[mooby]

Originally Posted by itvnetop

You're not alone... in fact most people were put off by the ending. But it's technically a near flawless film... it's going to be used over and over in film classes to dissect elements like cinematography, pacing and writing.

* Spoilers *

The movie works because it accomplishes the vision of the original book. NCFOM is a thematic movie, moreso than character-driven. The Coens have a knack for straying from traditional film structure- you didn't really have a "good guy protagonist" to root for, per se... there was Brolin's character, who played an average Joe- the audience wants him to get away with the money, but he still pulls off an unethical action (stealing money that's not his). Bardem's psycho character is definitely not the guy to root for, but he displays his own abstract sense of morality. And Tommy Lee Jones was the dude that verbalizes McCarthy's (the original book's author) overarching message- the world is becoming evil and good can no longer stop it... only fate can hope to stumble it...

Leaving out the death scenese for major characters is intentional to the overall theme. You're left wondering "wtf" during certain aftermath shots (and the ending) b/c the storytelling is so un-Hollywood. The movie's not wrapped up in a bowtie at the end and that surely pissed a bunch of people off.

/film geekness

I can definitely dig what you're saying. For the reasons you listed it is a good movie. I just wish it offered closure at the end, but I can see why they ended it like that. Overall though it was a good movie.