Despite waiting eagerly nearly four months to see this film before finally getting to it, and despite all the hype, I was still massively impressed with No Country For Old Men. Damn this film is good.

The Coen broethers can be an acquired taste, and sometimes stray into a realm of their own where they can lose mere mortals like ourselves… but No Country injects just enough Coen magic to soar but not so much as to fly off the mark (where do I get this complete bullshit?).

Perhaps being constrained by the base material of Cormac McCarthy’s novel was what kept the film grounded in a version of American reality that is at once familiar and yet unsettlingly alien.

All the performances are excellent, Javier Bardem is a genius and his performance as Anton Chigurh is simply legendary, comparable perhaps to Eric Bana’s portrayal of Chopper for the insanity and psychosis plainly evident in the eyes.

Woody Harrelson in brief moments appears to be trying to hard, but he deserves an Oscar for his scene with Javier Bardem. Tommy Lee Jones finally gets to act again - it’s been a while since anyone gave him anything to work with, and Josh Brolin is incredibly convincing as the relatively normal man caught up in the chaos of missing drug money, hit men and crazed mexican drug dealers.

Great also to see Kelly Macdonald give a wonderfully understated and convincing performance, but Beth Grant seemed an odd choice due to the fact that she had to be made up to look older, especially when the Coen brother’s casting of smaller roles is usually incredibly authentic.

So, why four stars instead of five? The Coen brothers will be devastated that I witheld that fifth star and I’m sure it will taint forever the Oscars they will win for this film. But I had a problem with the end. While I love the plot, and have no problem with the ending from a story perspective, the editing seemed to get sloppy toward the end and the storytelling suffered as a result.

The Coen’s editing is superb throughout the film, so one wonders how they could have screwed this up, but everyone I spoke to has different opinions on certain final scenes, and I don’t mean in a good way, I just mean in a downright confused way.

Passage of time is not indicated clearly enough, and certain cuts seem to signify further plot developments which never materialise.

Nevertheless, this is one of the finest films I have seen in a while now, and I think this one may go on to become a classic. You read it here first. If you’ve been living under a rock.