History Literature / NoCountryForOldMen

** Llewelyn and Chigurh don't face off in an explosive showdown. [[spoiler:Llewelyn is instead killed by a Mexican cartel looking for the money, and Chigurh later picks up the money without much hassle.]]

** Llewelyn and Chigurh don't face off in an explosive showdown. [[spoiler:Chigurh simply waits to get the drop on Llewelyn and kills him before disappearing from sight.]]

** Llewelyn and Chigurh don't face off in an explosive showdown. [[Spoiler: Chigurh simply waits to get the drop on Llewelyn and kills him before disappearing from sight.]]
** [[Spoiler: Chigurh's car crash in the finale shows that, for all he thinks of himself as an unstoppable entity, he's still just a man and evading death in a gun fight without breaking a sweat doesn't mean you can't be killed by something as mundane as a driver on a sleepy suburban street running through a stop sign. The fact that he only survives through pure luck just drives it home further.]]

** [[Spoiler: Chigurh's car crash in the finale shows that, for all he thinks of himself as an unstoppable entity, he's still just a man and evading death in a gun fight without breaking a sweat doesn't mean you can't be killed by something as mundane as a driver on a sleepy suburban street running through a stop sign.]]

''No Country for Old Men'' is a 2005 neo-Western thriller novel by Creator/CormacMcCarthy, a grizzled old man who refuses to discuss his books beyond their often disturbing content. In 2007 it was adapted into a film written and directed by Creator/TheCoenBrothers -- two oddballs with a great sense of black humor and a love for twisted storylines -- and the result was a breathtaking and chillingly eerie film that's considerably bleaker than anything else they've done.

But for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and the men behind the deal have sent ruthless hitman Anton Chigurh (Creator/JavierBardem) to retrieve the briefcase. Chigurh is a man willing to do ''[[TheUnfettered absolutely anything]]'' -- to "[[{{Ubermensch}} follow a supreme act of will]]", as [[BlueAndOrangeMorality he puts it]] -- in order to achieve his aims... and it's no longer just the money he's after.

The film was honored with numerous awards: it received three British Academy of Film awards, two Golden Globes, and UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s for Best Picture (Scott Rudin and [[Creator/TheCoenBrothers Ethan and Joel Coen]]), Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay (the Coen brothers), and Best Supporting Actor (Bardem).

* 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 punches a hole into his forehead with a cattle bolt.

''No Country for Old Men'' is a 2005 neo-western thriller novel by Creator/CormacMcCarthy, a grizzled old man who refuses to discuss his books beyond their often disturbing content. In 2007 it was adapted into a film written and directed by Creator/TheCoenBrothers -- two oddballs with a great sense of black humor and a love for twisted storylines -- and the result was a breathtaking and chillingly eerie film that's considerably bleaker than anything else they've done.

** In the opening scene, the cop turns his back to Chigurh, and confidently saying the situation's under control. Not 2 ''seconds'' later, Chigurh brutally kills the cop using just his handcuffs, and escapes the precinct.

* VillainousBreakdown: A subtle example when Aton is badly wounded unexpectedly in a car accident. He looks shocked and tells the boys at the scene he needs to sit and get his bearings for a while. Then he practically begs the boys for a shirt and help to make a sling for his broken arm, followed by giving them a generous tip for the help. All very out of character for Anton, showing us he's not as powerful as he thinks.

* Villainous breakdown: A subtle example when Aton is badly wounded unexpectedly in a car accident. He looks shocked and tells the boys at the scene he needs to sit and get his bearings for awhile. Then he practically begs the boys for a shirt and help making a sling for his broken arm, followed by giving them a generous tip for the help. All very out of character for Anton, showing us he's not as powerful as he thinks.

* BigBadWannabe: The [[CorruptCorporateExecutive middle manager]] of the Matacumbe Petroleum Group. He seems to be the one who arranged to purchase $2.4 million worth of black tar heroin from Pablo Acosta's Juarez Cartel, and is responsible for bringing both Chigurh and Wells into the plot that he kicked off the begin with. It's subtly implied that this may be his first rodeo and that he's in over his head, and the company's initial foray into the drug trade ultimately gets him killed.

* AnAesop: Monstrous evil like Chigurh has always existed, and thinking previous times were better or more moral is vanity. Despite all of this, there are always people who will [[ArcWords carry the fire.]]

* ActionSurvivor: Llewelyn Moss in some parts. [[spoiler:Not so much by the end.]]

* BigBadEnsemble: Anton Chigurh, the Juarez Cartel and the Matacumbe Petroleum Group are all after the money and willing to kill for it (moreso the former two, mind). One could argue that Moss is a VillainProtagonist too since he is, after all, ultimately just a thief who robs a bunch of dead men, even if he is easily the most sympathetic of the bunch.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Moss 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 an era that never existed 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 and has always been a much darker place where men like that have no place. [[spoiler:Unlike Bell, he never realizes and pays the ultimate price for his arrogance.]]

* {{Determinator}}: ''All'' the men. [[spoiler:But Chigurh trumps everyone else; ''nothing'', not even potentially crippling injuries, will keep him down for long.]]

** Moss is clever enough to have a plan for when his motel room is compromised. He places his satchel of money in an air vent he can reach from another room. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, he isn't able to keep up for too long.]]

** Anton Chigurh is a ProfessionalKiller who's out to get the money from Moss and kill him for the trouble. He's also a psycho who kills most people he meets.
** Llewelyn Moss is a greedy {{Jerkass}} who's in it for himself but he's not psychotic like Chigurh.
* NiceShoes: Throughout the movie, cowboy boots are heavily focused on, whether it's through the frequent shots of Anton Chigurh's or having an entire scene devoted to Llewelyn buying them, with this fixation emphasising the NewOldWest atmosphere of the film as a whole.

** The man with the chicken crates who stops to give Chigurh a jump. He gets his brains removed for his troubles.
** Moss' act of mercy to bring the dying Mexican mobster water gets the cartels 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.
* NominalHero: Moss. He is impulsive, prideful, greedy, and his actions get a lot of innocent people killed as well as ensuring his own doom. However, we are not supposed to see him as a hero so much as a greedy, stupid man in a situation far out of his depth. The only thing he really has going for him is that the man chasing him is a lot worse.

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* CaptainObvious: After Chigurh gets T-boned, one of the kids on bicycles states the obvious fact that he has a bone sticking out of his arm, not once but twice.