Watched it. Don't get it.
It was a long movie that went nowhere.
Oh, it went somewhere....
Ending Talk, Etc Etc.
....For Anton (Javier Bardem), namely -- it went somewhere. Seems like he got away w/ everything, basically.
Anybody in his path pretty much wound up destroyed, whether it was physically (like most of those characters whom Anton killed) or mentally (Tommy Lee Jones' character, as the last scene REALLY shows).
Also, hence the title of the flick, too -- Tommy Lee Jones felt he was too old for that shit (as Mel Gibson would say in those Lethal Weapon movies) after everything he has seen and went through, heh!
EDIT:
Finally got a chance to see this and it was amazing. Simple, but also very tense, and the lack of a soundtrack makes some scenes even more powerful. Definitely worth watching, and is probably 2007's best movie.
Yeah, I loved that there wasn't music in any of the action scenes. Hell, the only real music in the movie was the singing Mexican guys (which isn't traditional score type of music either -- cool scene, by the way) and the traditional score type of music in the end credits.
I understood the significance of what I watched, D.
My reply was to Xessive.
It did go somewhere, the wrong place. I'm sorry I watched it.
Obviously, you thought it went "somewhere", but you just didn't particularly care for it.
Maybe b/c you wanted more story told to you than to be shown on-screen?
Maybe you wanted less stuff implied and more stuff cemented in stone here?
Looking and wanting more depth to the story here than what was there?
That doesn't mean I liked it, or appreciated it at any level, including some artsy-fartsy transcendental one. I thought it sucked through and through, performances aside. If I want my story to be "bad guy kills people and gets away with it; good guy shakes head and leaves" the end, nothing else to see here, move along, it won't take 2 hours and a Hollywood budget to do it.
A lot of the actual story is told here through the actual visuals themselves and nothing more. A lot can be implied from what is shown on-screen -- and also what is not shown on-screen, as well. It's not really spelled out to you in dialogue, unlike most flicks.
Yeah, most films don't work that way. They'll tell you things often in dialogue. Also, most would've told you as soon as the flick begins "Texas, 1980's," setting the time and place on-screen as soon as it starts. This film instead lets you figure it out by everything else in the film (such as all the vehicles have a distinct look and the add 20-somethings years line thrown early on) that basically indicates the time and place.
Cobra, question -- did you think in your opinion the flick was too long? Was the pacing off for you at all?
Yes, I did like the film a lot -- but I dunno' if it should've been the best movie of 2007. I don't think it'll be my favorite DVD of 2008. Though, regardless, it was a very good flick, if you ask me.
EDIT:
See thats it though, I dont want to watch a movie where the message is cut and dry and predictable and looks like it was setup. It just makes characters transparent and look stupid.
Actually, what I expected, I didn't receive...
What I expected was a big shootout to be shown b/t Anton and Luellyn. (spelling?) With the way it was going, I was even expecting him to kill Anton. Of course, we never saw that shootout. And we know Luellyn got killed.
I expected afterwards, that maybe Tommy Lee Hones would kill Anton in the Hotel. That didn't happen, either.
Once it cut to the wife, I expected Anton to kill the wife. We can assume that he probably did, by what he does w/ his boots -- even though we didn't actually see him do it or get any sound effects of him killing her.
When Anton was driving in the near-end, I expecting him right there to get into an accident and die. Though, the accident occurred -- he did walk away, pretty much. Didn't really expect that.
Llewelyn died, I think it started to come apart a bit. There was no real resolution, other than I guess the drug-dealers got their shit back.
I was left disappointed. It was all extremely well acted, but it just didn't seem to go anywhere. From watching some of the extras, I guess this was based on a book? In that case you can't really blame it on the screenwriters but it's a shame that a movie that had such force halfway through concluded itself in such a manner.
EDIT by Que - just fixed your tags, scott.
I think for most people, when it comes down to the end of the flick....
The open-ended nature of a few of the loose threads at the end pissed people off -- including myself. And the end with Tommy Lee Jones retiring just doesn't seem like the right note to end the movie on -- b/c it leaves you with the feeling when the credits rolls of, "Ummmm....That's it?"
It seems like it should've ended on the reverse, where we first see Tommy retire and Anton hinted at possibly getting away while still bleeding profusely.
"Did he die? Did he live?" Not really etched in stone too much.
Oh, and we are not sure if the girl was killed for the money or not. Again, left in the air -- but she probably was killed, I'd guess (no shots were heard). But, we do know that he bought all that stuff from the kids b/c he took the money from her.
This is what I think keeps it from being a great film. The end stuff was left up in the air more than an episode of Half-Life (game).
Oh, and we are not sure if the girl was killed for the money or not. Again, left in the air -- but she probably was killed, I'd guess (no shots were heard). But, we do know that he bought all that stuff from the kids b/c he took the money from her.
I'm pretty sure she was killed. When he leaves the house, he checks the bottom of both shoes. I'd imagine he's looking for blood.
If you watch the bonus material, you find out that the movie is really about the sheriff and the fact that he simply feels "outclassed," as he says during the movie. He sees the world changing violently in front of his eyes and feels like he just can't keep up or what to make of it, so he retires. I find it odd that it's about the sheriff but most of the movie takes place entirely without him.
I just saw this movie, and overall I really liked it. I too found the ending disappointing though.
It really wasn't so much that it didn't have an obvious conclusion, but I just felt like Tommy Lee Jones' character was so seperated from the whole story. I completely expected him to go after Anton and either get killed, or kill him, then retire. (I think him retiring was mentioned earlier int he movie).
The car accident at the end also had nothing to do with anything. It was random and meaningless, but I guess that was the point. The bad guy walking off injured yet unapprehended worked fine, but the way he got hurt and walked off had no meaning in it. It wasn't a victory over good, just some random guy getting in a car wreck, but not wanting to be there when the cops showed up.
Oh, and I 100% believe that he killed the wife. As was said earlier in the movie, he keeps his word. He promised to kill her if Llewelyn (sp?) didn't cooperate. He didn't, so he had to kill the wife. To be honest I'm surprised he even offered the coin toss.
the killer gets to limp away with no further consequence.
As I said somewhere above, I get to experience aimless reality for free, every day, and in full-surround, real 3D. I don't need to see it in a movie.