The missus and I just watched There Will Be Blood last night, just seven short months after the rest of the world. And with all due respect to the Academy Awards, I don’t see what all the fuss was about.
First of all, the movie was at least an hour too long. There was no dialogue in the first half hour, and even though that didn’t bother me in the slightest with WALL·E, here I was having a tough time staying awake. The whole back story of Daniel Plainview felt painfully slow, and after the movie was over, I saw no need for it’s inclusion. Was it meant to show why he was as ruthless as he was? Because he broke his leg once? Lame.
Once things got moving, with Plainview buying up the land and doing his drilling and stuff, the movie was at least watchable, but I just can’t stand the way Daniel Day-Lewis over acts. He makes his character completely over the top, like some bad guy (with the same kind of moustache) from an old Bugs Bunny cartoon. And if he’s so smart and conniving, how he could fall for the old “Hey, I heard you’re rich, and guess what, I’m your long lost brother who needs some help” bit? That’s such a cliché, how on earth did it make in to a Best Picture nominee?
Then there’s the whole thing with his son. So he loves him, but not really, because he’s just a bastard in a basket. What? So when he got mad at the oil exec for suggesting he should spend time with his son, that was all an act? And he brought the kid back just for show? Would he have truly loved him had HW not become deaf? And what kind of name is HW anyway?
His clash with the reverend Eli Sunday was the most interesting part of the movie, but it totally got lost in the shuffle with everything else that was going on. Which is pretty amazing, when you consider that they were able to gloss over anything with a two and a half hour run time. The movie ended with a cool scene, and at least the promise of the title was ultimately fulfilled, but I can’t help but think that if Daniel Day-Lewis starred in the next direct-to-video American Pie movie, critics would praise it as pure brilliance.
Actually, that might not be a bad idea. I’d rent American Pie Presents: There Will Be Boobs, wouldn’t you?
(Sorry, I couldn’t resist…)
6 users commented in " There Will Be Blood, I Will Be Bored "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackHey… you forgot to mention the odd similarity in screeching violins from Lost. I think the composer for this movie score riped off the idea or is just a big Lost fan.
Why does he have to be one dimensional? Maybe sometimes he loves him, and sometimes he doesn’t. Maybe he loves him more when other people claim he doesn’t love him; and less when he feels betrayed by him.
People who love their children unconditionally are one dimensional?
Sometimes, yeah… But a more relevant point is that love isn’t always constant over someones lifetime.
I liked it. I didn’t like the screeching violins, and Mr. Lewis flirts with absurdity, then marries her, but I really did enjoy this movie. The only other HW I can think of is Bush, Sr.’s middle initials.
Of course the main character was a manipulative antagonist and not a lovable little robot knockoff (don’t get me wrong- I am looking forward to seeing Wall-E soon) but any movie that has the guts to go that way will at least get the benefit of the doubt from me. I thought the title, although accurate, was unfortunate and dramatized, but once a co-worker recommended it I rented and really liked it.
By the way, not to change the topic, but you know what movie SUCKED?
27 Dresses. The wife wanted to rent it and we both regretted it. After 30 minutes (at the exact nauseating moment the main character and her sister said, “Strawberry milkshake- JINX!”) we gave up, and watched the rest of the torture on 8x fast forward on the dvd player. As it did, I narrated, accurately I’m pretty sure…”okay now her sister meets the guy she likes, now her sister likes him…now she’s falling back into the role of supporting others and not herself, now her best friend is being a slut but that’s still actually teaching her a valuable lesson, now she’s got the guy, something about a big dog probably used as a device to separate pretentious people from those who aren’t, now they’re married and she finds out all of her friends come out of the woodwork to support her, aww that’s kinda nice, now the movie’s over, now let’s watch baseball.”
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