History Literature / NoCountryForOldMen

There's just one small hitch: an assassin has been sent after the stolen money, and he is ''a complete sociopath''. Anton Chigurh (Creator/JavierBardem) is a man willing to do ''absolutely anything'' -- to "[[{{Ubermensch}} follow a supreme act of will]]", as [[BlueAndOrangeMorality he puts it]] -- in order to get what he's after... and it's no longer just the money he's after.

* 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 engaging with him.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: This is what Chigurh's "moral code" is. He has rules, but they almost completely prohibit coexistence with others; so strict are they, and by their nature, absolutely no one can reason them out of his head. For example, he despises people who inherit something, apparently preferring things by chance (as seen when the gas store owner is spared by a coin toss), and he also despises people who try to use multiple people to accomplish one deed (and punishes it by shotgun blasts to the chest).

* ForTheEvulz: Anton Chigurh seems this way, although he would insist that he's just following [[BlueAndOrangeMorality his own code]].

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: This is what Chigurh's "moral code" is. He has rules, but they almost completely prohibit coexistence with others; so strict are they, and by their nature, absolutely no one can reason them out of his head.

* DecoyProtagonist: Llewelyn Moss. Sheriff Bell is the real protagonist, and delivers both the opening and closing monologues. The story is about an old man not adapting to the reality of the brutal environment he works in.

* DiabolusExNihilo: Played very, very straight with Anton Chigurh. He spends the first act of the film terrorizing the townsfolk for reasons that are never really discussed. As the second act begins, he's instantly involved in the plot without a word of explanation. We don't even know who's employing him.

* DisapprovingLook: Creator/TommyLeeJones' famous "Implied Facepalm" given to one of his deputies.

* 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.

** The man with the chicken crates who stops to give Chigurh a jump.

** Chigurh wears the same haircut as [[Film/HardBoiled Mad Dog]].

* VillainousBreakdown: In the book, [[spoiler:the closest Chigurh gets to something that isn't his absolutely certain and inhuman behavior is being confronted with a crying Carla Jean, uncomfotably apologizing and having to explain his worldview.]]. In the movie, [[spoiler:he gets his arm shattered by a car, and it's clear he's in extreme pain and shock, despite his usual monotone.]]

* UselessProtagonist: Sheriff Bell, too apathetic to even properly pursue Chigurh, unlike the hotshot deputies and the out-of-state investigators trying to piece together what's going on. One of his major scenes is his deputy trying to encourage him to go with the investigators at the crime scenes - he doesn't care, saying it'll do no good. [[spoiler:He doesn't bother with investigating further after he fails to stop Chigurh.]]

* {{Badass}}:
** Anton Chigurh. DiscussedTrope.
** Moss himself is a Vietnam veteran.

* DisposablePilot: Moss hitches a ride with a bystander, who is killed while Moss 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.

* UselessProtagonist: Sheriff Bell, too apathetic to even properly pursue Chigurh, unlike the hotshot deputies and the out-of-state investigators trying to piece together what's going on. One of his major scenes is his deputy trying to encourage him to go with the investigators at the crime scenes - he doesn't care, saying it'll do no good. [[spoiler:He doesn't bother with investigating further after he fails to stop Chigurh.

** Anton Chigurh is a deconstruction of the ImplacableMan and HitmanWithAHeart. He isn't a killer robot from the future, and he can bleed and get hurt, but Anton is still as close to a terminator as you could get in real life. Like a Dostoyevskean character, Anton is completely driven by an idea. In this case, the idea is that every action you take, will ultimately decide your fate. If Anton is hired to kill you, that means that somewhere along the line, you have committed an action that warranted it. [[DisproportionateRetribution If you realized this or not at the time, makes ''NO'' difference,]] and there is ''NO'' amount of begging and pleading that will save you, once you're in Chigurhs sights. Anton simply views himself as fates messenger, [[BreakThemByTalking and calmly and methodically makes sure that you realize how poor your decisions were, before he blows your brains out.]] Compare with UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan and his "i am the flail of god" quote, to see where he is coming from.The HitmanWithAHeart part, comes from the fact that Chigurh doesn't feel any anger or hatred for his victims. If anything, he might feel pity for the fact that they'd ended up in their current situation, and like in Carla Jeans case, through the fault of others. In some cases, he is willing to give his victims a coin toss to potentially spare their lives (further playing into his fatalistic worldview and his role as a messenger of fate). But that's it. Chigurhs just the deliveryman.

** Anton Chigurh is a deconstruction of the ImplacableMan and HitmanWithAHeart. He isn't a killer robot from the future, and he can bleed and get hurt, but Anton is still as close to a terminator as you could get in real life. Like a Dostoyevskean character, Anton is completely driven by an idea. In this case, the idea is that every action you take, will ultimately decide your fate. If Anton is hired to kill you, that means that somewhere along the line, you have committed an action that warranted it. [[DisproportionateRetribution If you realized this or not at the time, makes ''NO'' difference,]] and there is ''NO'' amount of begging and pleading that will save you, once you're in Chigurhs sights. Anton simply views himself as fates messenger, [[BreakThemByTalking and calmly and methodically makes sure that you realize how poor your decisions were, before he blows your brains out.]] Compare with UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan and his "i am the flail of god" quote, to see where he is coming from.The HitmanWithAHeart part, comes from the fact that Chigurh doesn't feel any anger or hatred for his victims. If anything, he might feel pity for the fact that they'd ended up in their current situation, and like in Carla Jeans case, through the fault of others. But that's it. Chigurhs just the deliveryman.

* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: Anton Chigurh.

** Anton Chigurh is a deconstruction of the ImplacableMan and HitmanWithAHeart. He isn't a killer robot from the future, and he can bleed and get hurt, but Anton is still as close to a terminator as you could get in real life. Like a Dostoyevskean character, Anton is completely driven by an idea. In this case, the idea is that every action you take, will ultimately decide your fate. If Anton is hired to kill you, that means that somewhere along the line, you have committed an action that warranted it. [[DisproportionateRetribution If you realized this or not at the time, makes ''NO'' difference,]] and there is ''NO'' amount of begging and pleading that will save you, once you're in Chigurhs sights. Anton simply views himself as fates messenger, [[BreakThemByTalking and calmly and methodically makes sure that you realize how poor your decisions were, before he blows your brains out.]] Compare with UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan and his "i am the flail of god" quote, to see where he is coming from.
The HitmanWithAHeart part, comes from the fact that Chigurh doesn't feel any anger or hatred for his victims. If anything, he might feel pity for the fact that they'd ended up in their current situation, and like in Carla Jeans case, through the fault of others. But that's it. Chigurhs just the deliveryman.

* FreudianTrio: Moss is the Ego, Chigurh is the Id, Bell the Superego.

* VillainousBreakdown: An extremely understated and minor one, [[TheStoic given who it is]], but Anton has a small 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", and flat out states that his deference to "chance" is a thin excuse for him doing what he does.]] Even moreso in the book, where [[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.]]

* UselessProtagonist: Sheriff Bell, too apathetic to even properly pursue Chigurh, unlike the hotshot deputies and the out-of-state investigators trying to piece together what's going on. One of his major scenes is his deputy trying to encourage him to go with the investigators at the crime scenes - he doesn't care, saying it'll do no good. [[spoiler:He doesn't bother with investigating further after he fails to stop Chigurh.]]
* VillainousBreakdown: Anton Chigurh 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", and flat out states that his deference to "chance" is a thin excuse for him doing what he does.]] Even moreso in the book, where [[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.]]

* KarmaHoudini: Played with. [[spoiler:Llewellyn's killers get away just as Bell gets there, but he managed to kill one and sent the rest running in fear.]]

* KarmaHoudini: Played with. [[spoiler:Llewellyn's killers get away just as Bell gets there, but he managed to kill one and sent the rest running in fear.]] Later, [[spoiler:Chigurh does kill his wife, but she defies his nonsensical logic. Shortly after, a car slams into him, apparently killing him, but he manages to get out and escape after bribing some kids nearby to keep quiet - many critics saw this as a clean getaway, but even with his medical knowledge, the injuries he received are not treatable by himself.]] It's spelled out further in the book, where [[spoiler:one of the kids rats him out and the sheriffs know where he's going.]]

%% * CarnivalOfKillers
* TheCartel: Real life drug kingping Pablo Acosta's Juarez Cartel is one of the two parties involved in the drug deal gone wrong. [[spoiler: Their hitmen eventually kill Moss.]]

%% * NewOldWest

** 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.

%% * SceneryPorn

* UselessProtagonist: Sheriff Bell, too apathetic to even properly pursue Chigurh, unlike the hotshot deputies and the out-of-state investigators trying to piece together what's going on. [[spoiler:He doesn't bother with investigating further after he fails to stop Chigurh.]]

* 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", 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.]]

** 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]].

* 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.

* 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 still and complacent as he blows his brains out with a cattle bolt.

* CelebrityParadox: In the novel Ed Tom Bell mentions the murder of a federal judge in San Antonio. He's referring to John Howland Wood, who was assassinated outside his townhouse by a contract killer named Charles Harrelson on May 29, 1979. Creator/WoodyHarrelson (yes, the son of Charles) would go on to co-star in the Coen Brothers' film.

* CreatorThumbprint: Even though this movie shocked many audiences in 2007 by being considerably DarkerAndEdgier than most of the Coens' previous films, it still bears several of their signature elements: it's set in the recent past (the early 1980's), it's about a crime gone awry (the botched drug deal), and it features a seemingly emotionless ImplacableMan with an embarrassing haircut (Chigurh).

* DarkerAndEdgier: ... than anything the [[Creator/CoenBrothers Coen Brothers]] did previously, even their debut ''Film/BloodSimple''

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:TheBadGuyWins]]. Not only [[spoiler:is the 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]].

* 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).

* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Chigurh; he looks like death warmed over.

** The Coen brothers said themselves they wanted to make the "strangling" scene in the beginning the most violent strangling in the history of movies.

* 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.]] [[spoiler:[[FaceDeathWithDignity Carla Jean refuses to play]], [[ShutUpHannibal refusing to blame the coin or fate for her possible death - simply Chigurh]].]]

** [[spoiler:Chigurh now has to track the money to Mexico...if he can get there with a shattered, useless arm]].