There Will Be Blood [Blu-ray]
![There Will Be Blood [Blu-ray]](/Images/B0018QCXH8/medium.jpg) | Average Customer Rating: Recommend Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 06/03/2008 Run time: 158 minutes Rating: R… Product details and pricing info |
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364 Customer Reviews Posted
- A significant film, and one which shows significant growth from Paul Thomas Anderson
- I doubt if Upton Sinclair would recognize his muck-raking novel, Oil!, as the source more-or-less for There Will be Blood, but I hope he'd at least be impressed with Paul Thomas Anderson's ambitious near-bullseye of a movie. I was engrossed all the way through, partly, of course, by Daniel Day-Lewis' performance. As much as Day-Lewis does an extraordinary job, Anderson's writing and directing, I think, deserve nearly as much praise. The only drawback I saw was that Daniel Plainview's character and story were simply too complex and rich to be easily contained in a movie. Plainview and his story requires a big, fat novel. I'm amazed and impressed that Anderson came as close as he did. In fact, I wound up reassessing my feelings toward Anderson. I'd always lumped him in with that group of his peers who were relatively young when they had a huge success, with Hollywood and the critics falling all over them praising them as the latest bunch of wunderkinds...then seeing them picture by next picture unable to come close to either matching their first success or going beyond it. If I had to characterize this group with one- or two-word descriptions, they'd be: Wes Anderson: Cocoon-boy; Quentin Tarentino: Permanent Juvenilia; Steven Soderbergh: Boring; Christopher Nolan: Gone Hollywood; Paul Thomas Anderson: Too self-conscious. (And this is all just personal opinion.)
But with There Will Be Blood, Anderson, for me, shows huge growth and depth. I'm not sure how I'd characterize him now. Nothing the others have produced so far comes close, in my opinion, to the growth Anderson displays here. This is a movie of major, serious themes, and all about Plainview's character. I think in collaboration with Day-Lewis he has accomplished...well, I don't know. A masterpiece? Who knows...maybe we'll have a feeling about that in five or ten years. I think the movie is so rich in looking at Daniel Plainview that the movie will be be around for quite a while. - 2008-02-14, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Epic Film Making? Maybe...
- P.T. Anderson is a director to keep an eye on. The man only has five films under his belt, but he's already proven that he has the talent and the ambition to be the next Martin Scoresese. It's been five years since his last film, "Punch Drunk Love," was released, and you may remember that film as the first Adam Sandler vehicle that showed the former Saturday Night Live star had some serious depth and acting skills. Now Anderson is back, full of confidence and skill, with his new film "There Will Be Blood." So confident is he, that he credits himself with his full name, Paul Thomas Anderson, which is most likely a deceleration to the world that he is ready to be a serious film maker. Instead of bringing out unusual depth from an actor people didn't think much of before though, Anderson is directing the one and only Daniel Day Lewis.
Though Lewis is an acclaimed Academy Award winning actor, he only makes a movie once in a blue moon. That is, he only makes a movie if he likes the script. In this film, Lewis carries the film as an oil man named Daniel Plainview, a name that is one of the better in-jokes I've seen in a movie this year. Plainview is a successful oil tycoon who has open three successful drilling stations, and he heads to California to open a forth based on a tip from a young man name Paul (Paul Dano). When he gets to California oil is easily found, and the land is easily swindled from the families who own the land. Though easily taken, the one person who has reservations about Plainview is Eli Sunday (also played by Dano), who is an spiring pastor of a local church. He sold the land on the condition that Plainview would pay $5,000 to the church if the land produced oil, a fee Plainview doesn't exactly volunteer willingly.
Then there is Plainviews son, H.W. Plainview, who is nothing more then an innocent face for Plainview to exploit at business pitches. Once the boy loses his hearing, Plainview's indifference to the boy is shocking and cruel. Of course, how can Plainview be expected to be anything but indifferent? He needed the boy as a political tool, not a sick boy who needs loving attention. Though not Anderson's best film to date, there are many signs as to why the director stills holds his position as a auteur artist. There are some great shots and cinematography in this movie. Much like another desert bound drama, "No Country For Old Men," Anderson does what he can to make the desert a major character in the storyline. Though more occupied then in the aforementioned film, this film is also barren to a certain extent.
We don't leave the oil rigs much, and so we get the sense that we are truly only involved in Plainviews own personal, enclosed world. It's just more happens in this particular world. A couple of oil accidents provide two of the most visually stunning scenes in the film. But credit due where credit is due, this movie lies on Daniel Day Lewis's gripping performance as Plainview. Though the story is light and a little fluffy, Plainview is an interesting character to watch from beginning to end. Really, the whole movie rests on this guy, as the storyline is a bit thin at times, though always interesting. That said, for such a thin storyline, the movie is two and a half hours, about thirty minutes longer then it needs to be.
I've forgiven Anderson on the length of his films before, but I think the time has come to start editing the films better. People shouldn't be getting bored with climax's that feel drawn out to no real purpose. And while we're speaking of climaxes, the aesthetic ending this film has is a tad bit shocking to see. Though Anderson has never claimed whether he had any spiritual beliefs, it can't be denied that many of his films (particularly "Magnolia") contain strong spiritual themes, as well as spiritual characters that are portrayed (almost shockingly) as positive and influential people. To say that this new view caught me a little off guard is saying something. Still, overall this is a good film. It has it's problems with the pacing and ending, but it still is a good movie, and I find myself excited once more for Anderson's future projects.
Rating: *** and 1/2 stars - 2008-02-13, 22 of 37 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Oil and Blood
- "There will be Blood" is an adaptation of Upton Sinclair's novel, "Oil". In it, we see the corruption of capitalism and its bizarre relationship with religion. Both are portrayed as two sides of the same coin.
Daniel Day-Lewis stars as Daniel Plainview, an obsessive oil man who brooks no opposition to his ways. His chief protagonist is Paul Dano as Eli Sunday, an old fashioned fire and brimstone preacher. These two are the central players in a story told against a backdrop of the California oil rush in the early twentieth century.
A strong case can be made for Day-Lewis to win an Oscar as best actor. He is absolutely overpowering in this film. He is a true master. Yet for all his hard work, the film itself can be ponderous at times. The story sometimes dawdles with long sequences without dialogue as scenes are slowly set. If only the film could be tightened up to some degree. The broader panorama of the film is magnificent.
The film's concluding scene is a highlight. It is here that the viewer is a witness to the depth of the corruption that is only hinted at elsewhere. Yet, this scene is also one not for the faint hearted. It does, however, serve to neatly tie the pieces together of a vast drama. - 2008-02-10, 0 of 0 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Pointless, Aimless, Tiresome
- This film is a great character study and showcases Daniel Day Lewis' superb acting skills. If you wanted it to be anything other than that, don't waste your money.
The first dozen pages of script must have been all white because there is no dialog for the first 10 minutes. An hour later, you are beginning to wonder where this movie is going as there is no inciting incident and no story arc to hold your interest. Two hours later, the movie ends with sub-plots dangling from the theater ceiling and no redemptive theme in sight. Not a movie Americans will like (although I'll bet the French will love it).
Cinematography is rich and acting and casting very enjoyable; DDL has his hunch and limp down pat. The music however hovers between nerve jangling percussion rimshots to a screeching discordant violin torture from some Strauss etude.
All in all, a terrible waste of money, which means it will no doubt sweep the Oscars.
P.S. There is very little blood in There Will Be Blood - 2008-02-10, 16 of 36 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Oil and Ambition
- As a fan of the director I went into this picture with high hopes. In some cases they were met, in others they were not. First of all let me start with the direction. It is typical Anderson, very good and at times quirky. The film is a bit long for my tastes. Despite a utterly fantastic job by Lewis(as Always), parts of the film seemed to drag. The movie is about hope and greed, ambition and desire, as well as everything that makes up the American spirit. This is a character piece really. There are no huge events, no twists and turns. This is about one oilman and the effects his actions have on everyone around him. This is a good movie, but I wouldn't say it is one of the best pictures I have seen. I don't even feel it is the director's best movie. For me that would still be Boogie Nights.
- 2008-02-09, 3 of 5 people found this review helpful, Rated:
