The Coen brothers have dabbled in a number of different genres. They’ve made comedies, westerns, spy movies, film noirs — and a healthy dose of crime movies. From the neon-lit thrills of Blood Simple to the Prohibition-era antics of Miller’s Crossing to the absurdist stoner laughs of The Big Lebowski, the Coens have really put their stamp on the crime genre.
Arguably, the duo’s greatest crime movie is No Country for Old Men, the neo-western Cormac McCarthy adaptation that won them a shelf load of Academy Awards, and a close second is Fargo, their homespun, darkly comic, supposedly true-to-life murder story.
No Country For Old Men Is The Best: It Expertly Subverts The Audience’s Expectations
It’s rare to have a movie that subverts the audience’s expectation of closure at the end of a story and not have it be a huge disappointment. But Cormac McCarthy and the Coen brothers are master storytellers, so in No Country for Old Men, it works wonders.
At the end of No Country, closure is specifically avoided. This leaves Sheriff Bell baffled by the senseless violence and lack of justice in the world around him. This ambiguous ending poignantly captures the rampant injustice in society.
Fargo Is A Close Second: It Has A Pitch-Black Sense Of Humor
One of the hallmarks of the Coens’ filmography is their pitch-black comic sensibility. No Country for Old Men isn’t a humorless movie, but it’s far from a comedy. Fargo, on the other hand, could be categorized as a full-on dark comedy.
Crime stories could always use a healthy dose of dark humor — just look at Pulp Fiction, Breaking Bad, or In Bruges — and Fargo has it in spades.
No Country For Old Men Is The Best: It Contrasts The Wild West With Modern Crime
The character of Bell serves to contrast the myths of the Wild West with modern crimes. He says that in the Old West, many lawmen weren’t even armed, whereas in modern times, gun violence is rampant.
Anton Chigurh serves to embody the kind of senseless violence that Bell is bitter about. At the end of the movie, after leaving behind a bloody path of destruction, Chigurh leaves without a trace.
Fargo Is A Close Second: It Takes Place In A World Of Its Own
The world of Fargo is as unique and thoroughly developed as the fantastical worlds of Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings. It’s set in our world, but it has its own quirks. An entire anthology series has been set in that curious world.
From the bleak snowy landscapes to the bickering goons to the mild-mannered suburban normies falling into a life of crime, Fargo seemingly takes place in a universe of its own.
No Country For Old Men Is The Best: The Suspense Sequences Are Hitchcockian In Their Craft
The suspenseful sequences in No Country for Old Men, like when Moss first finds the money or when Bell arrives at the motel, are crafted in a way that would make Alfred Hitchcock proud.
During the shootout between Moss and Chigurh, the two never come face to face and the Coens don’t use tense music as a crutch, but the audience is still glued to the edge of their seats.
Fargo Is A Close Second: It’s About Ordinary People
The characters in Fargo are not seasoned criminals ripped from the pages of an Elmore Leonard novel; they’re just ordinary people in over their heads. Jerry Lundegaard is a regular car salesman who cooks up a criminal scheme he’s not smart enough to pull off.
Marge Gunderson isn’t a gun-toting, exposition-spouting stock character; she has lunch with her supportive husband and asks about his painting. Even the professionals, Carl and Gaear, don’t really know what they’re doing.
No Country For Old Men Is The Best: The Three Leads Give Breathtaking Performances
Josh Brolin is the quintessential “wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time” protagonist as Llewelyn Moss, Tommy Lee Jones personifies the story’s themes as conflicted sheriff Ed Tom Bell, and Javier Bardem is the chilling human embodiment of violence as killer Anton Chigurh.
There is some phenomenal acting in Fargo — Frances McDormand and William H. Macy, in particular, nail their roles — but there are few movies that scrape the greatness of No Country’s trifecta of lead performances.
Fargo Is A Close Second: The True Story Disclaimer Provides A Unique Twist
In the opening moments of Fargo, a text disclaimer informs the audience that what follows is a true story. However, what follows is an outlandish, surreal tale, and the end credits still have the classic “all persons fictitious” disclaimer. Supposedly, the script was inspired by a real incident with a wood-chipper, but the Coens surrounded the truth with fiction.
By playing into the trend of true crime stories and taking wild left turns, the Coens put a unique twist on the movie — and the audience’s expectations of it.
No Country For Old Men Is The Best: It Defies Genre Classification
Though No Country for Old Men is technically a crime movie, the truth is that it defies genre classification.
The Guardian’s Rob Mackie came closest when he called it a “crime western noir horror comedy.” This saved the movie from getting pigeonholed and gave it an identity all of its own.
Fargo Is A Close Second: Marge Gunderson Might Be The Greatest Cop Character Ever Created
Thanks to movies like Dirty Harry and Bad Boys, the general image of the police on the big screen is tough-as-nails badasses with quippy one-liners and a tenuous grasp on obeying the law and doing actual detective work. Fargo’s Marge Gunderson, played brilliantly by Frances McDormand, feels like an antidote to this kind of cop character.
She might be the greatest cop character ever created. She investigates homicides while seven months pregnant, does some real police work, and brings the perpetrators to justice without using excessive force.
