different lines ("What business is it of yours where I'm from...friendo?"/"Call it.")
* BeigeProse: The novel.
* BilingualBonus: When Moss gets woken up by the Mariachis the song they're playing translates to: "You wanted to fly with no wings/ You wanted to touch heaven/ You wanted many riches/ You wanted to play with fire/ And now that -"
* BlackAndGrayMorality: Chigurh versus Moss. Chigurh is a relentless, cold-blooded killer. Moss is impulsive and prideful, getting innocent people such as his wife in danger or killed as well as [[spoiler: leading to his own death.]]
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: This is basically what Chigurh's "moral code" is, at least to him. He has rules, but they make no sense to anyone except him, and he absolutely cannot be reasoned with.
* BriefcaseFullOfMoney
* CareerResurrection: It helped get Josh Brolin noticed again after a long down period in his career.
* CarnivalOfKillers
* CassandraTruth: ''"It's full of money."''
* ChessWithDeath: In a couple instances, Chigurh lets a coin toss decide whether or not he'll kill someone.
* ContractOnTheHitman: Carson is hired to kill Anton after [[spoiler: Anton kills the managerials and the Mexicans at the motel, causing his boss to think he'd gone rogue.]]
* ConstantineCurse: Moss and Chigurh trigger a series of bloody tragedies all around Texas.
* CrapsackWorld: Sheriff Bell seems to believe that this is what the world is becoming. His old mentor later sets him straight. The world isn't becoming a crapsack, it's always been that way.
* CrazyPrepared: Moss goes to some trouble setting up a proper hideout and trying to preempt his enemy's attacks. [[ProperlyParanoid If it were not for his quick thinking and planning]], he would have been killed very quickly.
* CreepyMonotone: Chigurh.
* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: Anton Chigurh.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Than anything the Coen Brothers did previously, even their debut ''BloodSimple''
* DawsonCasting: Carla Jean is a teenage wife in the novel and is played by 30-year-old Kelly [=MacDonald=] in the film.
* DeadpanSnarker: Llewelyn Moss is (at least at first) a carefree one. His wife Carla Jean Moss is a fretful one. Ed Tom Bell is a wistful, morose one. Anton Chigurh is a cold and deadly one.
** "What business is it of yours where I'm from...friendo?"
* DeathIsDramatic: Sometimes, but just as often, averted or even [[SubvertedTrope subverted]].
* {{Deconstruction}}: A specialty both of CormacMcCarthy and Creator/TheCoenBrothers. Moss in particular is a deconstruction of the action hero, especially the older tougher variety. He thinks of himself as tough, resourceful, and morally righteous. To the audience, he comes across as greedy, vain and stupid, never really thinking of the consequences of his actions or of the potential cost to those around him. Like Sheriff Bell, Moss is an archetype of a forgotten era, from a time when men never gave in to bad guys and the lines of black and white were clear. He doesn't seem to realize that the world is turning into a much darker place where men like him have no place. [[spoiler:Unlike Bell, he never realizes and pays the ultimate price for his arrogance.]]
* DecoyProtagonist: Llewelyn Moss. Sheriff Bell is the real protagonist, and delivers both the opening and closing monologues. The story is basically about an old man not adapting to the reality of the brutal environment he works in.
* DeepSouth: The setting, although the simple folk oblivious to the evil encroaching upon them evoke shades of SweetHomeAlabama.
* DespairEventHorizon: Bell just about crosses it [[spoiler: after the deaths of Llewelyn and Carla Jean]]. A conversation with his Uncle Ellis reminds him that criminality and senseless violence have always been part of life in the region. Bell's narration ends on an ambiguous note as he relates two dreams he had. (They seem to allude to CormacMcCarthy's masterpiece ''TheRoad''.)
* TheDeterminator: Pretty much ''all'' the men. [[spoiler: But Chigurh trumps everyone else.]]
* DisapprovingLook: TommyLeeJones' famous "Implied Facepalm".
* DisposablePilot: Moss hitches a ride with a bystander, who is killed at the wheel as Moss watches. Later, he hitches another ride with an entirely different man, who is also killed for his trouble, but that happens long after he was separated from Moss.
* DissonantSerenity: One of the most chilling aspects of Chigurh.
* DownerEnding: Basically, [[spoiler:The Bad Guy Wins]]. Not only [[spoiler: is the Decoy Protagonist murdered (off-screen),]] but then [[spoiler: the villain murders the hero's teenage wife (again, off-screen) and escapes justice, leaving an old man to contemplate his inability to act in the face of so much seemingly pointless violence of the world]].
* TheDreaded: Even other [[PsychoForHire hardened]] [[ProfessionalKiller killers]] are afraid of Chigurh, and with good reason.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: The entire story seems to be building towards a climactic duel between Moss and Chigurh, but in the end [[spoiler:Moss is killed off-screen by a gang of Mexican drugrunners who aren't even major characters]]. A deliberate subversion of DeathIsDramatic (see above).
* EasterEgg: The credits include an attribution for "The One Right Tool", a reference to a line of dialogue in the film. (Right above it is a credit for "Serious Matters".)
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Chigurh; he looks like death warmed over.
* TheEighties: Set in 1980; since it's the beginning of the decade, and the setting is rural Texas, there isn't much of stereotypical '80s fashion. Chigurh's rather out-of-place garb (alligator skin boots, denim jacket...) could be leftover fashion from the '70s, not to mention his haircut. There's no '80s pop soundtrack either; it's mostly eerie sound effects or silence.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Stephen Root's character is credited as "Man Who Hires Wells".
* EvilIsPetty: Chigurh is willing to [[spoiler:belittle and possibly kill a gas station attendant for ''trying to make small talk with him'']]. This only makes him more terrifying.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: Carla Jean, in the film.
-->'''Carla Jean:''' The coin ain't got no say. It's just ''you''.
** Also discussed when Chigurh is about to kill [[spoiler: Carson]].
-->'''Chigurh:''' You should admit your situation. There would be more dignity in it.
* FakeAmerican: KellyMacdonald, who plays Carla Jean, hails from Scotland.
* FakeNationality: Apparently Mexican Anton Chigurh is played by Spaniard Javier Bardem.
* FloatingHeadSyndrome: The DVD box set has a BIG case of this, which is especially annoying given how perfect the movie poster is for the film. I mean look at it up there.
* FluffyTheTerrible: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]]; "Chigurh" is pronounced almost like "sugar". Then there's his sense of fashion...
* FollowTheLeader: The Coen Brothers admitted they had to work ''hard'' to make sure the film was distinguishable from ''TheTerminator''.
* ForTheEvulz: Anton Chigurh seems this way, although he would insist that he's just following [[BlueAndOrangeMorality his own code]].
* GenreBusting: A specialty of Creator/TheCoenBrothers.
* GoodCannotComprehendEvil: A major theme of the story, embodied by Sheriff Bell.
* GoodOlBoy: Carson Wells, among others.
* {{Gorn}}:
** The Coen brothers said themselves they wanted to make the "strangling" scene in the beginning the most violent strangling in the history of movies.
** The unfortunate random passerby whose only crime was letting Moss into his pickup suffers one of the most gruesome deaths in the movie.
** The death of [[spoiler: the man who hires Wells.]]
** Then there's the guy in the hotel whose arm gets ''obliterated'' by Chigurh's WeaponOfChoice.
* GoryDiscretionShot: Several; in one instance, a discretion cut moves to a later scene.
* HeadsOrTails: Anton Chigurh flips a coin to decide whether to kill a potential victim. Those that choose not to take the chance are killed anyway, because they refuse to submit to the PowersThatBe. [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Fans actually debate over the reason why he does it.]]
* HeroKiller: Anton Chigurh.
* HollywoodSilencer: Chigurh's shotgun has a report no louder than that of a BB gun.
* HopeSpot: Chigurh's accident showed that he's not invincible, just really lucky.
* IfIDoNotReturn
--> '''Llewelyn:''' If I don't come back, tell mother I love her."
--> '''Carla Jean:''' Your mother's dead."
--> '''Llewelyn:''' Well, then I'll tell her myself."
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Chigurh.
** He uses a pneumatic cattle bolt gun as a a lock-breaker and once as an improvised weapon.
** His primary firearm is a silenced pistol grip shotgun.
* InfoDrop: In the film, the date is only revealed from the fact that a 1958 coin "has traveled 22 years to get here".
** And on Agnes' Tombstone.
* TheIngenue: Carla Jean Moss.
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: In the end, both the Mexican hitmen and Chigurh escape justice.]]
* KillThemAll: [[spoiler: Anton successfully eliminates all of the people he was hired to kill, as well as several that he wasn't.]]
* LettingTheAirOutOfTheBand: Used in the mariachi band scene for one of the few moments of overt comic relief in the film.
* LiteraryAllusionTitle: Taken from the poem [[http://www.online-literature.com/yeats/781/ "Sailing to Byzantium"]] by Creator/WilliamButlerYeats. While in the original poem the speaker is an old man who can no longer keep up with the lust (Eros) of the young, Sheriff Bell is an old man who can't keep up with the violence (Thanatos) of the young.
* MacGuffin: Moss has a suitcase containing $2 million. Chigurh is hunting Moss to get the money. Bell is hunting Chigurh and simultaneously hunting Moss in hopes of getting him to safety. [[spoiler: Chigurh never catches up with Moss, and Bell never catches up with either Moss or Chigurh. Bell and Chigurh ''almost'' cross paths, but they never actually meet one another.]]
* AMacGuffinFullOfMoney
* MeanCharacterNiceActor: Javier Bardem, whose icy, menacing and intense performance as Anton Chigurh won him a well-deserved Oscar and created one of the most memorable movie villains in recent history, is in reality a very meek and soft-spoken man; most of his other roles have been in romantic comedies. He confessed to being alarmed by the graphic violence in the film and the pure evil of his character, and says he only agreed to take the part because he believed the Coens were using violence to make a meaningful statement.
* MissedHimByThatMuch: Anton tracks Llewellyn via transponder to a motel room. While Anton is [[spoiler: violently eliminating the Mexicans occupying the room, Llewellyn is dragging the 50 lb. satchel through a ventilation duct in the opposite room. The gunfire and screaming mask the scraping sounds created by the bag.]] By the time Anton checks the vent, Llewellyn has left the motel and hitched a ride out of town.
* MoodWhiplash: The mariachi band.
* {{Narrator}}: In the novel, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell. In the movie, he narrates the opening, and in his closing scenes, his dialogue becomes more and more like narration.
* MurderIsTheBestSolution: Or in Chigurh's case, murder is the ONLY solution.
* NeverTrustATrailer: The trailer makes the film look like a tough action film and alludes to a final confrontation between Wells and Chigurh. Those who have seen the film know that the trailer couldn't be less like it.
* NewOldWest
* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: Anton Chigurh.
* NoEnding: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]]. As noted above, [[spoiler: with the exceptions of Chigurh and Sheriff Bell, every major character dies.]] A quick shot reveals that [[spoiler: Chigurh had found the money in the ventilation system again, and left with the money]], but it goes by fast and is irrelevant to the story by this point.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished:
** The man with the chicken crates who stops to give Chigurh a jump.
** Moss' act of mercy to bring the dying Mexican mobster water sets Chigurh on his trail, though it also gives him warning that someone is looking for the cash, which sets Moss running and helps him figure out that there's a tracking beacon in the cash before Chigurh can ambush him.
* NostalgiaAintLikeItUsedToBe: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with.]] Sheriff Bell often muses about how someone like Chigurh wouldn't have gotten away with anything in the "old days", but this claim is undermined at the end when his uncle Ellis tells him a tale of how his grandfather was killed in cold blood on his own porch in 1908 by a trio of Native Americans, and then says to him flat out that claiming the "old days" were better or more moral is nothing but vanity.
* NothingIsScarier:
** This movie manages to make the act of ''unscrewing a lightbulb'' frightening.
** The build-up before [[spoiler: the hotel shootout between Llewelyn and Chigurh.]]
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: The one time Anton Chigurh meets his match.
* OminousWalk: Anton Chigurh uses this quite a bit.
* PetTheDog: Llewelyn goes back to the scene of the gunfight with a full carton of water, out of sympathy for the driver he refused to help earlier ("I ain't got no damn agua") who was probably dead anyway.
** Of course there is the fact he didn't call an ambulance for him and waited several hourse before deciding to go back, so more of a KickTheDog moment really...
* PlayAlongPrisoner: In his first scene, Anton Chigurh allows a deputy to arrest him, [[spoiler: slips his cuffs from back to front, kills the deputy, and steals a police car.]] All just to prove a point about supreme will.
* PoliceAreUseless
* PragmaticAdaptation: The style in which the novel is written would seem to be difficult to adapt to film, but the Coens manage to do it justice by translating [=McCarthy=]'s stark language into stark imagery and audio design.
* ProfessionalKiller: Both Anton Chigurh and Carson Wells.
* PsychoForHire:
** Anton Chigurh.
** While he is clearly overshadowed in this aspect by Chigurh, Carson Wells is by his own right a quite psychopathic killer.
* RealitySubtext: The book was written partly as the author's reaction to the sensation of escalating violence brought in by drug trafficking, starting in the early eighties and continuing to this day. To evoke this, the book and movie are {{Period Piece}}s. [[spoiler: The author's response to this feeling can possibly be seen in the Uncle's speech near the end, who outright states that things are not worse or better than the past, they just always feel that way to those living at that moment]].
* TheRedStapler: The demand for silenced, pistol-grip shotguns increased as a result of Chigurh's primary weapon.
* SelfStitching: Anton blows up a car so he can steal the medical supplies to treat his injuries; he's later shown stitching himself up, as if we need proof that he's any more badass than he already is.
* ScarilyCompetentTracker: Carson Wells. Subverted by Anton Chigurh, however. Llewelyn eventually realizes that there's no way Chigurh could be tracking him so effectively without some sort of advantage. Sure enough, there's a tracking device in the money bag.
* SceneryGorn: From the shots of the barren, desolate Texas landscape to the long pans over dead bodies in the early stages of decay, this movie has it in spades.
* SceneryPorn: See SceneryGorn, above.
* SeventiesHair: Chigurh. It only adds to his creepiness.
* ShootOutTheLock: Chigurh uses the cattle gun to do this when he's not using it for... [[{{Squick}} other]] [[NightmareFuel things]].
* ShootTheShaggyDog: The climax of the film is starkly anticlimactic, causing many to debate whether it was a brilliant {{deconstruction}} or an insulting cop-out.
* ShoutOut:
** The dying man asking for water, aside from a few details, is very close to the same scene in Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly.
** Mike Zoss Pharmacy. "Mike Zoss" is the name of the Coen Brothers' production company and it was the actual name of a pharmacy located in [[http://bingoprof.blogspot.com/2007/12/mike-zoss-pharmacy.html St. Louis Park, Minnesota]].
* ASimplePlan: A very dark take.
* SlasherSmile: Chigurh sports a [[NightmareFuel lovely]] one during the strangling scene
* TheSociopath: Anton Chigurh is such a potent one that he's basically a walking force of unstoppable evil.
* TakeAThirdOption: Subverted in the film. [[spoiler: Carla refuses to call the coin Chigurh flips for her (she does in the novel, but is wrong). He kills her anyway.]]
* ThrowItIn: During early readings, Spanish actor Javier Bardem attempted unsuccessfully to downplay his accent; the Coens liked the resultant mangled, unidentifiable dialect so much that they encouraged him to speak like that for the entire film, hence Chigurh's strange and unsettling accent.
* UselessProtagonist: Sheriff Bell
* VillainousBreakdown: Anton Chigurh arguably suffers a flicker of one when [[spoiler: Carla Jean refuses to call his coin toss, thus making her the first person in the film to take a stand in direct and face-to-face defiance of his "principles."]] Even moreso in the book. [[spoiler: He apologizes (plainly, but still does) as she starts to sob, and starts to really having to defend his principles to her in order to go through with killing her.]]
* VomitIndiscretionShot: Llewelyn, after inspecting his wounds past the Mexican border.
* WhamLine: Doubles as BadassBoast.
-->'''Llewelyn Moss:''' Yeah, I'm going to bring you something, alright. I decided to make you a special project of mine. [[BringIt You ain't going have to come looking for me at all.]]
* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: The duel between Chigurh and Moss is very different in the book and movie. In the movie, [[spoiler: When Chigurgh cracks the doorknob, it strikes Moss, who shoots back and flees. In the book, Moss turns on his bathroom light and hides in the dark, and when Chigurh inspects the bathroom, Moss holds him at gunpoint and escorts him down the hall with Chigurh facing away. He had the opportunity to kill him there, but is apparently reluctant to commit murder.]]
* WorldHalfEmpty: The movie and the book take an extremely cynical view on human nature. The stark reality of it all drives Bell to retire.
* WrongGenreSavvy: Llewelyn Moss.
* YouKeepTellingYourselfThat: It practically defines the character of Anton Chigurh.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Chigurh does this to everybody to the point it's impossible to deal with him.
-->'''Carson Wells:''' You can't make a deal with him. Even if you gave him the money he'd still kill you. He's a peculiar man.
----
->''[[ImplacableMan You can't stop what's coming.]]''
A neo-western thriller. When rugged Vietnam veteran Llewelyn Moss finds the horrific aftermath of a botched drug deal and takes a suitcase filled with money, he sets in motion a spiral of violence beyond his control or comprehension. An old and unhappy sheriff, Ed Tom Bell, is determined to prove that there's still a place for justice in an otherwise unfair and cruel world as he sets out to find Moss and protect him from the owners of the money.
There's just one small hitch: an assassin has been sent after the stolen money, and he is ''a complete sociopath''. Anton Chigurh is a man willing to do ''absolutely anything'' -- to "[[{{Ubermensch}} follow a supreme act of will]]", as he puts it -- in order to get what he is after...and it's no longer just the money he's after.
The novel was written by CormacMcCarthy, a grizzled old man who refuses to discuss his books beyond their often disturbing content. The movie was written and directed by Creator/TheCoenBrothers -- two oddballs with a great sense of black humor and a love for twisted storylines -- but this breathtaking and chillingly eerie film is considerably bleaker than anything else they've done.
The film was honored with numerous awards: it received three British Academy of Film awards, two Golden Globes, and {{Academy Award}}s for Best Picture, Best Director ([[Creator/TheCoenBrothers Joel and Ethan Coen]]), Best Adapted Screenplay (by [[Creator/TheCoenBrothers Joel and Ethan Coen]]), and Best Supporting Actor (JavierBardem).
----
!'''Contains examples of:'''
* ArbitraryGunPower: In RealLife, a cattle-gun would barely be able to DENT a [[spoiler: door-lock]], much less [[spoiler: blow it completely out of the door.]]
* ActionSurvivor: Llewelyn Moss in some parts. [[spoiler: Not so much by the end.]]
* ActorAllusion: A very dark example. When ruminating on the state of the world, Sheriff Bell references the recent murder of a federal judge. The murder occured in real life and was committed by hitman Charles Harrelson, father of Woody Harrelson who plays Wells.
* AloneWithThePsycho: Most characters in the story find themselves alone and helpless with Anton Chigurh. [[spoiler: No one ever shows up to rescue them]].
* AmbiguousSituation:
** It's never made explicit whether Chigurh killed [[spoiler: the hotel manager, the accountant, and Carla Jean, though he checks the soles of his shoes ''after'' leaving Carla Jean's home]];
** Does Bell's dream symbolize hope, or despair?
* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler:Chigurh now has to track the money to Mexico]].
* AntiHero: Moss is probably a Type IV. Bell gradually goes into [[ClassicalAntiHero Type I]].
* AnyoneCanDie: One of the themes of the film.
* TheAtoner: Sheriff Ed Tom Bell. Mostly in the book; just hinted at in TheFilmOfTheBook.
* AxCrazy: Anton Chigurh is a subversion. Even if they [[BlueAndOrangeMorality don't make sense to a normal person]], Chigurh has his reasons, and he's more coldly logical than crazy. He does, however, have one of the primary traits of a true AxCrazy, which is the immense amount of danger involved in even speaking to him.
* BadAss:
** Anton Chigurh. DiscussedTrope.
** Moss himself is a Vietnam veteran.
* [[spoiler: TheBadGuyWins: That this seems to happen more and more in the modern world is what drives Sheriff Bell over the DespairEventHorizon.]]
* BadassBoast: "I'm going to make you ''my special project''."
* BavarianFireDrill: In a particularly disturbing example, Chigurh steals a random passerby's pickup truck by pulling him over in a police car, and manages to get him to stand back completely complacent as he blows his brains out with a cattle bolt
* BeamMeUpScotty: Contrary to what the trailers and DVD chapter listing will tell you, Chigurh never says "Call it, friendo"; they're in two different lines ("What business is it of yours where I'm from...friendo?"/"Call it.")
* BeigeProse: The novel.
* BilingualBonus: When Moss gets woken up by the Mariachis the song they're playing translates to: "You wanted to fly with no wings/ You wanted to touch heaven/ You wanted many riches/ You wanted to play with fire/ And now that -"
* BlackAndGrayMorality: Chigurh versus Moss. Chigurh is a relentless, cold-blooded killer. Moss is impulsive and prideful, getting innocent people such as his wife in danger or killed as well as [[spoiler: leading to his own death.]]
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: This is basically what Chigurh's "moral code" is, at least to him. He has rules, but they make no sense to anyone except him, and he absolutely cannot be reasoned with.
* BriefcaseFullOfMoney
* CareerResurrection: It helped get Josh Brolin noticed again after a long down period in his career.
* CarnivalOfKillers
* CassandraTruth: ''"It's full of money."''
* ChessWithDeath: In a couple instances, Chigurh lets a coin toss decide whether or not he'll kill someone.
* ContractOnTheHitman: Carson is hired to kill Anton after [[spoiler: Anton kills the managerials and the Mexicans at the motel, causing his boss to think he'd gone rogue.]]
* ConstantineCurse: Moss and Chigurh trigger a series of bloody tragedies all around Texas.
* CrapsackWorld: Sheriff Bell seems to believe that this is what the world is becoming. His old mentor later sets him straight. The world isn't becoming a crapsack, it's always been that way.
* CrazyPrepared: Moss goes to some trouble setting up a proper hideout and trying to preempt his enemy's attacks. [[ProperlyParanoid If it were not for his quick thinking and planning]], he would have been killed very quickly.
* CreepyMonotone: Chigurh.
* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: Anton Chigurh.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Than anything the Coen Brothers did previously, even their debut ''BloodSimple''
* DawsonCasting: Carla Jean is a teenage wife in the novel and is played by 30-year-old Kelly [=MacDonald=] in the film.
* DeadpanSnarker: Llewelyn Moss is (at least at first) a carefree one. His wife Carla Jean Moss is a fretful one. Ed Tom Bell is a wistful, morose one. Anton Chigurh is a cold and deadly one.
** "What business is it of yours where I'm from...friendo?"
* DeathIsDramatic: Sometimes, but just as often, averted or even [[SubvertedTrope subverted]].
* {{Deconstruction}}: A specialty both of CormacMcCarthy and Creator/TheCoenBrothers. Moss in particular is a deconstruction of the action hero, especially the older tougher variety. He thinks of himself as tough, resourceful, and morally righteous. To the audience, he comes across as greedy, vain and stupid, never really thinking of the consequences of his actions or of the potential cost to those around him. Like Sheriff Bell, Moss is an archetype of a forgotten era, from a time when men never gave in to bad guys and the lines of black and white were clear. He doesn't seem to realize that the world is turning into a much darker place where men like him have no place. [[spoiler:Unlike Bell, he never realizes and pays the ultimate price for his arrogance.]]
* DecoyProtagonist: Llewelyn Moss. Sheriff Bell is the real protagonist, and delivers both the opening and closing monologues. The story is basically about an old man not adapting to the reality of the brutal environment he works in.
* DeepSouth: The setting, although the simple folk oblivious to the evil encroaching upon them evoke shades of SweetHomeAlabama.
* DespairEventHorizon: Bell just about crosses it [[spoiler: after the deaths of Llewelyn and Carla Jean]]. A conversation with his Uncle Ellis reminds him that criminality and senseless violence have always been part of life in the region. Bell's narration ends on an ambiguous note as he relates two dreams he had. (They seem to allude to CormacMcCarthy's masterpiece ''TheRoad''.)
* TheDeterminator: Pretty much ''all'' the men. [[spoiler: But Chigurh trumps everyone else.]]
* DisapprovingLook: TommyLeeJones' famous "Implied Facepalm".
* DisposablePilot: Moss hitches a ride with a bystander, who is killed at the wheel as Moss watches. Later, he hitches another ride with an entirely different man, who is also killed for his trouble, but that happens long after he was separated from Moss.
* DissonantSerenity: One of the most chilling aspects of Chigurh.
* DownerEnding: Basically, [[spoiler:The Bad Guy Wins]]. Not only [[spoiler: is the Decoy Protagonist murdered (off-screen),]] but then [[spoiler: the villain murders the hero's teenage wife (again, off-screen) and escapes justice, leaving an old man to contemplate his inability to act in the face of so much seemingly pointless violence of the world]].
* TheDreaded: Even other [[PsychoForHire hardened]] [[ProfessionalKiller killers]] are afraid of Chigurh, and with good reason.
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: The entire story seems to be building towards a climactic duel between Moss and Chigurh, but in the end [[spoiler:Moss is killed off-screen by a gang of Mexican drugrunners who aren't even major characters]]. A deliberate subversion of DeathIsDramatic (see above).
* EasterEgg: The credits include an attribution for "The One Right Tool", a reference to a line of dialogue in the film. (Right above it is a credit for "Serious Matters".)
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Chigurh; he looks like death warmed over.
* TheEighties: Set in 1980; since it's the beginning of the decade, and the setting is rural Texas, there isn't much of stereotypical '80s fashion. Chigurh's rather out-of-place garb (alligator skin boots, denim jacket...) could be leftover fashion from the '70s, not to mention his haircut. There's no '80s pop soundtrack either; it's mostly eerie sound effects or silence.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Stephen Root's character is credited as "Man Who Hires Wells".
* EvilIsPetty: Chigurh is willing to [[spoiler:belittle and possibly kill a gas station attendant for ''trying to make small talk with him'']]. This only makes him more terrifying.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: Carla Jean, in the film.
-->'''Carla Jean:''' The coin ain't got no say. It's just ''you''.
** Also discussed when Chigurh is about to kill [[spoiler: Carson]].
-->'''Chigurh:''' You should admit your situation. There would be more dignity in it.
* FakeAmerican: KellyMacdonald, who plays Carla Jean, hails from Scotland.
* FakeNationality: Apparently Mexican Anton Chigurh is played by Spaniard Javier Bardem.
* FloatingHeadSyndrome: The DVD box set has a BIG case of this, which is especially annoying given how perfect the movie poster is for the film. I mean look at it up there.
* FluffyTheTerrible: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]]; "Chigurh" is pronounced almost like "sugar". Then there's his sense of fashion...
* FollowTheLeader: The Coen Brothers admitted they had to work ''hard'' to make sure the film was distinguishable from ''TheTerminator''.
* ForTheEvulz: Anton Chigurh seems this way, although he would insist that he's just following [[BlueAndOrangeMorality his own code]].
* GenreBusting: A specialty of Creator/TheCoenBrothers.
* GoodCannotComprehendEvil: A major theme of the story, embodied by Sheriff Bell.
* GoodOlBoy: Carson Wells, among others.
* {{Gorn}}:
** The Coen brothers said themselves they wanted to make the "strangling" scene in the beginning the most violent strangling in the history of movies.
** The unfortunate random passerby whose only crime was letting Moss into his pickup suffers one of the most gruesome deaths in the movie.
** The death of [[spoiler: the man who hires Wells.]]
** Then there's the guy in the hotel whose arm gets ''obliterated'' by Chigurh's WeaponOfChoice.
* GoryDiscretionShot: Several; in one instance, a discretion cut moves to a later scene.
* HeadsOrTails: Anton Chigurh flips a coin to decide whether to kill a potential victim. Those that choose not to take the chance are killed anyway, because they refuse to submit to the PowersThatBe. [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Fans actually debate over the reason why he does it.]]
* HeroKiller: Anton Chigurh.
* HollywoodSilencer: Chigurh's shotgun has a report no louder than that of a BB gun.
* HopeSpot: Chigurh's accident showed that he's not invincible, just really lucky.
* IfIDoNotReturn
--> '''Llewelyn:''' If I don't come back, tell mother I love her."
--> '''Carla Jean:''' Your mother's dead."
--> '''Llewelyn:''' Well, then I'll tell her myself."
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Chigurh.
** He uses a pneumatic cattle bolt gun as a a lock-breaker and once as an improvised weapon.
** His primary firearm is a silenced pistol grip shotgun.
* InfoDrop: In the film, the date is only revealed from the fact that a 1958 coin "has traveled 22 years to get here".
** And on Agnes' Tombstone.
* TheIngenue: Carla Jean Moss.
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: In the end, both the Mexican hitmen and Chigurh escape justice.]]
* KillThemAll: [[spoiler: Anton successfully eliminates all of the people he was hired to kill, as well as several that he wasn't.]]
* LettingTheAirOutOfTheBand: Used in the mariachi band scene for one of the few moments of overt comic relief in the film.
* LiteraryAllusionTitle: Taken from the poem [[http://www.online-literature.com/yeats/781/ "Sailing to Byzantium"]] by Creator/WilliamButlerYeats. While in the original poem the speaker is an old man who can no longer keep up with the lust (Eros) of the young, Sheriff Bell is an old man who can't keep up with the violence (Thanatos) of the young.
* MacGuffin: Moss has a suitcase containing $2 million. Chigurh is hunting Moss to get the money. Bell is hunting Chigurh and simultaneously hunting Moss in hopes of getting him to safety. [[spoiler: Chigurh never catches up with Moss, and Bell never catches up with either Moss or Chigurh. Bell and Chigurh ''almost'' cross paths, but they never actually meet one another.]]
* AMacGuffinFullOfMoney
* MeanCharacterNiceActor: Javier Bardem, whose icy, menacing and intense performance as Anton Chigurh won him a well-deserved Oscar and created one of the most memorable movie villains in recent history, is in reality a very meek and soft-spoken man; most of his other roles have been in romantic comedies. He confessed to being alarmed by the graphic violence in the film and the pure evil of his character, and says he only agreed to take the part because he believed the Coens were using violence to make a meaningful statement.
* MissedHimByThatMuch: Anton tracks Llewellyn via transponder to a motel room. While Anton is [[spoiler: violently eliminating the Mexicans occupying the room, Llewellyn is dragging the 50 lb. satchel through a ventilation duct in the opposite room. The gunfire and screaming mask the scraping sounds created by the bag.]] By the time Anton checks the vent, Llewellyn has left the motel and hitched a ride out of town.
* MoodWhiplash: The mariachi band.
* {{Narrator}}: In the novel, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell. In the movie, he narrates the opening, and in his closing scenes, his dialogue becomes more and more like narration.
* MurderIsTheBestSolution: Or in Chigurh's case, murder is the ONLY solution.
* NeverTrustATrailer: The trailer makes the film look like a tough action film and alludes to a final confrontation between Wells and Chigurh. Those who have seen the film know that the trailer couldn't be less like it.
* NewOldWest
* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: Anton Chigurh.
* NoEnding: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]]. As noted above, [[spoiler: with the exceptions of Chigurh and Sheriff Bell, every major character dies.]] A quick shot reveals that [[spoiler: Chigurh had found the money in the ventilation system again, and left with the money]], but it goes by fast and is irrelevant to the story by this point.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished:
** The man with the chicken crates who stops to give Chigurh a jump.
** Moss' act of mercy to bring the dying Mexican mobster water sets Chigurh on his trail, though it also gives him warning that someone is looking for the cash, which sets Moss running and helps him figure out that there's a tracking beacon in the cash before Chigurh can ambush him.
* NostalgiaAintLikeItUsedToBe: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with.]] Sheriff Bell often muses about how someone like Chigurh wouldn't have gotten away with anything in the "old days", but this claim is undermined at the end when his uncle Ellis tells him a tale of how his grandfather was killed in cold blood on his own porch in 1908 by a trio of Native Americans, and then says to him flat out that claiming the "old days" were better or more moral is nothing but vanity.
* NothingIsScarier:
** This movie manages to make the act of ''unscrewing a lightbulb'' frightening.
** The build-up before [[spoiler: the hotel shootout between Llewelyn and Chigurh.]]
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: The one time Anton Chigurh meets his match.
* OminousWalk: Anton Chigurh uses this quite a bit.
* PetTheDog: Llewelyn goes back to the scene of the gunfight with a full carton of water, out of sympathy for the driver he refused to help earlier ("I ain't got no damn agua") who was probably dead anyway.
** Of course there is the fact he didn't call an ambulance for him and waited several hourse before deciding to go back, so more of a KickTheDog moment really...
* PlayAlongPrisoner: In his first scene, Anton Chigurh allows a deputy to arrest him, [[spoiler: slips his cuffs from back to front, kills the deputy, and steals a police car.]] All just to prove a point about supreme will.
* PoliceAreUseless
* PragmaticAdaptation: The style in which the novel is written would seem to be difficult to adapt to film, but the Coens manage to do it justice by translating [=McCarthy=]'s stark language into stark imagery and audio design.
* ProfessionalKiller: Both Anton Chigurh and Carson Wells.
* PsychoForHire:
** Anton Chigurh.
** While he is clearly overshadowed in this aspect by Chigurh, Carson Wells is by his own right a quite psychopathic killer.
* RealitySubtext: The book was written partly as the author's reaction to the sensation of escalating violence brought in by drug trafficking, starting in the early eighties and continuing to this day. To evoke this, the book and movie are {{Period Piece}}s. [[spoiler: The author's response to this feeling can possibly be seen in the Uncle's speech near the end, who outright states that things are not worse or better than the past, they just always feel that way to those living at that moment]].
* TheRedStapler: The demand for silenced, pistol-grip shotguns increased as a result of Chigurh's primary weapon.
* SelfStitching: Anton blows up a car so he can steal the medical supplies to treat his injuries; he's later shown stitching himself up, as if we need proof that he's any more badass than he already is.
* ScarilyCompetentTracker: Carson Wells. Subverted by Anton Chigurh, however. Llewelyn eventually realizes that there's no way Chigurh could be tracking him so effectively without some sort of advantage. Sure enough, there's a tracking device in the money bag.
* SceneryGorn: From the shots of the barren, desolate Texas landscape to the long pans over dead bodies in the early stages of decay, this movie has it in spades.
* SceneryPorn: See SceneryGorn, above.
* SeventiesHair: Chigurh. It only adds to his creepiness.
* ShootOutTheLock: Chigurh uses the cattle gun to do this when he's not using it for... [[{{Squick}} other]] [[NightmareFuel things]].
* ShootTheShaggyDog: The climax of the film is starkly anticlimactic, causing many to debate whether it was a brilliant {{deconstruction}} or an insulting cop-out.
* ShoutOut:
** The dying man asking for water, aside from a few details, is very close to the same scene in Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly.
** Mike Zoss Pharmacy. "Mike Zoss" is the name of the Coen Brothers' production company and it was the actual name of a pharmacy located in [[http://bingoprof.blogspot.com/2007/12/mike-zoss-pharmacy.html St. Louis Park, Minnesota]].
* ASimplePlan: A very dark take.
* SlasherSmile: Chigurh sports a [[NightmareFuel lovely]] one during the strangling scene
* TheSociopath: Anton Chigurh is such a potent one that he's basically a walking force of unstoppable evil.
* TakeAThirdOption: Subverted in the film. [[spoiler: Carla refuses to call the coin Chigurh flips for her (she does in the novel, but is wrong). He kills her anyway.]]
* ThrowItIn: During early readings, Spanish actor Javier Bardem attempted unsuccessfully to downplay his accent; the Coens liked the resultant mangled, unidentifiable dialect so much that they encouraged him to speak like that for the entire film, hence Chigurh's strange and unsettling accent.
* UselessProtagonist: Sheriff Bell
* VillainousBreakdown: Anton Chigurh arguably suffers a flicker of one when [[spoiler: Carla Jean refuses to call his coin toss, thus making her the first person in the film to take a stand in direct and face-to-face defiance of his "principles."]] Even moreso in the book. [[spoiler: He apologizes (plainly, but still does) as she starts to sob, and starts to really having to defend his principles to her in order to go through with killing her.]]
* VomitIndiscretionShot: Llewelyn, after inspecting his wounds past the Mexican border.
* WhamLine: Doubles as BadassBoast.
-->'''Llewelyn Moss:''' Yeah, I'm going to bring you something, alright. I decided to make you a special project of mine. [[BringIt You ain't going have to come looking for me at all.]]
* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: The duel between Chigurh and Moss is very different in the book and movie. In the movie, [[spoiler: When Chigurgh cracks the doorknob, it strikes Moss, who shoots back and flees. In the book, Moss turns on his bathroom light and hides in the dark, and when Chigurh inspects the bathroom, Moss holds him at gunpoint and escorts him down the hall with Chigurh facing away. He had the opportunity to kill him there, but is apparently reluctant to commit murder.]]
* WorldHalfEmpty: The movie and the book take an extremely cynical view on human nature. The stark reality of it all drives Bell to retire.
* WrongGenreSavvy: Llewelyn Moss.
* YouKeepTellingYourselfThat: It practically defines the character of Anton Chigurh.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Chigurh does this to everybody to the point it's impossible to deal with him.
-->'''Carson Wells:''' You can't make a deal with him. Even if you gave him the money he'd still kill you. He's a peculiar man.
----
