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Plot Summary: Describing the
plot for “There Will Be Blood” is rather tricky because it’s
not the type of film where one thing happens, which leads to
another thing, and then to another thing... You could say
the film is about a successful oil man or the relationship
between him and his son and those around them, but I think
it’s really about this insane character Daniel Plainview and
his views on life, people and religion. This makes “There
Will Be Blood” more of a character study. Sure things
happen, like Daniel finding oil for the first time, him and
his son travel across the country, workers on the farm come
and go. But the film runs two and a half hours long and I
could the major plot points in the same time it would take
you to chew and swallow a mini-sized tootsie role.
Dillon Freasier and Daniel Day-Lewis
traveling to the Sunday farm
The Review:
It’s funny, just within the past few months
Writer/Director Paul Thomas Anderson popped in my head. I
had just recently watched “Boogie Nights” for the first time
and years and I thought “What ever happened to Mr. Paul
Thomas Anderson?” Well, after some digging on the internet I
discovered that his latest film “There Will Be Blood” was
not only finished, but due out in theaters that week. Days
later I found myself sitting alone in the theater on a
Wednesday afternoon partaking in the Paul Thomas Anderson
experience. My friends usually go with me, but I ran out of
money to pay them. It’s also worth mentioning that I had
absolutely no clue what the film was about going in. I
didn’t even know it took place during the turn of the
century. I didn’t even know it was about oil for Christ
sake.
So the film opens and it’s not even until ten-minutes in
that we hear our first line of dialogue. I’m thinking, how
fitting for a Paul Thomas Anderson movie. Once the opening
sequences commence and we fast forward a few years in the
story, we meet Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) and his
taken-as-his son H.W. Plainview (Dillon Freasier). We spend
the next twenty minutes or so learning about these
characters and seeing them do business. The first act of the
film seemed a tad slow to me, but around forty-five minutes
in I was hooked. Like any great film, it slowly sucks you in
and never lets up.
Bad news: there's an out of control fire.
Good news: we've got oil!
But at the same time I came to the realization that these
characters and this world fascinated me. I realized that
everything from the camera shots to the music, to the sets
to the acting seemed a tad off. The story takes time to
unfold, at times the score consists of weird bizarre sound
effects and camera shots seem to go on a little too long.
But when you add up all these elements you get this really
weird uncomfortable intensity to the film. I can still feel
that today just rethinking the experience.
What’s also cool about “There Will Be Blood” is that you
just don’t know where the film is headed. This is attributed
to the insane character of Daniel Plainview, as writer by
screenwriter Paul Thomas Anderson and novelist Upton
Sinclair. But this character Daniel Plainview is a serious
head case. He could be patting a man on the back smiling and
you have no idea if he’s going to hand him a $10,000 check
or cut his face off with an oversized machete. At one point
Daniel is screaming at the character of Eli (Paul Dano) and
says “Stop crying, you sniveling ass! Stop your nonsense.
You're just the afterbirth, Eli.” (referring to Eli’s more
successful twin brother). Yep. He’s a piece alright.
Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview
The film also has this great underlying sense of doom and
uncertainty, which again I attribute to the character of
Daniel Plainview and writer Paul Thomas Anderson. As the
film progresses we see Daniel burn more and more bridges and
become more bastardly like. He does things that pretty much
make you sick to your stomach and because of this you know
the people around him are sharpening their knives just
waiting for the opportune time to cut his throat, or will
they? I’m telling you, you just never know what is going to
happen from one scene to the next and that was genuinely
exciting. Even up until the final frame, I knew the ending
of the film had to be coming soon, but I couldn’t have
guessed how it was all going to go down. But I gotta say it
was most rewarding.
Paul Dano and
Daniel Day-Lewis in the church
Last but not least I have to mention the remarkable
performance by Daniel Day-Lewis. This guy is just insane to
me. After recently watching “There Will Be Blood” and seeing
Daniel Day-Lewis in an interview almost immediately after I
can’t even believe it’s the same guy. But what’s even more
insane, is that the only disguise Daniel has is a mustache
and a brimmed hat. WHAT? Everything from his voice, to his
walk, to the way he smokes a cigar, to the look in his eyes
when he sees oil erupting from the ground like it was a
fountain of gold. He’s so intense as this character that’s
it’s down right creepy. It’s also worth mentioning that Paul
Dano, who I remember as the Atari 2600 playing geek from
“The Girl Next Door”, also gives an awesome performance as
Pastor Eli Sunday. All the performances in this picture are
exceptional.
The community gathers to celebrate the oil
well
Overall Thoughts:
As I write this review “There Will Be Blood” is nominated
for a number of Academy Awards including best picture, which
doesn’t surprise me at all. The film exudes a higher level
of filmmaking then ninety-five percent of other films being
made today. It’s brings hope back to Hollywood. So if you
like dramatic films with great highly developed characters
then you’ve got to see this movie. On the other hand, if you
like your movies with more over-the-top action, sweaty babes
and cheesy dialogue then “There Will Be Blood” just might be
the right excuse you were looking for to hang yourself in
your garage. Loser!
DVD Special Features and Specs:
• Info coming soon!
Associated Links:
• ParamountVantage.com/blood/
Official Site for There Will Be Blood
• Time.com
Time Magazine Interview Paul Thomas Anderson
• Video.Google.com
Awesome Charlie Rose
Interview with Anderson and Daniel Day-Lewis
• En.Wikipedia.org
Bio and other works from
novelist Upton Sinclair
Rating System:
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