No Country For Old Men Blu-ray Disc Review

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Title: No Country For Old Men (Blu-ray Disc)

Region: A

Genre: Thriller

Stars: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin

Writers: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Based On The Novel By: Cormac McCarthy

Directors: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Feature length: 122 minutes

Extras: Working With The Coens, The Making Of No Country For Old Men, Diary Of A Country Sheriff

Languages: English PCM 5.1 Uncompressed (48 khz/24-bit) Surround Sound and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Subtitles: English Subtitles For The Deaf And Hearing Impaired and French and Spanish Language Subtitles

Packaging: Blue BD Case

Chapter Stops: 16

Sound: English PCM 5.1 Uncompressed (48 khz/24-bit) Surround Sound and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Year of Theatrical Release: 2007/Blu-ray Disc Release: 2008

Theatrical Distributor: Miramax Films and Paramount Vantage

Home Video Distributor: Miramax Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: R

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

No Country For Old Men returns the Coen brothers to a genre they are very adept at conveying cinematically as can be seen in films like their hit debut feature Blood Simple and the 1996 dark comedy classic Fargo. They just have a knack for capturing seemingly remote places of the American landscape and bringing an edge to it that is unique in their style of filmmaking and sense of humor. While I think No Country For Old Men is arguably their darkest film, it has much needed moments of character based humor and the Coens have a great gift for taking scenic spots like the great forest shots in Miller’s Crossing, the bleak winter wasteland of Fargo and the sand drenched desert plains seen in No Country For Old Men and making them evocative of the characters and thus the settings are in themselves a character of their films and not simply something arbitrary or superficial. I am very glad that the Coen brothers received Oscars® for Best Picture at this year Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences® Awards Ceremony because people seem to have short memories when it comes to their films. I remember a graduate school professor cutting into a personal conversation I had with a classmate about The Hudsucker Proxy and saying, “Oh the Coen brothers are finished. They don’t make good films anymore.” Two years later Fargo came out. Then I recall people not being too fond of Intolerable Cruelty, but is it really so easy to forget their previous film before that, the critically acclaimed and award winning Oh Brother Where Art Though? The fact is even master filmmakers make films that not everyone takes a liking to. At least now with another bunch of Oscars® under their belts, we can be sure that as long as they can or want to, there will be plenty of Coen brothers films to view in the future whether you like them or not.

The story itself focuses on three characters and is set in 1980. Josh Brolin’s character is a welder who one day after trying to do some hunting, comes across the scene of a drug deal gone bad as well as a case full of money. Javier Bardem is the psychotic professional killer out to reclaim the lost money, but with no allegiances to anyone. Tommy Lee Jones is a Sheriff heading toward retirement that is following the trail of both Brolin’s and Bardem’s characters while increasingly becoming disillusioned with his duty to uphold the law in changing times. Each actor gives a knockout performance, as does everyone involved in the motion picture. To discuss plot and character elements further I fear may risk revealing spoilers for the countless amounts of people who will discover the film or see it again whether it is in a screening room, on DVD or on Miramax Home Entertainment’s high definition Blu-ray Disc edition, which presents No Country For Old Men in a flawless 1080p (where available) maximum resolution widescreen (2.35:1) presentation that preserves the manner in which the film was exhibited theatrically and in some cases depending where one saw or sees the film, the Blu-ray Disc will offer the best available presentation. The picture quality is matched up by the amplified yet discrete English PCM 5.1 Uncompressed (48 khz/24-bit) Surround Soundtrack that is my preference for high definition optical disc releases because it enable anyone with a home theater receiver with 5.1 composite analog sound inputs to appreciate high resolution uncompressed sound and I have a new receiver capable of decoding HDMI picture and sound streams as well as the already common composite, coaxial, and fiber optic audio inputs used with standard definition DVD players. Thus it gives consumers time to enjoy what they have until the price of receivers capable of decoding Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Lossless Audio in a more economically friendly manner. The soundtrack has a great spatiality between the left and right channels to truly create a three-dimensional sound listening experience.

An English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack as well as English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired and French and Spanish Language Subtitles encoded as options. The bonus materials are presented in a (1.33:1) full frame aspect ratio and consist of three featurettes covering cast and crew reflections of working with the Coens on No Country For Old Men (8:07), a making of featurette (24:29) and a featurette exploring the dichotomy between the compassion of Tommy Lee Jones’ character of Sheriff Bell and the brutality of Javier Bardem’s Academy Award® Winning role as the ruthless killer Anton Chigurh.

A Blu-ray Disc promotional spot (2:30) and trailers for National Treasure: Book Of Secrets (2:02) and Gone Baby Gone (2:37) appear before the main menu. The menus themselves are easy to navigate. Sadly the trailer for No Country For Old Men is not included on this Blu-ray Disc release, which is a shame because I think the trailer for any feature film on any video format should be included as a standard on all titles distributed period.

No Country For Old Men will debut on high definition Blu-ray Disc on Tuesday, March 11, 2008 courtesy of Miramax Home Entertainment.

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