15 Most Anti-Climactic Movie Showdowns

The Showdown: Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) is, of course, the movie's spectre-like antagonist, a force of nature who governs his actions by chance, though more often than not ends up painting the walls red with anyone who gets in his way or witnesses one of his murderous acts. It's all building towards a final standoff between Chigurh and protagonist Llewellyn Moss (Josh Brolin), right?

The Anti-Climax: The Coen brothers make an art out of the anti-climax in their Best Picture-winning masterpiece, which saw a number of potential showdowns throughout the movie intentionally withheld to heighten the intrigue.

The most egregious example sees Moss, who the audience naturally expects to face off against Anton Chigurh at the very end of the movie, killed off-screen by the Mexican mob 20 minutes from the end. We are robbed of the expected, cathartic moment in jaw-droppingly audacious style.

Then there's the added one-two punch of Chigurh slaughtering Moss' wife Carla-Jean (Kelly Macdonald) off-screen, and the fact that the second expected showdown, between aged Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) and Chigurh, never happens, and Chigurh appears to escape scot-free while Bell retires.

Some say it's a frustrating, overly spare ending, whereas others praise the Coens for daring to challenge audience expectations in regard to violence and conventional movie structure.