If you happened upon a drug deal gone bad which left all those involved dead and a case loaded with 2 million dollars staring you in the face, what would you do?

For Llewelyn Moss (played by Josh Brolin), the choice is an easy one, take the money and run. Unfortunately for him, the bad guys want it back and they have hired the infamous Anton Chigurh (the stunningly creepy and cool Javier Bardem) to retrieve the loot for them. What follows is a slow and suspenseful game of cat and mouse which affects the lives of everyone these two men come in contact with.

Upon first viewing, this was what I perceived to be the main plot of the movie, however on my second run through I realized there was a much broader storyline going on which I had completely missed the first time around. The movie both begins and ends with Tommy Lee Jones' character attempting to come to terms with getting older and not feeling up to the tough and harsh demands of life in the deserts of Texas. Ah yes, leave it to the Coen brothers to pull one of these switcharoos on us yet again. Whether the main plot is about the cash or about accepting retirement and coping with aging, neither plotline gets resolved in the end. Whereas most stories tend to follow a formula of introduction, rising action, climax and conclusion, this film seems to be missing some element of the usual equation. It is anti-climactic and there is absolutely no sense of closure. If it were not for Javier Bardem and his hauntingly intense performance and of course the fact that it was nominated for and won "Best Picture of the Year", there would not be a lot of reasons to recommend this film. It is extremely slow-paced, with limited action and a story that seems to break off in two different directions and never reaches a final destination. If you are curious to see what qualifies for an academy award then check out "No Country For Old Men" but do not expect it to be the "Best Picture" that you have seen all year.