My wife and I were hoping to watch a movie this weekend. I wouldn’t mind watching “No Country for Old Men” but my wife doesn’t think she’ll like it. One reason she thought it would be too gory.
Is it gory? If so how gory? (“Sin City”? Mr. Orange in “Reservoir Dogs”? “Saw”? “Happy Gilmore”?)
What movie does this movie most remind you of? Is it like “Fargo”? “O’Brother”? “Pay Back”? “Shawshank Redemption”? (list a few beause my wife hasn’t seen every movie known to man).
Thanks!
MtM
It’s pretty fucking gory. But it’s still a great movie, and as many women rent it as men in my vidstore. It has a few Coeny touches, but it’s not much like their other movies. It’s the darkest and most violent movie they’ve done. It’s probably closest in tone to Blood Simple, though it’s still darker.
If she doesn’t think she’ll like it, she’s probably right. I sincerely wish I hadn’t watched it, as does my mother. I don’t consider myself a lightweight when it comes to violence in movies (none of the movies you mentioned bothered me - well, maybe Saw did a bit), but this movie just has such an icky feeling. My preference for knowing next to nothing about movies before I see them really backfired for me with this one.
Zoe is in love with the movie, in spite of the fact that she refuses to see Unforgiven because it’s a Western and because it doesn’t have (she hears) any realistic women’s parts (whores don’t count for Zoe as women’s parts). She’s not quite as opposed to gore and violence if they are part of a decent character study, a captivating story, or covered with the same respect that beautiful scenery, good music, and careful bit parts and extras are handled. I think she’s ready to own this one, or at least see it again when it’s on a cable channel that won’t bother it with commercials.
The gore (after a fantastic few scenes at the start) is either toned down or implied until we get to see how good Bardem’s character would be on Grey’s Anatomy. Does she like McDreamy?
If gore is an automatic turn-off, then she will definitely hate the movie, especially if she’s a dog person. 
The actual disturbing gore factor? I’d rank it somewhere between Reservoir Dogs and Smoking Aces, but definitely closer to Smoking Aces. There’s nothing campy about the violence. It’s brutal and in your face, although it’s not torture porn by any stretch.
I can’t help with your second question. It is unlike any other film I have ever seen. I loved it, although I wouldn’t rank it at the very top of my list.
Take her. It’s not that gory. Once you’re past the first two killings – which are more surprising than gory – there’s quite a bit of violence but hardly any blood. A lot of the violence happens off screen.
On a scale of 1-10, with Happy Gilmore at 1 and Saw at 10, I think it’d be a 4.
It doesn’t remind me of any other movies I can think of. Beautiful scenery, great acting, interesting characters, some humor, stuff to think about, and a few Oscars. They don’t give Oscars to bloodbaths, not since the Godfather movies anyway. Actually, that’s a good comparison, violence-wise. If she was okay with the Godfather movies, she’ll be okay with this.
Gotta disagree with you there, AuntiePam.
The pickup truck guy, Stephen Root, Anton cleaning his wound, the corpses at the drug scene, including the dog’s corpse which gradually decomposes. Also, I’d call the second killing to get the car a bit disturbing for someone who doesn’t like gore.
Not as gory as Saw, but Saw is in a separate category. It’s not a movie for the squeamish.
I’m female, but I enjoyed the movie immensely. Some of the killings were indeed more shocking than gory. Anton is definitely a disturbing character, but that’s part of what makes the movie good.
It’s not like there’s gore throughout the entire movie, which is generally whatSaw and others like it were.
Just my .02 cents…
Bottom line? it’ll depend on your wife; I’d say this question can better be answered by someone who knows her rather than someone who knows the movie.
I’m female and I’m with Taters. There are several shocking deaths, but nothing is dragged out. Violence is not shown just for its own sake. It is certainly not celebrated. Anton Chigurh symbolizes random and meaningless violence. Many people die, some of whom are completely innocent. Other deaths occur offscreen but you will know when they’ve happened.
I’m not one that loves gore, but I don’t recall this movie grossing me out as much as freaking* me out. It is kinda gross but it’s not some gore flick by any means. I wouldn’t let dislike of gore keep her away from seeing this movie though. It’s not one of those horror movies that shows you gross stuff for no reason - it’s just violent, but very good.
*Because I kept getting surprised at the crazy stuff that goes on. Sign of a good movie, IMO.
It’s funny, I didn’t leave No Country for Old Men thinking it was a gory movie. Sure, it had some shootings that were kind of freaky, but overall the violence wasn’t too bad. Maybe I’m just desensitized to blood and gore. I thought it was a great movie. Tell your wife to give it a try.
There was not alot of blood or gore. Really, there wasn’t.
What gets people with this movie is the personal violence, it’s intimate. Very much so.
Sorry, couldn’t help giggling at the juxtaposition of these two movies, and their use to make a scale. Hehehehehehe
To answer the OP, I wouldn’t call this a terribly gory movie, so much as a psychologically violent movie. It’s oppressive and leaves you feeling a bit cold. Good flick, though.
I loved this movie so we watched it again with three of our friends. Two loved it, one spent the rest of the night curled up on the sofa hugging herself.
It’s not gory, but it is really dark and quite chilling. There is no feel good moment here.
If you want a Cohen comparison, this is much more like Barton Fink or Miller’s Crossing and nowhere near O Brother or The Big Lebowski.
There isn’t a soundtrack to keep you going, it’s just very tense, and a lot of the action feels inevitable.
I echo others in saying that this is not a gory movie. I was surprised that some people in this thread consider it as such.
The violence, however, is disturbing, and Bardem’s character as a whole is even more disturbing. It was hard to sleep the night after I saw the movie.
Yes, this.
There is no more blood and mayhem in this movie than in any other typical Hollywood thriller, and probably less. There’s a lower body count, certainly. The thing is, though, the violence is not cartoonish. It has impact. It resonates. When somebody gets hurt, it hurts. Injuries aren’t shrugged off; deaths are meaningful. As such, it really, really gets under your skin.
My girlfriend is not bothered by ordinary movie violence, but watching this was quite unpleasant for her at times, because of the film’s refusal to sugarcoat anything or look away the way other movies do.
(Also, she hated the movie because she didn’t think the ending was “earned.” We’ve argued about this repeatedly. But that’s a different subject.)
After pondering this issue some more, and after looking for a common theme to the other posts, I believe the violence can all be traced to Anton Chigurh. If you object to this movie’s violence it has to be because Anton is somehow unsettling or threatening or hard to deal with. I had similar feelings after reading the true crime book Helter Skelter about the Manson family. The movie version had virtually no effect on me because the book made me sleep with a loaded pistol by my bed for months. That’s as close to a terrifying under-your-skin type of violence as I have been exposed to in movies or books.
The real-life (so to speak) version of The Terminator that is Anton Chigurh as placed against the background that is West Texas makes all the urban violence like the original Dirty Harry seem somewhat tame. It’s the character and the setting that drives the violence tolerance to a breaking point. The gore has been done to death (sorry!) in other popular and well-received movies like those in the OP. So if she’s easily put off by heartless and soulless Charles Manson/Terminator types, that me be the way to approach whether this is her cup of tea.
My GF Hated this. She had nightmares about Chigurh for WEEKS.