What a Country!

By RICHARD CORLISS

It's a shame No Country for Old Men doesn't officially open till Nov. 9, since it has a villain crazier, scarier and more implacable than any Halloween horror ghoul. As incarnated by the great Javier Bardem, Anton Chigurh is a killer from hell who likes to play mind games with his victims before he makes them play dead. How could an ordinary fellow like Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) hope to elude this monster, when Moss has $2 million that Chigurh plans to get back without saying please?

Even when Joel and Ethan Coen are writing originals, their movies often have the texture and density of novels. For their first official adaptation from a prime American author, they have stayed remarkably faithful to the Cormac McCarthy story, including a detour at the end that will baffle some viewers. But the rest is tough, tangy and thrilling--perfect scenes of rising tension, wily escapes, fatal face-offs. There's one moment (it's just a phone ringing downstairs) that will churn your blood and turn it cold, and plenty other frissons that could make this the biggest hit of the Coens' sly career.