Thriller Opening Analysis: No country for Old men

Thriller opening analysis: No country for Old Men

The opening of this thriller starts with an elderly man talking, while scenes of where the movie is set is shown. Both the camera work and sound so far is unusual for a crime thriller. The man talking mentions themes of the movie and also talks about a memory of a murder. The tone at the start is quite tense and eerie and as the man finishes talking we see a man being arrested which and put in the back of a police car for reasons we do not know of yet, so the opening has put us in the middle of a situation and leaves us wondering what the man did to get arrested, which is quite common for crime thrillers, to put us in the middle of an unknown situation to leave us guessing. The car is driven away down a long stretch of road; a long shot shows a baron wasteland. The shot duration in this opening scene, throughout, is quite slow which is strange for a crime thriller as they focus on action and quick editing. Even during the upcoming murders of two people the shot length is quite slow.

The officer is talking on the phone to his superior, an over the shoulder camera shot shows us the criminal, who is behind the officer, loosening his straps and strangle the officer with his handcuffs. This shot builds tension as we can see the officer is in great danger and the shot builds tension. The criminal and the officer writhe on the floor for about 30 seconds with little music playing. The scene is very dramatic and a slow close up of the face of the man while he is taking the officers life with little music in the background creates a very dramatic and tense atmosphere, although the camera, editing and sound is not very typical of crime thrillers, it still achieves its goal in creating a tense atmosphere. The sound of this film opening differs from most crime thrillers as there is little music and the opening narrative by an elderly man is unusual as well. Although we know nothing about this man or why he was arrested we know a lot more about him now and what he is capable of, however this is the enigma of the movie that most crime thrillers adopt. The fact that we know little about the situation or the characters is typical of the genre this movie is in. After the opening narrative and the setting of the scene that this movie takes place in, this is the first moment with any action in it and it sets the tone and mood for the rest of the film.

After the man kills the officer he takes the police car, drives off and stops a car soon after. The murderer, impersonating a cop and being friendly and polite to the man, asks him to get out of the car and to stand still. He then shoots the man without hesitation or remorse. We know now that he is a cold, calculated psychopathic killer and within the first 5 minutes of the film he has killed two people.

Old country for old men goes against usual thriller contemporaries by using not much music, as shown in this scene and the setting is different from most as well. The main protagonist is not introduced either, but the antagonist is. The actions and events of a crime thriller are all present, with murder and robbery being involved.

No country for old men does things, which suit thriller openings such as the antagonist being a murderer, and the atmosphere and mood also matches most thrillers, however, the lack of music and the setting is quite different and the opening is also quite different from other films in the genre.