Altogether an unsatisfying watch

Rating: 3/10 (24 February 2008)

This movie started out well enough with a high interest value in the first 50 minutes or so - explaining the struggle of the early oil pioneers with their lack of knowledge and equipment - it took a fair nose dive after that with Daniel Day Lewis's acting just becoming extremely annoying and the soundtrack becoming so shrill and distracting that at times I found myself covering my ears until the passage in question had moved on to quieter times. If DDL was up for an Oscar for this (and i'm no way sure of this) I have to say that the overall quality of Oscar nominees must be slipping - the storyline just got lost in an over-long rambling mess of a film. I have to say that mile for mile DDL's films SEEM to run into an overlong mess (see Gangs of New York) and it seems at times the direction of this movie gets waylayed. This is of course just my opinion and maybe you might get something out of this movie that I did not - Satisfaction - satisfaction that I longed to crave especially after a good opening - but ultimately its promise was larger than its delivery - one for the straight to video I fear with boredom a high factor in the latter stages of the movie and DDL just becoming an annoying inclusion in a thus ultimately unsatisfying experience