Movie Review - “There Will Be Blood”
**** STARS
“I look at people and I see nothing worth liking”…”I see the worst in people”…”I have a competition in me, I want no one else to succeed”…”I can’t keep doing this on my own, with these…people”. These are words uttered by Daniel Day Lewis’ electrifying character Daniel Plainview in the brilliant and awe inspiring film titled “There Will Be Blood”. “Blood” was written and directed for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson (”Magnolia”, “Boogie Nights” and “Punch Drunk Love”).
Daniel Plainview embodies everything that this country was built on; the ambition to become wealthy and to succeed in business. Throughout “Blood” this standard of life is constantly being contradicted by the religious fundamentalism that this country claims it has based its morals and principles on. The whole film plays on the ideals of monetary success or spiritual resolution. It is easy to see in this movie that the choice of financial gain and faith are very similar, it is the balance of both that will destroy a man.
Daniel Day Lewis gives a performance that rocked me to my core, his fierce intensity and fine tuned method acting skills have never been so well executed, and his skills in “Blood” can easily be described as “mammoth” and tremendous in scale. This performance will stand out in my memory for years to come as one of the best male acting feats of recent history. I found myself feeling sympathy for this “devil” and the emotional investment paid of two fold in the end.
Paul Dano (“Little Miss Sunshine�) plays the priest Eli Sunday with a ferocious energy that is just as creepy, if not more evil, then Plainview’s greedy oil tycoon. Dillon Freasier gives a quiet but emotional turn as the orphan, and emotional pawn to Plainview, named H.W. H.W. is the closest we see Plainview get to love and this bond is devastating at certain points in this film.
I felt emotionally pummeled and shaken after this film unlike any other movie I put onto my favorite films of 2007 list (read that list by clicking here). The film’s score by Radiohead’s guitarist Jonny Greenwood is unnerving and keeps the film cohesive and eerily ominous. The music coupled with the gorgeous cinematography gives this film much deserved Oscar credibility and ups its chances for multiple nominations.
Relating to a flawed, complex and somewhat insane character like Plainview is what great filmmakers’ have the capacity to do with their art, this film moved me more than I can express. The plot details are not the main focus of this film; it is the underlined feeling that things are not far off on the screen from how we run our society today. Paul Thomas Anderson’s biggest triumph is making us see a bit of ourselves in the Plainview character. Anderson has created a gorgeous engulfing epic that will leave you speechless with horrified fascination from beginning to end.
WATCH THE “THERE WILL BE BLOOD” MOVIE TRAILER BELOW:
March 27th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
finally got to see the infamous There Will Be Blood… Daniel-Day Lewis’ performance was top-notch. He takes well to the overbearing, violent father-figure role — he also did this in Gangs of New York.