Horrid

Rating: 3/10 (5 February 2008)

The acting was good. The directing (Paul Thomas Anderson) was terrible. I am at a loss to understand why so many people enjoyed this film.
It was very disappointing to me, I thought I was going to see a first class film but instead saw something that was bizarre. This should have been a great film. The nearly 3 hour run time (2hr 46Min) could have been cut down to at least 2 hours and would have improved it. The Director had many scenes of completely empty meaning. Example. My Son daughter and I just made the start of the movie. We got settled in and I had to make a run to the mens room after a minute or two of watching him hammer away at rock. I returned after about six minutes and he is still hammering. No meaning what so ever. There were other scenes likes this where men are working an oil rig up, down, up down. And a scene where Kevin J. O'Conners character is sitting on the beach. Why am I staring at him looking up down and just sitting? Stupid. It's like Anderson sees this as artistic. I think its useless and a waste of film and run time.
Again, to me this should have been much better. I have seen several epic films, Lawrence of Arabia, Gone With the Wind, Ten Commandments, A Bridge Too Far, and more. They didn't waste run time. They WERE artistic, this one falls far short.
The first time I saw Daniel Day Lewis he was starring in My Left Foot for which he won his Oscar. And He was absolutely superb in Last of the Mohicans. This is a good performance but not my favorite (Mohicans is one of my favorite films, mainly because of DDL's acting). If he wins the Oscar that is fine with me, it was a good performance. But I will say, that by the end of the movie he reminded me more of Timothy Dalton in Hot Fuzz, looked like him and sounded like him. Strange, but thats how he came across to me.
Paul Dano does a good job in his role of as does O'Conner.
Bottom line from me. Wait for the DVD.
Gary