Ha-ha-ha, they got your money too, huh?

Rating: 2/10 (3 February 2008)

Has Daniel Day-Lewis EVER been in a film that wasn't all about Daniel Day-Lewis and his self-indulgent, narcissistic intensity as an actor? He is consistent as ever in this one. Yes, he's intense, and yes he inhabits the role with his entire being. It's just ... from the start, there's no reason to give a damn what happens to Daniel Plainview: who cares?
I wanted to like this film. I seem irretrievably drawn to Day-Lewis films, yet almost always walk away feeling that for all his effort and craft he can ONLY carry acting to the level of CRAFT, and not to the level of ART. I suppose that's not a terrible thing, at least not in some films. But this film held nothing more for me than a showcase for Daniel Day-Lewis' craft. And that wasn't enough to engage me in any of the characters or the story line. For all the talk of character development, I didn't see any with the possible exception of son H.W., as he developed into a young man who wised up.
I was interested in seeing what Paul Dano would do with this film, and I will continue to watch his career with interest. I think he did as much as could be done with this role, but the script does a weak job of character development here as well. We won't even go into the bone-headed decision to make "identical twins" out of Eli and Paul.
And let's not dwell on how years pass and yet characters never seem to actually age, certainly not HW until he magically transforms into a young man at the end; not Eli who is entirely unchanged from his introduction as Paul to his bowling alley finale; and not even Daniel Plainview, but for a gray grizzled beard in his later years.
I did grudgingly give the film two stars for the stunning cinematography, and also for the interesting film score. The use of sound in general held at least intellectual critical interest for me, including the score but beyond in the use of silence, and the use of intimate dialogue between father and son as we watch them engage in a distant long shot, that sort of thing. This film actually has lots of elements worthy of consideration in any film criticism.
But was it a stimulating cinematic experience as a whole? Apparently for some it was, but it left me cold. Left me feeling dirty and used. Wouldn't it be interesting someday to see Day-Lewis in a movie where the point was ... the movie? And not DDL's ego? But it was worth the viewing just to share the laugh out loud list of 100 things we all learned from the film.