There Will Be Blood? Not much.
Written: Feb 25 '08
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: An ambitious, sprawling epic with perfect performances.
Cons: long and inaccessible, which is not necessarily bad, but will turn some people off.
The Bottom Line: "...a chilling character study unlike anything I've seen before."
4.5/5
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| clarkparker's Full Review: There Will Be Blood |
Paul Thomas Anderson is one of my favorite filmmakers, Both Magnolia and Punch Drunk Love ranked in my top five films for their respective years. And while his latest effort falls slightly short of the aforementioned films, it is nevertheless one of the most effective movies of 2007, and will undoubtedly grace my top ten.
There Will Be Blood follows the story of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis), a West Texas Oilman who roams the countryside with his son and business partner (it's a family business, he says), HW, trying to close new deals. Ultimately, Plainview admits to one character, his goal is to make enough money that he can just get away. The quest is not what drives him, it is the reward, and the film's focus is how all consuming greed can be. Plainview strikes a deal with Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), a local preacher: he will give him $5000 to build his church, in exchange for the rights to drill on the Sundays' land. What could potentially be a simple business agreement, though, goes sour in the hands of these two men, who both have an agenda, and they are both willing to play dirty.
The very thing that makes There Will Be Blood so inaccessible is also the thing that makes it work so well, that being its unflinching portrayal of unbridled capitalism. Anderson layers his film so thick with the fraudulent greed of his two leads that they cease to be relatable. However, were they written differently I'm not sure the movie would be special. And that's the thing. It is hard to call this movie great, or powerful, or anything really, because it so boldly and deftly shatters those kind of labels. It simply seeks to exist and does so as a driving force. It is visceral in its presentation, and unforgettable in its aftermath. Johnny Greenwood's score closely resembles the cold, driving terror Michael Giaccino's score often does on LOST, drawing attention to itself, but not in a negative way. Daniel Day Lewis gives an epic, distinguished performance for which he will rightfully win an Oscar, and young Paul Dano plays so well opposite him. The two men trade blows, psychologically, verbally, and physically, as two equally vacuous portraits of monstrosity, one using his son and the other God as a prop to gain power and money. The film eliminates before its end any characters who resemble something we might sympathize with, and instead opts to let the world fall down around the two unrelatable leads. For this reason, the film leaves you feeling cold, yet it works while it is unconcerned with plot and aware of itself as a chilling character study unlike anything I've seen before. An unreviewable film? Perhaps, but also an unforgettable one.
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Serious Movie
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Nothing
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Epinions.com ID:
clarkparker
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Member: Joshua Bertram
Location: Saskatchewan, Canada
Reviews written: 32
Trusted by: 6 members
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