There Will Be Blood: Is there Great Talent in Depicting Human Depravity?

Rating: 2/10 (17 August 2013)

"There Will Be Blood" offers the viewer a first-rate location, set, costuming, acting and cinematography but that's where the pleasure of this film ends. The soundtrack is repetitive in parts, at other times disjointed and distracting. What is supposed to be frenetic and suspense-building musical accompaniment is annoying, sounding as if it would better fit a scene set in the African bush — not the American West.
H.W., portrayed as Daniel Plainview's son, is too much the "little man" to be a believable character for his age — largely mute even before he suffers his accident. The majority of the film follows Plainview and H.W., who appear to remain the same age, only to jump abruptly into the future in which H.W. is a man. It feels as if the film editors suddenly realize they need cut an hour out of the film to make it "feature length", which leaves the viewer with a few sketchy transitional scenes over a smooth narrative segue.
Essentially the lead character is a greedy but lucky drunk. Writing human depravity is not among the greater literary talents — it's harder to make a character beloved than hated. Films and books that evoke the worst of human nature are a dime a dozen because it's easy to be gritty, cynical and dark. Try pulling off a convincing and compelling storyline that isn't cheesy and transparently sentimental — that's the greater challenge in screen writing, one that Hollywood attempts far too little these days.
In spite of critics' high praises, there is little to "There Will Be Blood" that doesn't drive home the same point in repetitive circles. Eli Sunday starts out as a mild-mannered kid who quickly becomes an over-played caricature of a country preacher and Plainview is a wretched soul who seeks no redemption. If the film succeeds, it succeeds in leaving one disgusted enough not to have any desire to watch it again.
Take a pass.