Let’s be honest: The Coen Brothers have had a string of slightly innocuous endeavors beginning in 2003 with Intolerable Cruelty and following with 2004’s The Lady Killers.  Beyond that, Joel and Ethan also made a small contribution to the 2006 cooperative film Paris, je t’aime, a movie asking directors to make five minute shorts about love.  But we haven’t really seen the Coens in true form since 2001’s The Man Who Wasn’t There — a slow moving, but thrilling black-and-white piece starring Billy Bob Thornton.

That having been said, as I sat in a near-empty theater yesterday, charged with watching the new Herzog film Rescue Dawn, the trailer for No Country for Old Men ran, renewing my faith in those two brothers from Minnesota and the amazing stories they tell.

Get more info and watch the trailer after the jump.

Not only does the movie appear to be a return to form for the Coens, but the sheer intensity in the trailer alone makes me wonder if it will blend violence, intrigue, and wit in a way we’ve not seen since 1990’s Miller’s Crossing.

The story follows Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), a former soldier, as he happens upon the scene of a drug deal gone bad, complete with dead bodies and a bag of cash.  Taking the bag and the millions inside with him, the man becomes a target for both of the opposing sides — the dealers who want their pay-off and the suppliers of the money.  Javier Bardem looks to play a particularly ruthless character as one of the men sent to find Moss and recover the money by any means.  The film is based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy, author of All the Pretty Horses on which the eponymous movie was based.

Official Site

Release Date: November 21st, 2007

Cast:

• Josh Brolin
• Javier Bardem
• Tommy Lee Jones
• Woody Harrelson
• Kelly MacDonald

Rated R