There Will Be Blood is a very long film about how a man’s greed, anger, and desire to be god can destroy his life. Daniel Day-Lewis as the character of Daniel Plainview is brilliant. Truthfully, the movie should be renamed “The Daniel Day-Lewis Performance.”
This is an epic movie about oil, capitalism, and religion with a stunning silent opening scene. It is deep and beautiful but also a little tedious and painful to watch at times. While many are calling this a masterpiece in character development and comparing it to the likes of Michael Corleone from The Godfather, I have to respectfully disagree. I never understood the character’s real motivations, unless the intention was for him to just be raw evil. He never fluctuated from good to bad, but remained a constant and almost inhuman tyrant. He briefly shows a piece of his humanity when asking why God has not healed his son, but ultimately it comes across as selfish.
Academy Awards:
This film has an astounding eight nominations. I think the only one it will win will be Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis. I also believe Paul Dano deserved a nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Violently. And with mention of a milkshake. Seriously, I’m not kidding.
I think the emptiness of this movie was perfectly concluded with a scene between Day-Lewis and Dano. After screaming about drinking up Dano’s milkshake (an analogy to describe how he already owned everything and would continue to suck the life out of Dano’s life), he beats him to death with a bowling pin. He the quietly tells the butler that he is finished. Quite honestly, so was I.
It was difficult to really like this movie. I could see why it is being considered excellent, but personally, I just couldn’t enjoy it. I give it 3 out of 5.
