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SimplyScripts Screenwriting Discussion Board    Reviews    Movie, Television and DVD Reviews  ›  There Will Be Blood Moderators: Nixon
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James McClung
Posted: February 1st, 2008, 10:44pm Report to Moderator
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Up until now, I'd never seen a Paul Thomas Anderson film. His films, his rep, his fans... nothing about the guy turns me off but nothing particularly intrigues me either. I've always written him off as someone whose works, whether good or bad, I'd never see... I was wrong. There Will Be Blood is different. First off, there's something about the title. A film called There Will Be Blood is going to turn heads no matter what it's about. Second, Daniel Day Lewis as an oil tycoon drilling for precious liquid gold smack dab in the center of an evangelical community run by a twenty-something preacher is ripe for some interesting conflict. With that said, There Will Be Blood...

Before I get into what the film's about, I think I should note that the film is based on the novel Oil! by Upton Sinclair. Who, you ask? Upton Sinclair was a socialist novelist back in the early 1900s, most famous for his novel The Jungle, which I had to read my freshman year of college. The Jungle is about an immigrant worker in the US who finds a job in the meat packing district. The novel is basically about how capitalism nothing short of eviscerates the soul of the working man. Why is this important? There Will Be Blood is essentially a character piece and considering the novel it's based upon was written by a man who thought capitalism was the face of all evil, you'll have a better idea of what kind of character this film is about and the possibility of said character being an allegory. It's not enough to say it's just about oil drilling...

Okay. There Will Be Blood is thirty years of the life of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis), a self-proclaimed oil man who made it to where he is by, quite literally, starting at the bottom... the bottom of an oil well, that is. Anyway, late one night, Plainview is tipped off by a young man, Paul Sunday (Paul Dano - Little Miss Sunshine, Fast Food Nation) about some land out in the middle of nowhere that's literally bursting with oil. Plainview goes to check it out and finds said "small evangelical community" who have to survive on scarce crops and salty water. He subsequently buys them out and starts to drill. Paul's brother, Eli Sunday (also Dano), local preacher and self-proclaimed profit, decides that Plainview's oil money should go to funding his church, generally preserving the community's values, since he's the one with whom Plainview makes the deal and who's land is getting drilled. Eli starts out as little more than a nuisance to Plainview but steadily grows into an outright nemesis (in Plainview's eyes, of course). In fact, Plainview sees just about everyone as a nemesis... hence, There Will Be Blood.

This is a crude attempt at constructing a plot, unfortunately. Like I said, the film's more of a character study but above is the most dominant of the film's mainly conflicts. Plainview's relationship with his young adoptive son and partner (who turns deaf after a drilling accident) and a man claiming to be his half-brother (Kevin J. O'Conner - The Mummy) serve as subplots.

Whatever you want to call the film, it's dynamite. Perhaps the best reason to call it a character study is the fact that Daniel Day Lewis is responsible for 75% of the film's awesomeness. When the film begins, he comes off as charming, charismatic, brimming with confidence, a cunning businessman and a loving father to a son that isn't even his. He also seems to genuinely care for the welfare of his men and their families. However, this is just a front. As the film goes on, Plainview gets nasty. Even though he's the protagonist, he's clearly a villain and his driving force is cold and deep hatred for virtually every human being he comes in contact with. Throughout the film, he only gets worse until the end when he's, quite literally, a drunken, dribbling mess spewing nothing but deep-seeded contempt and gleeful cruelty. Upton Sinclair would be proud. Daniel Plainview is, quite simply, one of the nastiest sons of bitches in the history of cinema. He's both fascinating and horrifying to watch and is the driving force of what makes There Will Be Blood so fantastic.

What makes the other 25% of the film great is Dano and Anderson's direction. This is probably Dano's first major role and he does quite well with it. I don't think the other films he's been in thus far have really showcased his talent enough. Eli Sunday is a pretty overt stereotype of an evangelical Christian. He comes off as a little bit of a loon and pretty pushy in badgering Plainview about what he wants. At the same time, he's somewhat sympathetic as despite the abuse Plainview unloads on him (and I mean unload), he naively considers him a friend as well as a rival (a little stupid on his part as well). Anyway, Dano is strong in the role, especially for such a young actor. Despite the fact that Plainview could clearly squash him like a bug, a lot of Eli's characteristics mirror those of Plainview (greed, ego, etc.) and Dano is able to perform well enough to be a believable adversary.

As for Anderson's direction, he's nothing short of a virtuoso. You can practically smell the oil as it boils into frame. Everything that appears onscreen is detailed and extremely well-thought out. Anderson strikes me as a guy who knows everything there is to know about the technical side of filmmaking. The cinematography is just outstanding and the sound design is exceptional. That's really all I can say about that.

Finally, what probably everyone wants to know... was the blood brought? Yes and no. Well... yes, really. 95% of There Will Be Blood isn't really a violent film. There's some pretty grisly mining accidents, one or two scenes of roughplay, and Plainview is just such an unsavory character, just about everything he does is violent, even if not in the physical sense, but that 95% is pretty tame. Definitely a character driven film... then there's the climax. At the end of the film, Anderson basically turns everything upside down and the final shot seems like one out of a dark comedy. The final scene, involving an extremely intoxicated Plainview and a wrongfully happy-go-luck Eli, is brutal with a capital B. Probably the most brutal scene in any film last year with the exception of Eastern Promises. It was chilling to watch and made me feel a little freaked out leaving the theater. I won't spoil anything, since the last five minutes or so are sooo out of left field, but I will say it involves a popular sport that's been around since the early 1900s and still hasn't got a national league in any country. Go see it and you'll find out.

Not usually one to do number ratings but I feel like this is too bulky a review to do anything else so I say...

There Will Be Blood - 9/10

Go see it!



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James McClung  -  February 2nd, 2008, 2:17am
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Murphy
Posted: February 1st, 2008, 11:26pm Report to Moderator
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Good review James, I am counting down the days till this opens in Aus (7 to go!!).

Now go and see Magnolia!
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James McClung
Posted: February 1st, 2008, 11:47pm Report to Moderator
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Quoted from Murphy
Good review James, I am counting down the days till this opens in Aus (7 to go!!).

Now go and see Magnolia!


I will, acutally. I had no interest in seeing Magnolia before but after seeing TWBB, I don't think I've been so impressed with the first film I saw from a given director since I saw Audition by Takashi Miike way back.

Go see TWBB opening day and maybe have a milkshake before going... after this, you'll probably never think of milkshakes the same again, haha.


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rc1107
Posted: February 2nd, 2008, 12:15am Report to Moderator
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Hey James,

I'm really iffy about Paul Thomas Anderson.  He's never been a consummate director in my eyes.  The first movie I saw from him was 'Magnolia'.  I actually read the script before I watched the movie, and I loved both of them.  Even now when I pass Magnolia in the video store, I still have to rent it and watch it again and again, it's that good.  It might not please everybody, but I, for one, loved it.

Then, I saw Boogie Nights.  Which I didn't mind, but it didn't really impress me, either.  If I liked it for anything it was because of the acting and not so much the direction.  Not bad, but I thought it could have been better.

Then there's 'Punch Drunk Love'.  I don't know what other people or critics have said about it, but I hated it and I think I might actually despise it.  I mean, I've seen worse movies ('Wag the Dog' and Gus Van Sant's 'Last Days' come to mind), but Punch Drunk Love I felt was a huge waste of time and I couldn't wait until it was finally over.  Not even the acting helped this one at all.

That's a pretty big arch for me, going from praising somebody's film to despising their next one.

From not only what you had just said about the film, but what else I've heard about it, 'There Will Be Blood' sounds like an excellent movie and I can't wait to give P.T. Anderson another chance.  On a similar note, I don't think I'll be giving Gus Van Sant another chance.

And by the way, I'm looking everywhere in my neighborhood for 'Audition' and I can't find it.  It's even been sold out at my local Best Buy for almost a year now and they haven't ordered anymore.

- Mark


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mikep
Posted: February 2nd, 2008, 10:04am Report to Moderator
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TWBB is on my to-do list, but Anderson hasn't impressed me so far. Although I haven't seen Hard Eight, his other films, for me, have been extremely problematic. Boogie Nights was a Scorsese ...well it went past homage...clone, even down to a final scene that was such a complete lift from Raging Bull, it's surprising there were no lawsuits.

Magnolia & Punch Drunk Love were his Altman movies, Magnolia being wildly self indulgent with nothing to really justify it's hefty running time. Now PTA admits that TWBB is his "Kubrick" movie, so it'll be interesting to see at least. Daniel Day Lewis is a major plus.


13 feature scripts, 2 short subjects. One sale, 4 options. Nothing filmed. Damn.

Currently rewriting another writer's SciFi script for an indie producer in L.A.
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Murphy
Posted: February 9th, 2008, 9:44am Report to Moderator
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So saw it this afternoon, unfortunately a friend had the nerve to have his birthday on the same day that There Will Be Blood opened in Australia and so with a table booked tonight my choice was waiting until tomorrow or going to the cinema during the day. So for what may be the first time since I was a kid I went to the cinema in the daytime, Mrs Murphy was not best pleased to have to interrupt a day of buying handbags and shoes to come to the cinema but I really do not like going to the cinema on my own so she had little choice.

I really did not imagine at all that I would end up disagreeing with James' most excellent review but in fact there is a very key element of this movie that I think James has not given any credit to and that is the score. I am a huge Radiohead fan and so was incredibly keen to find out what Johnny Greenwood had managed to come up with for this movie and oh my god, the score for this movie is just simply amazing. There are very few scenes in this movie that contain anything approaching what would be considered a "normal' film score. Mostly we get the most amazing collection of sounds, percussion and dramatic string sections that do as much to create real drama and tension as the direction or the acting.

I cannot underestimate enough what the score brings to this movie and James's otherwise perfect assessment of this movie gives a 75% DDL to 25% supporting cast & direction split I would suggest that is not correct and at the very least 25% needs to be found in there for Johnny Greenwood. The opening 20 minutes of the movie is totally dialogue free but yet incredibly powerful (anyone here try writing a script that begins with nothing else but 20 minutes of action and wait for the comments!) and much of that is totally due to the score. Shame on the Academy for ruling it ineligible for the Oscar because of some stupid rule as this along with the "Diving Bell and the Butterfly" not been eligible for best foreign language picture so really highlights what a bunch of muppets they are sometimes.

Apart from that James is spot on, Daniel Day-Lewis is awesome, This is the role he will be remembered by. It is a true one in a lifetime performance that carries this movie it's entire length. I was really worried about my wife sitting through over 2 1/2 hours of what I expected to be a slow movie but at the end she just said it was "amazing" and that she thought Daniel Day-Lewis was the most incredible actor she had ever seen. That is high praise indeed from my Mrs.

As I said earlier I love Magnolia, It is one of my favorite movies ever and because of that PT Anderson has always been very high in my list of directors, I for one very much liked Punch Drunk Love. But even I was a left a little shocked at what he has managed to achieve with this film, I have very little in the way of superlatives left that will do justice to this movie but the words awesome, impressive and genius come to mind. This I am sure is one of the greatest films ever made, I need to watch it again but I am not totally against the fact that it may be the greatest film ever made. I know that may sound a little silly but what am I comparing it too? Is it better than The Godfather? Yes, it might actually be. Is it better than Citizen Kane? Without a doubt yes it is. Is it better than anything that Hitchcock made? I can honestly say probably yes.

So I did not really get much in the way of subtext in this movie today, to be honest I was so in awe of Daniel Day-lewis that I never had much opportunity to think about anything else as there is not a single scene he is not in. But there are some obvious points here, of course we are talking about oil and religion and while PT Anderson is certainly well above shoving anything down our throats it is there if you want to look for it and I sat down to watch this film fully expecting it to be there in the background. But this morning I listened to Mark Kermode's review (a very knowledgeable UK film critic I have much respect for) and he said that on first viewing this movie he "never got it" and it was only his 2nd and 3rd viewings that he understood the film. That to me at the moment is strange as I have no idea what the "it" is that he is referring to! And so am keen to see this again soon to see what it is I have missed and what more is in this film to see. I am very sure that the movie I saw today is probably only half of the movie that there is to see.

Anyway, this is a very long reply to what was already a great review by James but I have been out for dinner and drinks and only just able to sit down and think about this film and am just quite amazed by it. A truly wonderful film that just makes me remember why it is that I love films so much.

A very brilliant 9.5/10

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MacDuff
Posted: February 9th, 2008, 4:52pm Report to Moderator
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I can't agree more, James. I thought There Will Be Blood was a masterful attempt at a character study about a man who crumbles beneath his own power.

This is one of the most powerful performances that I have ever seen. Daniel Day Lewis deserves an Oscar. Watching it on the big screen, I was totally in awe of his presence and actually felt intimidated!

SPOILERS...

Anyone else feel like Eli and Paul were the same person? I know it was planned since day 1 that they were brothers, but then Anderson decided to give Eli's part to Paul Dano and make them twins. I actually liked the notion better that the brother's were one in the same person and Eli\Paul was suffering schizophrenia. To me, it made Eli\Paul an even more interesting study.

Stew


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James McClung
Posted: February 10th, 2008, 7:20pm Report to Moderator
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Quoted from Murphy
I really did not imagine at all that I would end up disagreeing with James' most excellent review but in fact there is a very key element of this movie that I think James has not given any credit to and that is the score. I am a huge Radiohead fan and so was incredibly keen to find out what Johnny Greenwood had managed to come up with for this movie and oh my god, the score for this movie is just simply amazing. There are very few scenes in this movie that contain anything approaching what would be considered a "normal' film score. Mostly we get the most amazing collection of sounds, percussion and dramatic string sections that do as much to create real drama and tension as the direction or the acting.

I cannot underestimate enough what the score brings to this movie and James's otherwise perfect assessment of this movie gives a 75% DDL to 25% supporting cast & direction split I would suggest that is not correct and at the very least 25% needs to be found in there for Johnny Greenwood. The opening 20 minutes of the movie is totally dialogue free but yet incredibly powerful (anyone here try writing a script that begins with nothing else but 20 minutes of action and wait for the comments!) and much of that is totally due to the score. Shame on the Academy for ruling it ineligible for the Oscar because of some stupid rule as this along with the "Diving Bell and the Butterfly" not been eligible for best foreign language picture so really highlights what a bunch of muppets they are sometimes.


You are correct, my friend. Greenwood's score was spot on. Really unnerving stuff. I'm not sure whether or not the film was more unnerving when the score was booming or when Anderson went with the No Country For Old Men route and had no score at all.

My only excuse for not mentioning the score (or for that matter the fact that the first 15 minutes contained no dialogue) is that my review was so long and rambling, things were naturally going to slip my mind. Plus there's only so much one can read in a review. In any case, you're right... but DDL is still responsible for 75% greatness.


Quoted from MacDuff
SPOILERS...

Anyone else feel like Eli and Paul were the same person? I know it was planned since day 1 that they were brothers, but then Anderson decided to give Eli's part to Paul Dano and make them twins. I actually liked the notion better that the brother's were one in the same person and Eli\Paul was suffering schizophrenia. To me, it made Eli\Paul an even more interesting study.

Stew


A lot of people have brought this up and I for one don't think they are the same person. Someone else was originally supposed to play Eli but ducked out and Dano filled in. I think if they stuck with having separate actors taking on separate roles, this debate wouldn't even come up. Just my opinion though. I don't know the motives of the filmmakers.


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chism
Posted: February 10th, 2008, 11:41pm Report to Moderator
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There Will Be Blood is a masterpiece. Nothing less. P.T. Anderson has out-done himself with this brooding, emotional epic.

The performances (especially DDL) were engaging, the cinematography was stunning, and Johnny Greenwood's score was just beautiful, in that eerie, soul haunting kind of way.

I haven't been taken by a movie this way in quite some time. It's truly an amazing piece of cinema. One that should be mentioned whenever the conversation of great modern movies comes up. If only more people made them like this.


Matt.
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The boy who could fly
Posted: March 15th, 2008, 2:51am Report to Moderator
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thought this was amusing.  If you have seen TWBB and NCFOM you'll probably get a kick out of it.  The guy who does daniel day lewis has it down perfect.

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/play.shtml?mea=221737


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James McClung
Posted: March 15th, 2008, 1:22pm Report to Moderator
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thought this was amusing.  If you have seen TWBB and NCFOM you'll probably get a kick out of it.  The guy who does daniel day lewis has it down perfect.

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/play.shtml?mea=221737


LOL. Damn, this guy is good. For someone who one an Academy Award, DDL seems pretty easy to imitate. Maybe it's just this guy. Anyway, this was really funny for an SNL skit. I loved the big straw. Chigurh wasn't too great though. He's pretty imitateable in the film but I don't think this guy even tried. Oh well. Still funny.

I'm a little worried this "milkshake" thing is getting played out. If SNL's spoofing it then it must be close. I didn't even know that many people saw the film. The time approaches for an avatar change...


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Takeshi
Posted: March 16th, 2008, 6:10pm Report to Moderator
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The more I hear about this the more I want to see it. It's definitely at the top of my Must See list. I've enjoyed everything that Paul Thomas Anderson has directed; especially Magnolia and Hard Eight. I'm also a huge fan of Daniel Day Lewis. He was fantastic in The Gangs of New York and In The Name of The Father. I also read somewhere that he was on the short list to play Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction. That would've been interesting.
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Martin
Posted: March 16th, 2008, 6:27pm Report to Moderator
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Quoted from Takeshi
I've enjoyed everything that Paul Thomas Anderson has directed; especially Magnolia and Hard Eight. I'm also a huge fan of Daniel Day Lewis. He was fantastic in The Gangs of New York and In The Name of The Father.  


I completely agree, I'm a huge fan of those films and I was really hyped to see TWBB but I left the theater disappointed.

It had some strong elements, the cinematography and the acting in particular, but the plot was meandering, overdrawn, and the ending left me cold. Maybe that was the point but it just didn't work for me. And the soundtrack was just painful. Jonny Greenwood was a good idea on paper but the music really grated on me.

As far as I'm concerned, this movie is easily outdone by No County for Old Men and the underrated Assassination of Jesse James.

It's not a bad movie by any means, just not the gem I'd hoped for.
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