the soul at hazard

Last year I read Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road' and thought it was an amazing novel. So, knowing that 'No Country For Old Men' was adapted from a Cormac McCarthy book, I was not surprised by the grim outlook and the dark tension of the story.

I liked the independence of the characters, talking to themselves not for the sake of exposition to the audience, but because they are loners who talk to themselves.
I just didn't expect Chigurh (Javier Bardem) to be SO scary! The hollowness with which he dispatched those that 'fate' tossed his way... not to mention his hair...

I've got the book ordered from amazon.com, because I feel like I missed something that should have made Bell's dream about his father at the end make more sense (yep, I am one of those people who watches the movie THEN reads the book. get over it). McCarthy DOES seem to have a recurring theme in his novels of lonely travelers carrying light down a dark road; maybe it's just his favorite metaphor for the struggle between good and evil.