Yeah, the final act is... without getting into spoilers, it's a bit like the movie opts to swiftly kick you in the gut, wait for you to topple over, and then kick you a few more times for good measure before shrugging and walking off. It was an excellent movie but it'll probably take at least a year before I'm interested in rewatching it to pick up on things the second time around.
SPOILER ALERTandythesaintNovember 23 2007, 21:27:28 UTC
Attention to others: Don't read this comment unless you've seen the movie
What threw me was how most of the movie involves the chase between Llewelyn and Anton, then we don't get to witness the resolution. I'm not sure I agree with that choice. After that, the movie is a little rudderless without a protagonist to guide it, and everytime we think we're catching on to a new protoganist or storyline, the movie slams those doors shut.
So while watching, I was highly distracted wondering what would happen next. Now that I know what happens, I think a second viewing would allow me to judge what is presented, instead of what I was thinking would happen. Because I'm not sure that the constant shifting of expectations isn't a little brilliant.
That said, I probably won't be seeing this again until it comes out on DVD, since there's a lot of other movies out that will take my time and money.
Re: SPOILER ALERTmechamummyNovember 23 2007, 21:39:15 UTC
SPOILER! SPOILER! HIGH VOLTAGE
Agreed. On one hand, I think killing off Llewelyn in that manner was kind of brilliant given the foreshadowing. It was life, life is fucked up and ironic and things usually don't resolve themselves so neatly, but... oof. We were left with one character who could feasibly be a protagonist at the end and he more or less just went "well shit, I'm old." Llewelyn's dead, his wife's dead, Woody Harrelson's dead, and there's no way Ed Tom could have done shit to Chigurh. It's a brilliantly jarring finale and a marvelous movie, and I'm sure the fact that I felt utterly disconnected with the plot after Llewelyn was killed off by the fucking Mexicans of all people was the intent the whole time (and the many parallels between Llewelyn and Chigurh when the latter was hit by that car made for an incredibly clever scene), but... augh. Right now I have it at 4/5, with the knowledge that it probably should be 4.5 but I just can't bring myself to rate it at that yet. It needs time to settle, I think.
I'll get into it whenever I find the time to write a couple of reviews, but I'll just say I loved this movie and everyone should go see it. Although I'm sick of hearing people complain at work because the end details weren't spoonfed to them like in most Hollywood pictures these days.
And in case you were wondering what the other one was when I said "a couple of reviews" ... Hitman sucks.
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What threw me was how most of the movie involves the chase between Llewelyn and Anton, then we don't get to witness the resolution. I'm not sure I agree with that choice. After that, the movie is a little rudderless without a protagonist to guide it, and everytime we think we're catching on to a new protoganist or storyline, the movie slams those doors shut.
So while watching, I was highly distracted wondering what would happen next. Now that I know what happens, I think a second viewing would allow me to judge what is presented, instead of what I was thinking would happen. Because I'm not sure that the constant shifting of expectations isn't a little brilliant.
That said, I probably won't be seeing this again until it comes out on DVD, since there's a lot of other movies out that will take my time and money.
Reply
Agreed. On one hand, I think killing off Llewelyn in that manner was kind of brilliant given the foreshadowing. It was life, life is fucked up and ironic and things usually don't resolve themselves so neatly, but... oof. We were left with one character who could feasibly be a protagonist at the end and he more or less just went "well shit, I'm old." Llewelyn's dead, his wife's dead, Woody Harrelson's dead, and there's no way Ed Tom could have done shit to Chigurh. It's a brilliantly jarring finale and a marvelous movie, and I'm sure the fact that I felt utterly disconnected with the plot after Llewelyn was killed off by the fucking Mexicans of all people was the intent the whole time (and the many parallels between Llewelyn and Chigurh when the latter was hit by that car made for an incredibly clever scene), but... augh. Right now I have it at 4/5, with the knowledge that it probably should be 4.5 but I just can't bring myself to rate it at that yet. It needs time to settle, I think.
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And in case you were wondering what the other one was when I said "a couple of reviews" ... Hitman sucks.
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