There Will Be Blood - Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm

Oil on the brain

This visceral, poignant, haunting behemoth of a movie takes no prisoners. It is simultaneously an unrelenting portrait of an evil man and the documenting of a period of history in which the world changed forever.

Drilling for oil is an inherently violent business. Man build's giant machines to invade the earth and draw out the fossilized remains of organisms that existed millennia ago. The violence of their resurrection is matched by the fearful depths the prospectors will sink to within themselves to reach the black gold. The dark, seemingly limitless wealth in the belly of the earth is like the limitless evil we can draw on should we be so motivated.

Our antihero, Plainview, is tormented and evil yet presents himself as an honest family man, an `oil man'. This draws an unbroken connection between the dark insanity of the early days of oil and the republican oil men today who also are steeped in blood whilst professing Christian family values. More than this, that these wild, violent times are the immediate foundation of our culture throws our `civilization' into sharp relief.


Finding this cheap almost limitless source of energy under our feet propelled humanity on an expansive projection that would subjugate much of the living world. We have changed our planet using oil powered technologies. If we ever needed reminding that this happened without a master plan this film is it. It is in a frenzied state that we have transformed our society into raging fire, fuelled by fossil fuel that is consuming the rest of the biosphere.

Emerging from the misery of oil exploration, with the greed and avarice, danger and death, presented with the back drop of a changing planet, with oil wars raging, we have this starkly beautiful film. This honest work of art allows us to see not just our own story but the interior workings of the mind of the species that sits atop the apex of life on this planet. At worst, we are stupid, bald monkeys on a collision course with extinction. But there is beauty on the road to oblivion; the dark horror the film describes is juxtaposed with the creative genius of the making of the film. It is humanities creative abilities that make existence worthwhile. Maybe there is hope.

Overrated and tedious

I was very disappointed with this film. It was nearly 20 minutes before a character even spoke, and it's not as if anything was going on. And Daniel Day Lewis's performance which I'd heard so many good things about, oh dear. All he does is shout his lines. Since when did shouting become a substitute for acting? I felt embarassed for him. If someone in a local theatre acted that badly they'd be booed off stage.
But the most annoying thing about this film was that it had no point. I was expecting some sort of gigantic revelation or twist at the end that would save the film and redeem it in some way, but no, nothing of the sort. It just ended. I was grateful that it was over, but wished it had ended about 2 hours earlier (just after the opening credits would have been best).
I realise a lot of people like this film, but I wanted to be entertained and this film failed to do that for me. Really disappointed.

A film of two layers.

It's worth 2.5 stars... but you can't give half stars, so 2-stars it is.

Let's cut to the chase - the acting is superb - all players taking their parts brilliantly - deftly counter-pointing each other - it's like jazz 'man' (niiice!) - and brilliantly achieved by all.

The realisation onto film is sumptuously done - visually stunning, sometimes straightforwardly beautiful, with lots of sweeping time allowing for each section to play at its own natural pace - the dialog seems to feel very real for this reason alone.

The music was, for me, a little intrusive at times and grated a tad - even if in keeping with the tone of the film, and there's some nice use of sound manipulation (and silence) when taking HW's point of view.

But... oh golly gee gosh... it's a fundamentally such a dull and uninvolving story, and as noted by others nothing really 'happens' per se. Although the story covers a fair span of time I never felt that the characters evolved, or a 'proper story' got told, and the central character remains largely unexplained/unresolved and one for whom (I hope!) we feel little empathy, albeit some sympathy.

That said, by the time 'our hero' shouts 'I'm finished' I have to confess, I knew exactly how he felt. Perhaps they should have filmed the back-story given to Daniel Day Lewis instead.

Moral of the story - if you're a ruthless uncaring individual who suppresses what little you do feel, and pushes away those who feel for you, don't be surprised if you're not very popular or happy. Duh.

Other moral of the story - watch Citzen Kane instead, and save an hour of your life - for there's washing to be done Maude, and the yung-uns need a changin!!!

Outrageous

Films like this do not come along very often. When they do we should celebrate them as much as possible so that the people of Hollywood (let's face it, they still have all the money in the film industry) will readily give cash to good projects rather than the endless remakes, spoofs and generally awful blockbusters that one has to put up with nowadays. Having said all that, 2007 has been a very good year for films (Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, No Country for Old Men, Once, to name just a few) so maybe we are entering a golden age of cinema, something equivalent to what we had in the 1970s. There Will Be Blood is certainly a movie that would not look out of place next to The Godfather, The French Connection, The Conversation, Jaws, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and so on.
The film follows the life of Daniel Plainview as an oil man during the early days of the industry. He's extremely corrupt but, as with all these kinds of characters, strangely likeable. He will stop at nothing to get what he wants: Murder and bribery are part of his repertoire. He even has an orphan child in his tow, claiming that he is his son (the boy is none the wiser) who he uses for show in an effort to make people think he is a family man, a good man.
No doubt all the praise will go to Daniel Day Lewis' marvellous performance as the lead character (it's one of the best I've ever seen), but that should take nothing away from all the other top-notch acting, not least Paul Dano who is excellent as a slightly insane preacher.
A huge round of applause for Jonny Greenwood for his haunting and, often, disturbing score. It is a shame that Mr Greenwood (as I feel compelled to call him) was not eligible to be Oscar nominated (due to some nonsense technicalities) because he thoroughly deserved such an accolade.
So, an all round brilliant film and, dare I say it, a masterpiece.
This DVD is not the special edition which, if I am correctly informed, contains, an extra disc. The extra disc contains a feature describing the look of the film using period pictures of oil prospectors, towns, maps etc. There are two deleted scenes, which are basically extensions of scenes already in the movie. There is also a feature called "The Story of Petroleum", a silent movie made in the 1920s that was used to teach Americans about the oil business. If this isn't enough for you, I think you will agree that the cover of the special edition is far better than this alternative version. Far out! I am not aware, yet, that the special edition will get released in region 2 (I am sure it will). However, for now, I am sure this version will keep you thoroughly entertained. After all it does contain the film.

There will be blood is just not that good.

I so thought this would be a great movie, I am a huge fan of Daniel Day-Lewis and his acting in this was superb as usual but what the hell was the point in this movie, because It did not raise one bit of emotion in me. I am a reasonably inteligent man but I cant see what the fuss is about . This movie had beautiful cinematography great acting but I just didn't care about any of the characters at all. I cant help thinking that this has been hyped up without justification and that there is a real sense of emperor's new clothes about this. The story was just dull. I kept waiting for the moment of revelation that never came. If someone can explain the point of this movie I would be very grateful because I cant see one. I think the real test of a great movie is being able to watch again and again and get something out of it each time. I would rather watch a beautifully fimed documentary about oil production in the early 1900s because it would have about as much emotion.