There Will Be Unrelenting Tedium

Rating: 1/10 (27 November 2009)

An arid, featureless, drawn-out affair - not unlike the vast expanses of the western landscape in which it is set. And that creaking sound one can hear is not just coming from the ancient oil-extracting contraptions; it emanates from the acting, the soundtrack - but especially the direction.
Everything takes an inordinate amount of time. Fifteen minutes is spent on an opening which tells us little - and could perhaps have taken fifteen seconds in the hands of a more capable director.
But Paul Thomas Anderson seems to be in thrall to the long, lingering shots favoured by the likes of Orson Welles and Sergio Leone. Unfortunately he appears to have little idea how to use them while maintaining dramatic tension, plot drive or the interest of the viewer. The problem is compounded by the way the choice of shot and technical execution of each scene conspire to distract, rather than illuminate.
Neither a highly-mannered performance by Daniel Day Lewis nor Johnny Greenwood's portentous, and possibly misused, score aid matters. But the blame for this interminable fiasco surely lies with a visually-incontinent director in desperate need of an editor.