There Will Be Boredom

Rating: 1/10 (24 January 2008)

This movie had fantastic acting, beautiful visuals, and a tremendous authentic feel to it. On the other hand, the story was slow in parts, the soundtrack was ghastly, and the movie was a tad pretentious. Let's face it, Daniel Day Lewis is one of this generation's finest actors and deserves any accolades for his performance. What I don't get is why this movie is being touted as the one of the 200 best movies of all-time. It was OK. Some great things, some not so great things. Could it have been shorter? Probably. But there are plenty of fantastic, epic 3 hour movies for all kinds of taste (Braveheart, Lord of the Rings, Gone With The Wind, etc). I just don't think this was one of them.
If you are a fan of DDL, then you will likely enjoy this movie. It had some funny moments and several great scenes. But it is boring. Heck, there isn't a single word spoken for the first 30 minutes. OK perhaps I am exaggerating, but it seemed like 30 minutes. In fact, during the first scene, I thought, "That has to be the most boring job in the world." 60 minutes later I realized I was mistaken - a film critic having to sit through this movie would be the most boring job in the world. However, it did improve, if only slightly.
In the end, this was really nothing more than a turn of the century period piece about the oil rush. There was a lot of "I'm going to buy that land!" and "I like to quail hunt" and "we believe in God, you heathen!" I think I expected too much and was let down. I wanted Gangs of New York and The Last of the Mohicans and instead I got The Aviator....a fine movie, about a crazy rich guy. Don't give me my money back, just warn me next time.