Is this review really necessary? If you’ve ever heard of the movie you know that no, this review is in fact not necessary and if you haven’t heard of the movie then you need to stop reading this right now and go fucking watch that shit immediately. In fact, if you haven’t seen the film yet I’m not even sure how you would be reading this because I DON’T LET IGNORANT FOOLS READ MY BLOG!!! (This happens to be the mantra of every blogger of all time)
“There Will Be Blood” is, to put it simply, epic. It represents that definition in every sense of the word (that word still being epic). The setting, the cinematography, but most importantly, and I can not stress this enough, the acting by Daniel Day Lewis, which is not so much powerful as it is a hydrogen bomb that would incinerate you were you next to it, but from far enough away the explosion sounds like a really authoritative voice that doesn’t put up with any bullshit. He plays Daniel Plainview, a self-proclaimed oilman who travels the western frontier establishing wells to add to his ever-expanding wealth, often resorting to very shrewd and even devious business tactics. Yet, as he gets richer, it becomes apparent that he doesn’t have any true source of happiness in his life. He gets rich only because he can’t stand to see others succeed, and he generally hates everyone, including himself.
It gets to the point where Daniel must abandon his own son, H.W. (as he later loudly confesses to a church multiple times) after an explosion causes H.W. to lose his hearing and frankly Daniel just doesn’t want to put up with his son’s shit anymore. This display, and many others like it show just how much of a sociopath Daniel truly is. The one thing about this film that makes me absolutely giddy is the number of monumental lines that are spoken by Plainview. Almost all of them are instantly quotable as they carry with them the power and assertiveness of someone with a God complex, but are still as completely bat-shit insane as the man speaking them. Of course, everyone knows about the milkshake line, but here are a couple of my favorites:
“Did you just tell me how to run my family? One night I’m going to come to you, inside of your house, wherever you’re sleeping, and I’m going to cut your throat.”
“I’m going to bury you underground, Eli.”
(And, one of my favorite lines from any movie) “I told you I was going to eat you! I told you I was going to eat you up!”
Like the character of Daniel Plainview, the movie itself seems to have a lot of confidence. You can tell that every shot, every line of dialogue, every element was captured so precisely by director Paul Thomas Anderson because he wants them all to serve a strong purpose. Of course, any movie would have to be confident to not have a line of dialogue appear until 15 minutes in. But even the first quarter hour is captivating, as we see the humble beginnings of Plainview and his emergence into the oil business.
And of course, far be it from me to not give credit where credit is due. There is another powerhouse performance given in “There Will Be Blood” by Paul Dano, who plays both Sunday brothers. He definitely holds his own against Daniel Day Lewis, especially when you consider he was originally only supposed to play Paul Sunday, whose time in the film constitutes but one short scene near the beginning. Dano was only given four days to prepare for the role of Eli, after the original actor left the production. Rumor has it that he left because Daniel Day Lewis’ tendency to stay in character even when not shooting was a little too intense for him. Kudos to Paul Dano, if that’s the case (or even if it’s not), for filling in the important role and turning in one hell of a performance as a crazed priest.
Now that I think about it, everyone in this film is crazy. Well, whatever, “There Will Be Blood” is a fantastic film, a powerful character study, and an instant classic. And to quote Daniel Plainview one more time, “I’m finished.”
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