Critical response
Javier Bardem's performance as Anton Chigurh received critical acclaim, earning him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, thus becoming the first Spanish actor to win an Academy Award.On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 93% based on reviews from 288 critics, with an average rating of 8.70/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Bolstered by powerful lead performances from Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, and Tommy Lee Jones, No Country for Old Men finds the Coen brothers spinning cinematic gold out of Cormac McCarthy's grim, darkly funny novel."[104] The film also holds a rating of 92 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 39 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[105] Upon release, the film was widely discussed as a possible candidate for several Oscars,[106][107] before going on to receive eight nominations, and eventually winning four in 2008. Javier Bardem, in particular, has received considerable praise for his performance in the film.
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called it "the best of the [Coens'] career so far".[68] Rob Mackie of The Guardian also said that "what makes this such a stand-out is hard to put your finger on – it just feels like an absorbing and tense two hours where everyone is absolutely on top of their job and a comfortable fit in their roles."[79] Geoff Andrew of Time Out London expressed that "the film exerts a grip from start to end". Richard Corliss of Time magazine chose the film as the best of the year and said that "after two decades of being brilliant on the movie margins, the Coens are ready for their closeup, and maybe their Oscar".[108] Paul Arendt of the BBC gave the film a full mark and said that it "doesn't require a defense: it is a magnificent return to form".[77] A. O. Scott of The New York Times stated that "for formalists – those moviegoers sent into raptures by tight editing, nimble camera work and faultless sound design – it's pure heaven."[65] Both Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton from the ABC show At The Movies gave the film five stars, making No Country for Old Men the only film to receive such a rating from the hosts in 2007. Both praised the film for its visual language and suspense, David commenting that "Hitchcock wouldn't have done the suspense better".[109][110]
Occasional disapproval was voiced, with some critics noting the absence of a "central character" and "climactic scene"; its "disappointing finish" and "dependen[ce] on an arbitrarily manipulated plot"; or a general lack of "soul" and sense of "hopelessness".[45][111][112][113][114][115][116] Sukhdev Sandhu of The Daily Telegraph argued that "Chigurh never develops as a character ... with material as strong as this, one would think they could do better than impute to him a sprawling inscrutability, a mystery that is merely pathological." He further accused it of being full of "pseudo profundities in which [the Coen brothers] have always specialised."[117] In The Washington Post, Stephen Hunter criticized Chigurh's weapons as unintentionally humorous and lamented, "It's all chase, which means that it offers almost zero in character development. Each of the figures is given, a la standard thriller operating procedure, a single moral or psychological attribute and then acts in accordance to that principle and nothing else, without doubts, contradictions or ambivalence."[118]
Accolades
"We're very thankful to all of you out there for continuing to let us play in our corner of the sandbox."
—Co-director Joel Coen while accepting the award for Best Director at the 80th Academy Awards[119]
No Country for Old Men was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won four, including Best Picture. Additionally, Javier Bardem won Best Supporting Actor; the Coen brothers won Achievement in Directing (Best Director) and Best Adapted Screenplay. Other nominations included Best Film Editing (the Coen brothers as Roderick Jaynes), Best Cinematography (Roger Deakins), Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing.[120]
Javier Bardem became the first Spanish actor to win an Oscar. "Thank you to the Coens for being crazy enough to think I could do that and put one of the most horrible hair cuts in history on my head," Bardem said in his acceptance speech at the 80th Academy Awards. He dedicated the award to Spain and to his mother, actress Pilar Bardem, who accompanied him to the ceremony.[121]
While accepting the award for Best Director at the 80th Academy Awards, Joel Coen said that "Ethan and I have been making stories with movie cameras since we were kids", recalling a Super 8 film they made titled "Henry Kissinger: Man on the Go". "Honestly," he said, "what we do now doesn't feel that much different from what we were doing then. We're very thankful to all of you out there for continuing to let us play in our corner of the sandbox."[119] It was only the second time in Oscar history that two individuals shared the directing honor (Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins were the first, winning for 1961's West Side Story).[122]
The film was nominated for four Golden Globe Awards, winning two at the 65th Golden Globe Awards.[123] Javier Bardem won Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture and the Coen brothers won Best Screenplay – Motion Picture. The film was also nominated for Best Motion Picture – Drama, and Best Director (Ethan Coen and Joel Coen). Earlier in 2007 it was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.[124] The Screen Actors Guild gave a nomination nod to the cast for its "Outstanding Performance".[125] The film won top honors at the Directors Guild of America Awards for Joel and Ethan Coen. The film was nominated for nine BAFTAs in 2008 and won in three categories; Joel and Ethan Coen winning the award for Best Director, Roger Deakins winning for Best Cinematography and Javier Bardem winning for Best Supporting Actor.[126] It has also been awarded the David di Donatello for Best Foreign Film.
No Country for Old Men received recognition from numerous North American critics' associations (New York Film Critics Circle, Toronto Film Critics Association, Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association, National Board of Review, New York Film Critics Online, Chicago Film Critics Association, Boston Society of Film Critics, Austin Film Critics Association, and San Diego Film Critics Society).[127][128][129][130][131] The American Film Institute listed it as an AFI Movie of the Year for 2007, and the Australian Film Critics Association and Houston Film Critics Society both voted it best film of 2007.[7]
The film appeared on more critics' top ten lists (354) than any other film of 2007, and was more critics' No. 1 film (90) than any other.[132][133]
