"No Country for Old Men" marries the three men's strengths in ways that are deceptively simple and profoundly moving, set against a harshly beautiful, seemingly endless expanse of scrub-brushed West Texas. (Thanks to the breathtaking work of a fourth man, the Coens' longtime cinematographer - and we say this all the time for a reason - the great Roger Deakins.)

It's vintage stuff for the writing-directing brothers, Joel and Ethan, a return to the location of their 1984 debut, "Blood Simple," and the tone of their masterpiece, "Fargo." It's their best work in a while and it's probably going to end up being the year's best movie.

In adapting McCarthy's 2005 novel about crime and carnage along the Rio Grande, the Coens stay mostly faithful to its structure while maintaining much of the author's rhythmically clipped, colorful dialogue.

Sporting the same shaggy mustache he wore in "American Gangster," Josh Brolin is perfectly cast as Llewelyn Moss, a stoic welder and Vietnam veteran who stumbles upon the botched transaction's bloody aftermath, finds a briefcase stuffed with $2 million and impulsively makes off with it. Brolin presents a sort of rugged everyman trying to get by, blessed with more instincts than brains. He's not a bad guy, just in over his head - besides, wouldn't you grab the money, too?

Meanwhile, Javier Bardem is chilling as Anton Chigurh, the mysterious, murderous psychopath stalking Llewelyn to get the cash back. With his oddly wholesome bowl haircut and the coin he flips to give his potential victims a chance to bet on their lives, Bardem has given us one of the great, inspired turns of movie villainy.

And Tommy Lee Jones is firmly in his element as the pleasingly named Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, who's tracking them both and lamenting the loss of a more honorable way of life in an increasingly senseless world.

The Coens skip seamlessly between all three men, through trailer parks and cheap motels and back and forth across the Mexican border, brilliantly building tension while sprinkling some much needed, very dark humor amid the bloodshed.