Unbelievably Bad

Rating: 1/10 (14 March 2008)

I wanted this movie to be good... I really did. But, it's really bad folks... The character development is weak, there is intense/foreshadowing music and then nothing happens... (I think because they needed to fill the time block allocated to this movie) For a while, I didn't know if the lead character was good or bad - I respected his entrepreneurship and gentlemanly ways, but you are forced to be suspicious because he's a little "too smooth". It wasn't until he went mad and got violent that I understood - "oh, he's the bad guy".
The main plots are about greed, oil, religion and the "important things in life" - but I can think of hundreds of better plots/story lines than what this movie attempts. The main actor, Mr. Plainview does a great job, but I agree with other reviewers that his character doesn't seem to fit the mold of a western oil man, set in this time period. His accent is wrong and he's a smoother talker than I would have expected. There often seems to be conflict just for conflict's sake.
The movie is too front heavy and does not spend enough time on the later parts of Mr Plainview's life - the resolution and downfall of the character that could be so much more interesting.
I can usually understand why people like movies, even when I don't agree. Between my wife and I, one of us usually likes the movie we see. I'm at a total loss for this one folks, it stinks.