Anton Chigurh vs. Hannibal Lector

[Geddy Peart]

Everyone knows who Hannibal is and I'm hoping enough folks here saw and liked No Country For Old Men.

Going on that, who would win in a game of cat and mouse? Who would be the cat and who would be the mouse? Would the roles be reversed at some point?

For me, this is a hard one to call but I think Lector would win in the end. I think he would be able to profile Chigurh and set a trap. But I'm not sure. Both are extremely intelligent and if either one is intent on killing someone, that person will end up dead (in Lector's case, eaten).

So I'm asking you.

Call it...friendo.

[El Rooto]

Chigurh is fucking hardcore, but Lector trumps him.

[Erik]

Anton would just walk up to him and blow his head off. He might give a little speech first, but if he wants to kill someone, you can be damn sure he's going to kill that person.

[Geddy Peart]

Anton would just walk up to him and blow his head off. He might give a little speech first, but if he wants to kill someone, you can be damn sure he's going to kill that person.

But the same can be said for Lector. Everyoe whom Lector has found to be rude ended up dead. Miggs, Chilton, Mason all of his other victims before Will Graham stopped him. The only one who "survived" was Paul Krendler(sp?) but who knows what state he was in after Lector was through.

I don't think Chigurh could just walk up and shoot Lector. He not a typical drug-runner of average joe. The way Chigurh hunts people and bursts into rooms would be his undoing and Lector would use that to his advantage.

[ZPowers]

I think Chigurh might be too down to business for Lector. It'd be hard to trap someone as empty as Chigurh, and he's fairly smart and really tough to boot. My guess (assuming Chigurh and Lector, not just Lector, knew they were after each other, otherwise Lector could probably trap him, but it'd be unfair) is that Chigurh would ventilate Lector with a shotgun or snipe him from someplace in the darkness.
ADDED:
But the same can be said for Lector. Everyoe whom Lector has found to be rude ended up dead. Miggs, Chilton, Mason all of his other victims before Will Graham stopped him. The only one who "survived" was Paul Krendler(sp?) but who knows what state he was in after Lector was through.

I don't think Chigurh could just walk up and shoot Lector. He not a typical drug-runner of average joe. The way Chigurh hunts people and bursts into rooms would be his undoing and Lector would use that to his advantage.

He doesn't just burst into rooms. He got the drop on Woody Harrelson's character, who was a trained killer himself, pretty slyly. He lied in wait of a few characters in the movie as well. He also showed some caution when approaching Brolin's character right before the shoot-off in that hotel. Though to be fair, he also showed a lot of directness when it was appropriate.

Again, I say it'd be damn hard for Lector to trick Chigurh if both of them knew they were out for each other's blood. Chigurh managed to find out a pretty good amount about Brolin's character and he'd do the same for Lector, I'd wager, and not be so easily tricked. But if only Lector knows that they're going for each other, obviously he wins in a heartbeat. Same for Chigurh. If both know, I'm sticking with Chigurh.

[Cody]

Chigurh bakes that ham.

[On a Pale Horse]

Anton was bad ass but Lector is off the chart smart.

[Geddy Peart]

Anton was bad ass but Lector is off the chart smart.

Exactly, and yes in my scenerio both know the other is gunning for them.

And remember, Hannibal knew Clarice was coming for him in Hannibal and managed to evade her even when he was directly behind her on the marry-go-round. The only way Anton catches Hannibal offguard is if the doctor is distracted. Other wise I think Hannibal would use Anton's own personality against him. He would find a way to lure Chigurh to a place and ambush him. The only way I see Anton getting the drop on Hannibal is if he somehow uses Clarice.

Also, Anton panicks when he gets taken by surprise by a bad situation. Once when Lewellen ambushed him outside the hotel, and the second when he was in that car crash and broke his arm with the cops quickly closing. He looses himself momentarily under certain circumstances. Then again, so does Lector but only if it's about Clarice.

I still say Lector.

[On a Pale Horse]

Speaking of 'No Country' , what was up with that ending??:confused:

Also, throw Kaiser Sosei in for some excitement!

[Geddy Peart]

Speaking of 'No Country' , what was up with that ending??:confused:




OAPH:

I took the ending to mean The world is a harsh place and not a pleasant dream. This is illustrated by Tommy Lee Jones talking about two dreams he had and then he "woke up".


There could have been more meaning in his descriptions of the dreams, but I'd have to watch that scene again.

[Darth Sinister]

That's pretty much it right there.

Anyway, I see it as Chigurh and Lector know that the other is coming and sit down to talk. Exchanging ideas and ideals, before they go at it. Chigurh might use his coin toss, since he can see someone who almost thinks the way he does. Or at least, can understand what he is talking about. But when it comes to throwing down, even without a gun, Chigurh would win as he's an assassin and is capable of dropping a person easily. While Lector is too busy trying to gnaw on his face, Chigurh is choking the life out of Lector or sticking his thumbs into Lector's eyes.

[ZPowers]

As far as the end of "No Country", remember it's based on a book first of all, and that the book format is probably more conducive to that sort of ending than the cinema format. Also, the movie isn't really about the characters per se. I've seen the movie several times now and I think I get it now.

I think they're more an example of something larger happening in the world that they're totally unable to stop. For example, just before Josh Brolin is killed (note he is killed offscreen and almost nonchalantly, not by Anton Chigurh but by the Mexicans the mother talks to about where she's going in El Paso), he says "I'm just lookin' out for what's coming", cut to the massacre and Brolin being dead. Later, the wheelchair-bound ex-sheriff advises Tommy Lee Jones "You can't stop what's coming. It ain't all waiting on you. That's vanity." What's coming isn't Anton or the Mexicans specifically, but a new age of violence without hope or redemption. Brolin, a common man, is swept up into this new world of violence but is really just a bystander, like his wife, both of whom are killed very casually offscreen. The bystanders of the age are the victims, and they're basically dying silently. Chigurh, of course, represents complete nihilistic violence. It's not even clear if he gets the money or if the Mexicans do (that's also not the point) and a lot of the people he murders he kills without any real reason (something repeated through the story, including the opening monologue and the line "tortured em first. I dunno why. Maybe the television set was broke"). Anyways, by the end of the movie Anton is still alive, if a little damaged (Anton is damaged a few times, but remains pretty unhindered each time) and the Sheriff is retiring/gives up. His final dream, about his father preparing a little fire far out in the cold, uninviting landscape seems to have something to say about a glimmer of hope (possibly in dying, since the father, long dead, is "waiting" for him. Also possibly the idea that the lawman, which his father also was, carries the last hope for this doomed world), but that's pretty much totally nullified by the closing line "and then I woke up". It's a story about the last pure force of good realizing he's outmatched, that he can't change the way things have become, and realizing that fighting that fight to save the world was a delusion "and then [he] woke up". There's the climax, roll credits.

[Geddy Peart]

Very good analysis ZPowers. It really is a great film with many layers, but if you watch it, it's clear the two main themes are

1. Society's going to Hell in a hand basket and there's nothing you or I can do about it.

2. Money corrupts.

All that being said, I still say Hannibal gets the drop on Anton. Unless he gets distracted. And I could see Anton not falling for Hannibal's BS if they conversed liked DS suggested.

[Darth Sinister]

If it isn't a case of fighting hand to hand, Chigurh would either drop him sniper like or just pull out his gun and shoot him in the head.

[Geddy Peart]

What makes you think he'd have such an easy time doing so? Hannibal knows he's coming and would take measures to best protect himself. He would study Anton, get familar with his style and develope a plan from there.

[nottidelterrore]

I picked Anton Chigurh.

[Jack Bauer]

I with Anton Chigurh mainly because he took mutiple gunshot wounds and broken a few bone and walked away fine. Not to mention he has that badass weapon of his.

[Geddy Peart]

I with Anton Chigurh mainly because he took mutiple gunshot wounds and broken a few bone and walked away fine. Not to mention he has that badass weapon of his.


Hannibal chopped off his own hand and walked away fine.

Besides, I stated in the original post this is not a fist fight, but rather a cat and mouse chase.