First, I loved Daniel Day-Lewis' performance in
There Will Be Blood. He's brilliant, totally encompassing the role, such that I looked at him a few times thinking I recognized him from something else, which obviously I did because he's Daniel Day-Lewis. But I was looking at the character he created and not seeing DDL. He's sinister, creepy, a little ruthless, and at times strangely violent. His fights, mostly slap fights with Paul Dano are painful. You almost want to look away because you're not sure what DDL is going to do. Those were the valuable things about the movie. As a whole I didn't like it and am pretty surprised it's nominated for best picture. There was no dialogue for the first 25 minutes of the movie - you just watch DDL dig oil wells, break his leg, and then set up news ones. One of the men on his rig has a baby he's carrying around. Then the guy dies and DDL takes the kid, H.W., as his own.
This kid is actually a good actor, and his story was the most interesting element in the movie. Then it was about another 30 minutes before something that actually seemed like "plot" appeared, when DDL snubs Paul Dano at the blessing of the new oil derrick. DDL arrives at a new place in California after a tip by Paul Dano's twin. He arrives, buys up tons of property, sets up a new rig and convinces the community, except Dano, that he's a good guy and good things will happen. DDL becomes rich and gets his big house and becomes a totally crazy old man. Overall it's a pretty boring movie, that could have used about an hour closer editing, and some actual dialogue. Barely 2 of 5 stars. I know I must be missing something, but this just wasn't a movie for me. Daniel Day-Lewis should and will win the Oscar though.
First, I loved Daniel Day-Lewis' performance in There Will Be Blood. He's brilliant, totally encompassing the role, such that I looked at him a few times thinking I recognized him from something else, which obviously I did because he's Daniel Day-Lewis. But I was looking at the character he created and not seeing DDL. He's sinister, creepy, a little ruthless, and at times strangely violent. His fights, mostly slap fights with Paul Dano are painful. You almost want to look away because you're not sure what DDL is going to do. Those were the valuable things about the movie. As a whole I didn't like it and am pretty surprised it's nominated for best picture. There was no dialogue for the first 25 minutes of the movie - you just watch DDL dig oil wells, break his leg, and then set up news ones. One of the men on his rig has a baby he's carrying around. Then the guy dies and DDL takes the kid, H.W., as his own.
This kid is actually a good actor, and his story was the most interesting element in the movie. Then it was about another 30 minutes before something that actually seemed like "plot" appeared, when DDL snubs Paul Dano at the blessing of the new oil derrick. DDL arrives at a new place in California after a tip by Paul Dano's twin. He arrives, buys up tons of property, sets up a new rig and convinces the community, except Dano, that he's a good guy and good things will happen. DDL becomes rich and gets his big house and becomes a totally crazy old man. Overall it's a pretty boring movie, that could have used about an hour closer editing, and some actual dialogue. Barely 2 of 5 stars. I know I must be missing something, but this just wasn't a movie for me. Daniel Day-Lewis should and will win the Oscar though.
5 comments:
Ouch, that's a rough review for TWBB. There's no denying this movie is not for everyone, but maybe you should give it another viewing. A film like this gets much better with additional viewings. It's my favorite movie of 2007, but I'm also a huge P.T. Anderson fan. Still, at least you gave an honest review and I respect that.
Hey Mikey. I just read your review for Blood, and I would say we mostly agree about the strengths of the film. Day-Lewis is amazing, and his charcter will definitely go down in history and be remembered. And I thought the kid was great. But I still don't think the movie achieves greatness - Brokeback Mountain had LOTS of scenes with really minimal dialogue and was definitely a character study like Blood, but it was so tightly edited, you don't lose the story or the feeling of what little plot exists. Either it had to be more tightly edited or there had to be more exposition so we understood the connections better. You're right, I probably will see it again, and in general I do like PT Anderson's work. Boogie Nights and Magnolia. But I think Punch Drunk Love suffered from the same editing vs plot problems.
Did you know that Brokeback and Blood were edited by the same person? I personally think Blood is a really smooth edit with a pacing that complements the film's structure. It's slow moving, but I don't feel like there is a wasted shot. It's just different tastes I guess. Anyway, I like your blog. I'll add you to my links.
I won't get into my vehement disagreement over your rating, because what's the point to that? I will, however, ask you - what are your feelings on PT Anderson's prior films? I'd be surprised if you like them, as they're all done in this style, albeit with a bit more dialogue.
I already really liked it, but the more I think about TWBB, the more I love it and hope it wins Best Picture. I'm with Mikey all the way...
Mikey - I did know Brokeback and Blood were edited by the same person, which makes it easier to see that he's capable of doing really great work, when he has terrific dialogue to work with. I just don't think Blood had enough dialogue to make it a terrific movie. Magnolia and Boogie Nights had tons of great dialogue. They explained all kinds of things about the characters they were using, and gave descriptions of the careers of the characters. This movie did almost nothing with that - they had a totally untapped market - oil drilling in the west seen through one man's eyes, but they went almost no where with it. There's one comment where Dano calls it a well, and DDL corrects him calling it a derrick. Nothing. I was actually interested in all that stuff, and it would have made DDL's character even better because it would have shown how one-directional he was.
Fletch - sorry we don't agree on this one. A rarity I'm sure. I like P.T. Anderson's work for the most part. This movie and Punch-Drunk Love were just boring in their execution. Punch Drunk had great characters and even good dialogue throughout, but the pacing was so slow and unmoving that I stopped watching it repeatedly. Magnolia is well crafted and Boogie Nights is just awesome.
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