No Sequels for Old Men…Please!

In No Country For Old Men, we meet the most terrifying villain since a certain doctor with a taste for human flesh. Like Hannibal Lecter, Anton Chigurh (pronounced Shi-GUR) is a brilliant killing machine that takes great pleasure in psychologically toying with his victims because, well, he can.

From his iconic moptop haircut to his murderous flip-a-coin routine to his creative use of an air compressor, Anton is one bad apple. As portrayed by Javier Bardem, he is the stuff of Hollywood legend in the kind of performance so perfect and deadly that he continues to bang around in our subconscious long after the movie is over.

The old showbiz adage: Leave ‘em wanting more!
The new showbiz adage: Make more money!

Translated: expect a lot more Chigurh in our Hollywood diet. How do I know this to be true? Do I have insider information? Nope, I just know this town. And this is where we can all learn a valuable lesson from the teachings of Dr. Lecter.

Sequels are perfectly okay in my book, but I have one major caveat when it comes to my horror icons. A monster is scary because it is a monster. A monster is not scary once I understand it was because of bad parenting.

Darth Vader went from being the ultimate galactic badass to whiny Hayden Christiansen. Michael Meyers was so scary that fans renamed him “The Shape,” but when Rob Zombie remade the original Halloween, he turned the first half into an exploration of how Michael’s hillbilly upbringing made him the man he is today.

Which brings us to Hannibal Lecter, the greatest cinematic monster ever released. For about ten years.

Sir Anthony Hopkins’ characterization of Thomas Harris’ brilliant cannibalistic doc wasn’t even the first time Lecter appeared on screen, but his Oscar-winning take in The Silence of the Lambs was the one people loved. Author Thomas Harris caved and wrote a much maligned sequel that was more “gothic romance gore fest” than “suspense thriller.”

A cinematic prequel – Red Dragon – then led to another prequel, Hannibal Rising, and by then, seriously, who cares? The character AFI called the “most memorable film villain in history” was now just another Hollywood action figure run through the Xerox too many times.

Cormac McCarthy’s unstoppable assassin Chigurh is an amazing badass – part Terminator, part murderous philosopher – and we know nothing more about him than what we see on screen. Heck, the characters in the film cannot even agree on how to say his name. He is a cipher, and he is fascinating because he is the human personification of pure evil.

The movie may be flying under most radars right now but once Bardem wins his Oscar and No Country For Old Men comes to DVD, more people will discover this character and want more. The Coen Brothers would never do a sequel, so we’re safe there. But the studio will want to exploit Chigurh’s celebrated introduction, because, well, see the new showbiz adage listed above.

So, Cormac McCarthy – I’m talking to you. Resist the temptation for the further adventures of Anton Chigurh. But if you really have to bring him back, then please, sir, consider the words of this humble film critic.

I don’t want to know about his secret love or how he chose “heads-or-tails” as his evil game as opposed to, say, “pull my finger.” I could care less about watching him get older and I most certainly don’t want to know what traumatic childhood event drove him to choose a cattlegun as his weapon of choice.

If Anton Chigurh must come back, he must exist in the same minimal space, where his feral resilience provides the hot sauce on an already spicy meal and never, ever, becomes the main course.

But maybe the most prescient words are those from Ellis, the old timer who delivers the theme of the book and film rather pointedly: “You can't stop what's comin'. It ain't all waitin' on you. That's vanity.”

No, that’s wishful thinking.