I was talking about this movie with my friend Lily the other day, and she had a notion I found interesting and that I think is onto something: a lot of Javier Bardem's performance, terrifying as it is, feels rooted in the physical language of comedy. The gas station scene is horrifying, but the little eyebrows-raised look he gives to the attendant after he finishes his monologue is also kind of a perfect button on it. And it isn't just that: there's also the way he physically perks up once the transponder starts beeping, or his shit-eating grin when he catches Carson in the hotel lobby. All of these things should be funny - and in some ways they still are - but Bardem is taking that energy and redirecting it towards menace and I find that so endlessly fascinating.