Anton Chigurh failed his primary mission.

In the movie No Country For Old Men, Anton fails his primary mission. His primary mission is to return the stolen money to its rightful owner, but he never gets to Moss in time and the money is retrieved by The Cartel. Meaning Anton failed.

Although the movie makes his success or failure ambiguous, it is my belief he failed.

In the book, it's clearly different. He wins and returns the stolen money to its rightful owner, and got a promotion.

Just more Hollowood fluff. It's why I call it "hollow;" I grew up in Brentwood, next door, and several of my immediate neighbors were Hollowood folk. I liked them, personally, but their profession, I thought even then, and their presumption of political savvy, was completely jaded. Still do. You're better off sticking with the book. The author wrote thee book; Hollowood merely interprets, and, usually, poorly. On rare occasion, they get it right, even departing from a book as origin of a story..

Been a while since I've seen the movie,

If he did fail, what makes this of interest to you?

Been a while for me as well. The film is not 'hollow'. It does not matter if chigurh succeeds or not. It is not made clear in the film. The film is mostly about men fighting with their own dilemmas between morality and chance. None of them seem to be chasing the money by the second half. Of course it is masked with the blockbuster effects of cat-and-mouse chase but it could work quite well even without the action. Overall a great neo-western. It is even important to note that in 'neos' (neo-westerns, neo-noirs, etc.) one of the main subjects is the changing environment. The characters come straight out of a traditional western but they find themselves in a modern environment. In a west where there is a standing police force to conduct investgations, the characters play the old western game with the bounty hunter and the cowboy hero. Even the sheriff rides a horse and is concerned about his honesty, just like in the good old westerns.

I thought Anton Chigurh killed the cartel members in the hotel, implying they hadn't left with the suitcase?