There Will Be Blood (2008)

Nearly 3 Hrs of TERRIBLE!!!!
What a let down this movie was. There is no dialogue for the first 20 mins or so. The music score is overdone in this movie. Often times its so loud it is distracting, other times it doesn't even match the scene that is taking place. The movie goes no where for nearly 3 hours. Yes the guy is obsessed with oil..so what? I kept waiting for something more to happen and for there to be a point to this movie. There wasn't. The ending is terrible as well. After 3 hrs of dragging a meaningless story along, there is an abrupt ending. Glad I didn't pay for this dud.

A film of humanity and corruption.
A fascinating film that charters the birth of the oil business in the United States during the turn of the 20th Century.

Day-Lewis stars as a self made oil man accompanied by his adopted son who is told about a small town that may well be sitting on a lake of oil. On journeying there he finds a small rural community living on the edge of existence in a mid west that while is still wild carries much of the innocence and generosity that for us in the West unfortunately has become something of a bygone era.

The first suggestion that there may be a conflict of interests comes when Day-Lewis buys up land in the area but one member of the community refuses to sell until he speaks with him personally, something Day-Lewis declines and later lives to regret. A local religious leader requests that he bless the well when it opens, Day-Lewis a business minded man only declines and so begins a spiraling conflict between business and religion that sets the theme of the film.

The town grows and so too does Eli, the young religious leaders congregation. His fiery sermons grip the community and when an accident occurs at the well causing injury to Day-Lewis's son Eli is not slow in blaming this on the lack of the well being 'blessed' before use. There is also a conflict between Day-Lewis and the established oil companies that wish to buy out all smaller rivals Day-Lewis included.

Day-Lewis ever the lonely man throughout the film meets what he thinks is his long lost brother, someone who feels could share in his success. The conflict between business and religion grows reaching a climax when Day-Lewis is forced into conversion in order to close a business deal.

Day-Lewis does a first rate job in this film. His acting is superb, his tone and personality carry the viewer back to a bygone era in American history. The director has clearly gone to some work in capturing a small community that once 'did not even have bread' slowly turn into a thriving 'oil town' The tone of the film is dark (Even in the brightest light of the desert) and really does capture the sparse surroundings of the mid west.

The dramatic conclusion at the end of the film I felt was something of an anti climax. I actually hoped for something better but I found the dialogue between Eli and Day-Lewis first rate. Two men who had formed a grudging alliance over the years while remaining bitterest enemies deep inside.

While Eli is ever the sly sneaky individual, keen to exploit religion and keep an iron grip on his small community. Day-Lewis the shrewd business man whose only real love is for his adopted son will stop at nothing to achieve his business aims and hold on to what he has at whatever costs.

My only complaint about this film would be the musical score. Why have they chosen to use almost the exact same stuff as was used in Shawshank Redemption and a number of other films?

Best Movie EVER
This is a movie that most folks either love or hate. I loved it. As Woody Allen would say-- "I lerved it." Heck-- if I had decided the Academy Awards I would have given this movie ALL of the awards (including best foreign underwater animation short) and then RETIRED the darn things. This film takes the cakes, in my opinion. Best movie EVER.

But the folks who really, really despised this movie should not get all defensive and think that those of us who lerved it are just pretentious jerks who want to look "smart." I have hunch that the folks who disliked "There Will Be Blood" just never knew any really scary guys like Plainview. Probably didn't have a Plainview in the family. No Plainview as a dad, for example. I imagine it's possible, these days, to grow up and never have to deal with a guy like Plainview in a real life-or-death (or dishonor) type of situation in the middle of blazing hot stinking desert with no way out. Today, we hose down Saddam's palace with a machine gun and fix our lipstick. Hoo-ah. That's scary but it's not the kind of scary that this film celebrates. This is movie about the demons of the masculine world. If you ain't seen any of them, then bless your little heart. You are very fortunate. You won't understand anything about Plainview because he's from another planet. You'll sit there trying to figure out when somebody REAL is going to appear. You'll just throw up your hands in frustration at this weird caricature of a greedy and hateful man.

So, it's cool. You didn't grow up around a Plainview. You didn't live in a time when the Plainviews made a living out of solid rock with their bare hands. You haven't seen that, and you don't understand it, and that's probably a good thing. But for the historians out there, this film is pure gold as a record of an American archetype. Or a "wherever" archetype. Wherever you find men turning blood into money. It's not a cheesy Hollywood story. It's real. But, if you haven't experienced it, then don't worry. It's not part of your reality, and you should fall on your knees and thank God that it isn't.