There Will Be Blood

So I've been doing this blog for close to 4 years now but I remember the first time I got really interested in award winning films and I remember the Oscar season that I was interested in for the first time. It was 2008 and I remember watching a little bit of the Oscars and hearing so much about this movie called No Country for Old Men. Now that's a totally different story and a review for another time, but one of the movies I heard just as much acclaim for that year was There Will Be Blood.

I also can't say I've watched a lot of movies with Daniel Day Lewis, even though in many circles he is considered one of the best actors of our generation. There Will Be Blood has been on my Netflix list just because of all the critical acclaim and hype that I have heard about this film. I thought it was finally time to watch the film and figure out what all the fuss is about.

There Will Be Blood follows the story of Daniel Plainview (played by Daniel Day-Lewis) at the turn of the 20th century. Plainview is a silver miner in the beginning of the film but soon discovers the immense profitability in the oil drilling business and starts drilling for oil in several locations in the United States.

Plainview spends about a decade leasing land and drilling for oil making quite a profit but he has a bigger scheme in mind and that comes to him when a young man named Paul (played by Paul Dano) comes to him with an offer of a plot of land that would be perfect for him to drill in. Daniel takes this location as an opportunity to not only drill the oil from the land but to create a larger enterprise and set him and his son (played by Dillion Freasier) up for the rest of their lives.

The rest of the film is the enterprise and the lengths that Plainview will go to see his oil empire go and he will go to any lengths. But at the end of it, when he has everything he wants but he's sacrificed everything, is he fulfilled. The entire movie is basically a rags to riches story with Daniel Plainview as a character study of someone who would do anything to get his fortune and fame.

Paul Dano also plays the twin brother of the man that tipped Plainview off of the land and that twin's name is Eli. Eli is a preacher at a church and is a bit of a religious fanatic. The movie is also a very interesting look into the extremes, Eli being a man of fanatic faith to the point of paranoia and Plainview being a man of fanatic self reliance to the point of paranoia. The film has some interesting view on faith and again, it ties into the rags to riches story that Plainview must go through to find his fortune.

Now the first thing to mention in this film is that this is the movie that Daniel Day-Lewis won an Oscar for Best Actor for in 2008. And yeah, it's a really good performance. I don't know for sure but this might actually be one of the first movies I've seen Daniel Day-Lewis in. I know it is probably the first one I've reviewed for sure. And yeah... it's pretty good.

I want to keep watching his films because a part of me wonders if the idea that he is this very talented actor comes from his performances or if they come from the fact he only does a film every 3 or 4 years and then just disappears for a time. I think the last film he did was Lincoln and that was in 2012. I think people are more drawn to rare commodities and a Daniel Day-Lewis performance is a commodity.

But theories aside, I was really drawn in by the character of Daniel Plainview. I would almost say they try and make his story Shakespearean in a way.

I once again find myself watching a movie about a character that in the traditional sense should not be the hero of the story. This film, Filth and Nightcrawler were all the films on my Netflix list that followed the story of the bad guy and I think that this one probably drew me in the most. Unlike Nightcrawler and Filth where I'm shown right off the bat that those characters were a little bit off or the shady type, There Will Be Blood's Daniel Plainview could instead be seen as a tragic figure who just wanted success and isn't necessarily doing bad things for the sake of doing bad things, but instead is doing them because he believes he's doing the right thing. I know it's not that simple for films like Filth and Nightcrawler, but I immediately understood Plainview's situation and his callousness and "bad guy" features are more for personal gain for him and his son.

Speaking of which, I thought the relationship between Plainview and his son was fantastic. There's this really fun dynamic between them and you really do see it as a family business with HG Plainview as an almost equal partner.

And that makes it all the more tragic when events in the movie unfold and that relationship is strained. There's a part in the film where HG just isn't around and I actually thought this was a wasted opportunity because there could have been so much more about him and his son that would have made this story even more interesting. But the way that it went down worked out well enough and this is seriously the best relationship in the film.

And the second best is the dynamic between Plainview and Eli Sunday.

Like Day-Lewis, I also haven't been exposed to a lot of Paul Dano's work and the stuff I have I really don't remember him in the film, like 12 Years A Slave, I really don't remember him being in that film.

But Dano is in this one and he creates an interesting rival to Plainview in this film. I already mentioned some of it with the relationship of faith and human independence but I really enjoyed Dano in this film. At first I didn't think much of the plain looking creepy guy played by Dano but while you're not supposed to really like Plainview if you're a moral person, you are REALLY not supposed to like Eli Sunday.

Now here's the thing. It's probably been about 12 hours since I've watched this film and my initial thought was that it was not really a movie for me but I understand why people thought it was good and why it was nominated for Best Picture in 2008. Since then, I've been able to sleep on it and recognize some more good things about the film.

However... I still come to the conclusion 12 hours later that this is a slow as molasses movie.

Holy crap it's just a long drawl of a film. I legitimately needed to piece it up in parts because I could really not watch it in one sitting. I used to do this with a lot of movies, especially longer ones, but I feel like I've been getting better and keeping my ass in the seat while I watch a film. There Will Be Blood might set me back in that progress because this is a long, kind of boring movie at times.

Now, it was a lot more interesting than I originally thought a movie about oil drilling at the beginning of the 20th century would be like. I originally thought this movie was going to be boring as shit. And hey, at least it's not like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy where I couldn't get through the first 15 minutes of it!

But I feel like you need to be hopped up on caffeine before you watch this movie because it is a slow one. Since watching this movie I have figured out that people put this movie at the top of their list of films from 2007 and some put it in their Top lists of favorite movies of all time. That I do not understand.

I do understand that it is a well made movie. Daniel Day-Lewis's character is a great anti-hero and the themes of a rags to riches story really hasn't been done this well in a long time. But I feel like a lot of the movie is more pompous huff and puff.

The strongest part of the film is of course Daniel Day-Lewis's performance and yes, this is a really interesting character study. But if someone asked me if they needed to watch There Will Be Blood, I would say watch it if you want, but it's not anything you're going to regret not watching at the end of your life.

I put this movie on my list because of all the hype and acclaim this movie garnered in 2007. I didn't go out and see it in 2007 and if I hadn't heard so much about it, I probably wouldn't have gone out and watched it now. Again, I understand that it is a well made movie and there are some really great elements of the film that are the source of it's acclaim, but personally, I probably won't watch it again and I won't say you absolutely need to see it.

But hey! At the end of the day, if you watch this film, you will actually know the joke behind the line, "I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE", which I will not lie... was half the reason I wanted to watch this film.

But those are my thoughts on There Will Be Blood. Am I totally out of wack? Is this a modern day classic and I just don't recognize that? What did you think of it? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. Here's a video of Daniel Day-Lewis and his thoughts on his method of acting. Only time and a couple other movies will prove to me if he's actually one of the most talented actors out there or just very, VERY selective. But we will see. Enjoy!