I'm jumping OFF this band wagon in confusion and surprise?! There 'Will' Be a lot of things...entertainment wasn't one of them

Rating: 4/10 (6 February 2008)

I can say that 'usually' I am pretty on par with what the general public think of a movie although I have been known to stray my own way with certain films but I am still blown away in reading all the reviews for this film which would have someone believe that this is one of the best films of the year...an opinion shared overwhelmingly with the Academy who has bestowed numerous Oscar nominations on this film so let me be the first to say that perhaps my opinion is not right this time. However, it is my opinion and I was blown away by how truly outrageously BORING and misrepresented this movie is. I don't consider myself unintelligent by any means. I think I can certainly enjoy a great intellectual, artistic picture, and I DO love a great historical epic but I had seen the previews for this film and they represent it completely different than what the film is. There Will Be Blood should have been titled by its origin of work which was "Oil" because that is the only thing this film is about. I get the title...its rags to riches, pulling himself from the very bottom through turbulence and trials and ends with him losing his mind basically but my god it takes him a long time to get there and everything in the middle is as boring as the sand around him.
Daniel Day-Lewis is very good. I take nothing from his performance as Oil man Daniel Plainview who starts from nothing and ultimately creates an empire at no expense including his own sanity in the end. Considering his character arc covers many years and many different situations, he does a terrific job. Its just the fact that there isn't any real plot or point to the three hour film to help support him. He definitely is the focus of the film despite a small supporting cast. The only other stand out performance is that of Paul Dano, a very gifted actor coming from an awesome role in Little Miss Sunshine. His over the top, bursting performance as religious fanatic and 'healer' Eli Sunday is really something. Its comical in this dark and disturbing way. However the previews of this film imply some sort of great battle of wits between Sunday and Plainview which never happens. Instead Eli Sunday is like an annoying little bug which Plainview swats repeatedly. Dillon Freasier also does a decent job as young H.W. Plainview, who is learning the business from his father until an accident takes his hearing. Its a subtle and quiet performance but he does well.
So you have these good performances, why did I dislike this movie? It is truly uneventful. I mean watching the Oil fields and the events surrounding drilling and making money is very captivating...for 30 maybe 40 minutes...but NOTHING else happens. Its the same for three hours! And then when all is said and done we have this emotional blow out between father and son after years of being apart and then the end of the film is so downright stupid and ludicrous, it just literally made me shake my head. In some ways it was the perfect ending to a film that was just a waste. I DO believe the film makers purposely mislead the general public to believe that this film is about this bloody battle between and Oil Driller and a preacher when it has nothing at all to do with that. I can't agree with anyone on this and seeing the words "astounding, gory, disturbing" in people's reviews make me say "What the hell were you all watching?" I literally had to fight to keep my eyes open. But to each their own...that's the beauty of art but for me this Academy Awards is shaping out to be a big disappointment. 4/10