The Coen brothers have ripened their uniquely warped perspective with a new level of cinematic sophistication for “No Country for Old Men,” easily one of the best films of the year. As they always do, Joel and Ethan Coen jointly produce, direct, edit and write with a mysterious alchemy that — in today’s case — results in a haunting, jolting, grisly and yet still droll contemporary adult crime Western.

But unlike their previous masterwork, “Fargo,” for example, their adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s backwater Texas novel about a blood-soaked game of cat-and-mouse circa 1980 finds its streak of black comedy without that detached tone of ridicule that has often characterized the Coens’ output. We are allowed a deep, non-ironic emotional investment in the lives of the doomed prey of ruthless stun-gun killer Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem). So as the finicky black-clad murderer in the goofy pageboy haircut stalks then mows down his victims, the impact thrills and terrifies with greater resonance.