There Will Be Blood
Snatches Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory - pandabat
What can be said about this that has not already been said: very little one suspects but here's my two cents anyway. Charting the rise of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis) from being a lowly labourer scrabbling for small oil strikes to being a rich and powerful oil magnet and documenting his ever decreasing humanity which is replaced with pure greed, "There Will Be Blood" is very much a film of two halves. The first shows Plainview's early beginnings and then brings us forward to a time when, tipped off by a local in search of a quick buck, he learns of large oil field in Little Boston, California and sets about extracting as much from the venture as he can. Plainview is ruthless in his aims and does not suffer other people gladly which invariably leads to tensions with the locals, most notably wth Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), a young preacher. For the second half (well more like a third or maybe even less), the film skips forward more than ten years into the future when Plainview is living alone in a mansion somewhere, drinking his days away while still consumed by his insane greed, hatred of people and lust for power through oil. He confronts some ghosts from the past in very emphatic ways and then, rather surprisingly, the movie ends leaving myself and my viewing partner (along with many others) largely confused as to what the point of it all was. This is a great pity as, plot imperfections aside, this was a brilliantly made movie. The cinematography captures some truly amazing shots that would almost make you weep while you bear witness to truly one of the greatest performances ever committed to film courtesy of Daniel Day Lewis. This is his film from start to finish and he possesses it wholly; there is no other way to put it. Wanting a film to be great does, alas, not make it so but this movie has so many good points that it would be a crime not see it and yet it's a shame that by lacking an ultimate direction in narrative that satisfies, especially in the closing chapters, it manages to disappoint greatly.
Review published on the 24 April 2008 23:11
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Day Lewis at his very best - mart1n
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11 January 2012 13:15
Daniel Day-Lewis is superb - me
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03 November 2008 14:57
What are ye people on???, What are ye people on??? - nick
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22 July 2008 16:07
chilling - Dee79
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19 May 2008 23:46
good movie! - y2Joey17
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16 May 2008 14:14
a difference in taste - dermot breen
i,m sure there was a story line some where but i just could not see it i would like the 3 hours of my life back . how it got such good reviews is beyond me MORE
09 May 2008 14:42
Good acting. Boring movie - Shane McEneaney
I'm being a little unfair in the title. I would give the acting 10 out of 10 and the story three out of ten. The main character was a horrible individual. MORE
23 April 2008 20:10
utterly unmissable - simonconnolly
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21 April 2008 17:14
There Will be Blood - Lawrence
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18 April 2008 22:15
A pure Masterpiece!! - amy
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16 April 2008 19:24
Incredible, remarkable and unmissable - Richie4444
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14 April 2008 13:52
flawless until... - kowalski
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13 April 2008 13:56
Kane it ain't! - Miranda
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12 April 2008 17:39
Terrible... - sadfasdfe
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07 April 2008 20:43
Not the best PT Anderson film - Janet
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02 April 2008 11:47
Outstanding - dreinzy
What a film, what a man! The best ending I?'ve seen in a long time... I DRINK YOUR MILK SHAKE. Unmissable MORE
01 April 2008 14:25
Not Sure About This... I Will Wait For The DVD! - HSP
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31 March 2008 14:53
For a slow moving film it was well worth it! - edel mccrudden2
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31 March 2008 12:13
Daniel Day Lewis brilliant - movie not engaging - dubman
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28 March 2008 14:35
Its an acting showcase. - lodonovan
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28 March 2008 11:05
Bloody Awful - Plant
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26 March 2008 07:42
Is this movie enjoyable ??? - rianaoibhinn
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25 March 2008 15:41
Excellent but nothing to do with US foreign policy - MudPuddles
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18 March 2008 12:34
drool - XXLooweezXX
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17 March 2008 18:31
goos stuff - movie_fan08
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12 March 2008 12:13
Daniel Day lewis is brilliant - jennith
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10 March 2008 07:39
there will be blood - ...........
absolutly terrible... couldnt understand what was happening and i seen it in america with my school and everyone in the cinema fell asleep after about 20 minutes because no1 knew what was... MORE
08 March 2008 12:45
A truly magnificent film - Giovanni
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06 March 2008 14:39
and there was indeed blood - Siobhan L
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04 March 2008 15:45
Greed? Don't see it, more about maleness taken to its extreme - PabloH
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02 March 2008 18:33
deserved oscar for day lewis - stereophonic2k
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02 March 2008 00:54
There Will Be Blood has NOTHING to do with American foreign policy! - Pope
Gavin Burke: You say There Will Be Blood is about America's "bullying foreign policy," and a damning indictment of America's "treatment of the countries it once gave a leg up to."... MORE
27 February 2008 00:25
Paul Thomas Anderson creates a sweeping tale of greed and America, advancing cinema like we expected it to before Heaven's Gate - burlingr
A riveting, compelling, and outstandingly DIVISIVE film which will surely advance the cinematic language of the epic, the western, and Paul Thomas Anderson. The performers are riveting and anyone who... MORE
06 February 2008 10:26
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