The use of suspense in 'No country for old men'

In my class, we watched the smash hit film by The Coen brothers, entitled 'No country for old men'. We all found the film to be entertaining as we were all fans of the violence & bloodshed within the film. There were also many examples of suspense used, and they managed to keep all of my peers and I on the end of our seats as we waited for the upcoming event, which always turned out to be a massacre of some sort. For the duration of the film, we were asked to make notes of when suspense was used, however there was a variety of scenes to choose from, something which we all found to be a positive aspect of the film.

The first example of suspense that i noted was in one of the primary scenes of the film, where we see the psychopath in custody, presumably about to be put into a cell. During this time, the officer who had apprehended him was making a call, possibly to other officers, informing them that he is with the psycho. Meanwhile, the psycho slowly creeps behind him, whilst he is handcuffed. As he gets closer, he throws the chain of the handcuff around the officers neck, strangling him to his death.

The second example, also involving the psycho, is after he has escaped from the police station. He is seen to be driving along what appears to be a desert, where he spots someone driving by. He pulls the man over and asks him to step out of his vehicle. At the time we were unaware of what was about to happen, as was the man in the vehicle. He steps out of the car and the psycho slowly raises his air gun to the mans head and shoots him. This scene came as a surprise to my classmates and I, which was evident when they gasped as it happened.

The third and final example, Llewelyn arrives in the deserted area, where he comes across many dead bodies. During this scene, there is no sound whatsoever, even the emptiness on the screen mirrors the lack of sound in the environment. He is constantly turning around, looking to see if anyone is behind him. This edgy behaviour suggested to us that something big was about to happen & that we were about to witness something that would have a big effect on the plot of the film.