Adam Kuhn & The Movies: There Will Be Blood
Synopsis: Director Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood” is a masterly, unflinching examination of a consummately evil man. Daniel Plainview (via a transcendent performance by the great Daniel Day-Lewis) is, as he likes to remind those around him, an oil man: he finds it, he drills for it, and he makes money from it. Following a tip from a visitor named Paul Sunday, whose family sits atop a veritable ocean of oil, Plainview travels to the town of New Boston, California, with his young son. Sunday’s preacher brother Eli (both roles are played by the excellent Paul Dano) grudgingly accepts Plainview’s ambitions under the condition that he help fund the town church. As Plainview’s plans come to fruition, a series of events begin to fracture the insular world he has constructed for himself, pitting Plainview against Sunday and forcing him to become even more vindictive and ruthless.
My Take: The cinematic elements were great, the acting is wonderful, and the character development is notable too. But this movie is just so long. The ending may make it worth it, but it was a humorous ending to an otherwise very serous movie – it was relieving.
This movie received rave reviews from a number of sources; I just can’t agree with them. If you’re going to watch it, and I do think it’s worth watching, you must be committed to watching it. Don’t throw it in as you’re about to go to bed; start this knowing that you’ll have to give this movie your undivided attention for two and a half hours.
My Beefs: Long. Too long. Two hours and 38 minutes! I can understand a movie like Terminator 2 or Interview With the Vampire lasting that long, but this movie seems a bit dragged out. The character development didn’t need to occur over the entire two and half hours of the movie.
The ending was relieving, but at the same time, it didn’t make sense to me. It’s almost like the writer of the film saw the tape counter approaching 150 minutes, so he made up a quick ending to keep from hitting the three hour mark.
Like I said above, make sure you’ve committed yourself to watching this movie. Otherwise, you’re likely to fall asleep and give up on the film.
Kuhnometer:
7 / 11
Trailer:
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