Paramount's Near-Perfect Western Crime Thriller that Swept the Oscars Is Officially Free to Watch
It's streaming for free, and pairs perfectly with our favorite new show
If you’ve never heard the term neo-Western, it refers to stories that explore the themes and imagery of American Westerns and examine them for modern times. Movies and TV shows in this genre often depict lawlessness and gunfighting, and explore themes of right and wrong, but typically with more ambiguity than classic Westerns did. The genre dates all the way back to the 1950s and 1960s, after the golden age of American Westerns died out. That’s when Hollywood began to generate some more complex stories like Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) and Hud (1963), which depicted present-day stories with Western themes as opposed to those set in the “Old West.”
So it may come as a surprise to hear that the DC Universe's latest project falls within the genre. Across comics, television, and film, DC's various Green Lanterns are most often involved in space adventures or Justice League teamups, but HBO's Lanterns places Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and John Stewart (Aaron Pierre), a superpowered space cop and his trainee, respectively, in small-town Nebraska in what is essentially a neo-Western story.
Last year, while Lanterns was still shooting, series director James Hawes even compared Lanterns to one of the most famous neo-Westerns. He said the show reminded him of No Country for Old Men, a movie I would highly recommend to anyone who is digging the country vibes of Lanterns.
The 2007 film No Country for Old Men was written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, adapted from a novel by Cormac McCarthy (which is also fantastic). By 2007, the Coen brothers had been turning out memorable films for more than 20 years in a wide variety of genres. They’d even won an Oscar in 1997 for Best Original Screenplay for the film Fargo. No Country for Old Men, though, was the first time they really won big at the Academy Awards, receiving Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay — all of which were entirely deserved.
No Country for Old Men is a twisty crime thriller where an array of different characters swirl around a case of money missing from a crime scene. After a shootout in the desert of West Texas leaves nearly everyone on both sides of a drug deal dead, impoverished welder and Vietnam War veteran Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) stumbles upon the crime scene riddled with dead bodies. He then finds a suitcase full of money and takes it home. Meanwhile, veteran country sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) is investigating the desert shootout, while the mysterious mercenary Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) has been hired by the crime syndicate that facilitated the drug deal to recover the missing money.
In addition to confirming the brilliance of the Coen brothers, No Country for Old Men also elevated the career of Javier Bardem, who went from an obscure Spanish actor to an Oscar-winner for Best Supporting Actor and a household name. Brolin, too, received a career boost as he’d previously (and quite unjustly) been considered more of a B-list actor as opposed to the A-lister he is today. Tommy Lee Jones, meanwhile, gave one of the most subtle, complex roles of his long career.
Bardem’s part as Anton Chigurh is the most memorable character in the film. With his accent, bizarre hairdo, and meticulous country attire, he seemed like a strange man out of time, even with this being a period piece set in 1980. He’s also shockingly intimidating in the movie, with moments of extreme tension and bursts of swift violence.
Brolin, meanwhile, holds the film together as the central figure everyone is after. Though not as “big” seeming as Chigurh, Llewelyn Moss just feels like a real guy who wants to keep the money he found and is willing to put his life in danger for it, no matter the consequences to himself and his family.
Then there’s Jones’ Sheriff Bell, an old lawman who is desperately out of touch with the times he’s living in. No Country for Old Men is a Western story, and Bell initially appears to be the honorable cop who will save the day. But in reality, he’s an old man scared of the changing world. He’s not a hero, but he’s sympathetic and relatable precisely because he doesn’t rise to the occasion.
These three characters, and a handful of others, revolve around each other in rural Texas, as more lives are lost and more chaos erupts. The movie is full of unexpected twists that are shocking, while also feeling real and tragic. As far as neo-Western stories go, this is a good example of a really grounded one.
Lanterns, with its power rings and aliens, is a bit less grounded, but that’s what’s so interesting about the series. Its otherworldly elements, married with rustic Americana, are the exact reason why so many are already hooked on the show. So if you find yourself loving Lanterns and looking for more neo-Westerns to keep you entertained, you truly cannot do any better than the Coen brothers' masterpiece No Country for Old Men.
No Country for Old Men is streaming now on Paramount Plus, Kanopy, and Pluto TV.