Review: There Will Be Blood
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008OK, so I am on a quest to see if any of the movies that were nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture actually deserved it. Next up: There Will Be Blood.
Plot summary from imdb.com:
Set in the early 20th century, the film follows the rise to power of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis)– a charismatic and ruthless oil prospector, driven to succeed by his intense hatred of others and psychological need to see any and all competitors fail. When he learns of oil-rich land in California that can be bought cheaply, he moves his operation there and begins manipulating and exploiting the local landowners into selling him their property. Using his young adopted son H.W. to project the image of a caring family man, Plainview gains the cooperation of almost all the locals with lofty promises to build schools and cultivate the land to make their community flourish. Over time, Plainview’s gradual accumulation of wealth and power causes his true self to surface, and he begins to slowly alienate himself from everyone in his life.
Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that Daniel Day-Lewis is just amazing in this movie and in general. He absolutely deserved to win his Oscar for Best Actor and I give him my sincere congratulations.
The bad news is, this movie was yet again, not worthy for a Best Picture nomination in my opinion. It was way, way, way too long which took away from it because a lot of parts really dragged and I found myself being bored and waiting for it to end multiple times. Also, I didn’t really care about any of the characters, which if you’ve read any of my other reviews, you’ll know that’s a biggie for me.
Daniel Day-Lewis’ character was very intriguing and interesting because of the amazing acting not because of any character development or anything like that.
I think it’s obvious that this is a very well made movie and I think movie snobs will have a lot to praise. But for me, a lowly audience member waiting to be entertained, I was sadly let down. It is very weird and twisted and confusing. I definitely did not get it.
I suppose I would recommend it based purely on the Oscar winning performance, but only if you have 2 hours and 38 minutes to waste.
(I must add that I am not against long movies, as long as they don’t drag on and feel like they are too long)
My Rating:
Didn’t Like it
Other movies that didn’t deserve to be nominated for Best Picture:
Atonement
Michael Clayton
There Will Be Blood, There Will Be Blood movie review, Daniel Day-Lewis
