There Will Be Blood - Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm

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.

a film of two halves

This is a long film. the first half is fantastic, the second half sends you to sleep it's so tedious. Daniel Day Lewis is awe inspiring, so much so that you don't really care what happens to the other characters. So I suggest you watch until the point where the pipeline is complete, then switch off. You won't be missing anything, and the good part will be fresh in your mind.

Modern American Masterpiece

Well, first things first, I didn't think that I would come across a film that would have the same impact on me when i watched Atonement. Boy was I wrong! Everything in this film is pure genuis on Anderson's part. Stunning cinematography,acting,score,editing....everything that I want in a film and more. An absolute masterpiece.

There Will Be Blood contains some intresting idelogies about surburben America. Most notably an incredibly isolated one. But two that come to mind are this Anti-Religious theme and Ant-capitalism. We see the character of Plaintiff, who feels uncomfortable around Eli Sunday in relation to his evangelical preching. Daniel Day-Lewis' character is one of a seriosuly repressed man, who wants no more than to own every oil enterprise in the land.

What was so brilliant about this film, which I will probably say again was just absolutly bloody everything. The score I will begin with. Made by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood, who for some starnge reason did not get an Academy award nomination for this, produces a score which prefectly relates to the time period. The whole errieness of it and the detuning of the score, adds to the bleak, corrupt atmosphere that we see on screen. Abolutly mesmeriszing. Something which I have to buy very soon. Still have it in my head. So brilliant"

The film also contains huge christian like imagery. For instance Plaintiff, is seen as deriving from hell, ie- we first seen him down in the pit lookin for oil. From there we can see he is a violent, selfish man, who is deterimined to get what h wants. From there on, when he takes the son of another man and poses him as his own-also symoboloses this. There are loads more but I dodn't want to give too much away as it's just blown me away!

Talking of "blowing me away" the cinematography. WOW oh Wow! again I didn't think I would see should sensational cinematography since I watched Atonement back in September. Again I was serisouly wrong. Throughout the film, the colour on the screen changes from dark to seriously light. Again, possibly signifies the changing of mood. One oncredibly piece of imagery is that scene where the oil place is on fire is unbelivably. The colours, is set up perfectly for something spectactualer. I don't have the words to describe it but once you see it you'll see what I mean.

Being a Scorsese fan, I can see hell of a lot of trademarks in here that he uses. For instance the jump cuts in here, that he often uses. These, as I can see from reviews have put people off and confused them a little. For me this is is beauty of the film. It has certainly made be think about how much I take for granted everything told to me in the film. I mean Anderson takes a chunk of vita nrrative information and doesn't tells us anymore. I loved this. Seriouslyy people is a good thing you know. It's something that is original and not often used. People wake up! Anyway, I loved some of the tracking shots in this, not quite beating Atonement but still some unbeliveable scenes in it.

The acting...well just outstanding. Daniel Day Lewis seriosuly pocess the inner-body of his character so well. The John Huston like voice, mannerisms, e.t.c is just mind-blowing. If he doesn't win best actor at this year's oscars-I'l eat my own hat!! I have to say Paul Dano is serisouly under-rated in this role. He brilliantly plays the twin-brothers Eli and Paul so so well. I love his crazy preaching moment...but I can't go into that much. Both actors, Dano and Day-Lewis have brilliant chemistry on screen which shows. I can't understand why Dano hasn't been credited more with his role-only a BAFTA nomination. I guess his is slightly over-shadowed by Day Lewis's performance.

Overall, the length of the film DOES NOT matter, the jump cuts, DOES NOT matter, acting, score cinematograpy all contribute to a sensational, outsanding film which words can't not express. I couldn't keep my eyes of it all the way through, just annoyed me that I picked a crapy version but I will get it on DVD soon.

Go out and see it when you can, you wont be dsappointed. Ignore the negative comments here because they're wrong!! There Will Be Blood gave me the same experience as I had with the brilliant Atonement. One of utter admiration for the director and just all around Wownes...a word I made up right there!