THERE WILL BE BLOODrated R
(for violence, extreme brutality and language)
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Written and Directed by
Paul Thomas Anderson
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Starring
Daniel Day-Lewis
Paul Dano
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There is no story. There is no point. There is no arc, no purpose. Nothing. Just two and a half hours spent in bad company with a musical score full of drowning violins that sound like a bunch of cats being strangled. Hatred, violence, religious mockery, complete and utter darkness of body, mind and soul. And if you can take all that, your final reward for enduring this cinematic turd until just before the credits roll is that it doesn't even have an ending.
Why was this film made? Why does it even exist? Why on earth could it ever even possibly be considered to have any worth or value at all? For the life of me I cannot tell you why. I am completely and totally bewildered.
I'm not taking any high moral ground here. I'm not extending beyond the bounds of reason. I'm not crazy. I'm not stupid. I'm not naive. I'm simply asking how anyone, ANYONE can be completely transparent and intellectually honest and tell me this is a good film.
Seriously, there must be some kind of mental psychosis. Something, some reason, a chemical imbalance, a neurological disorder that could explain why anyone, even film critics could ever appreciate this. Of course the question will inevitably asked, "Well, you did come away from the film with a very strong opinion about it, didn't you? Isn't that the mark of a great artist?"
I thought the mark of a great artist was to communicate a message effectively. Not one that leaves you feeling exactly the same way you came in, not one that beats the tar out of you for watching it, not one where you can literally feel the life being sucked out of your soul just for being in the same room with it.
If I absolutely had to offer some praise, if I strained my imagination as far as it would go until the veins protruded out of my forehead and the blood vessels in my eyes popped, if the very life of my family hung in the balance and they would only be spared if I could muster up just one tiny iota of merit or significance in this film at all, I would say...
Daniel Day-Lewis is a good actor who completely dissolved into the role.
The production was realistic, believably showing the hard work and danger involved in early 1900's oil drilling.
There. That's it. That's all I've got.
This is a terrible film.
"There Will Be Blood" is only, I repeat,
ONLY for cinematic masochists.
AVOID AT ALL COSTS.
2 comments:
Yes, it is a terrible movie. So full of hatred, mistrust and disbelief. I cant imagine why anyone would want to watch it. Avoid at all costs. Do not give this movie credit at all costs!
No, seriously though, I thought it was a good character study of the oil man and the priest. None of them achieves their goals in the end. I thought their development couldn`t be believable if they had been married. But both chose a life only devoted to one purpose (being the biggest oil man in SC, becoming the largest church) ignoring or menacing people around them if they were in they way of their goals.
I've made it a point recently to say that I don't mind watching a film where the main character battles their personal demons, even if in the end, they lose. But there is nothing to learn, "character study" or not, from a person who has already let their demons win.
Spending an inordinate amount of time with someone who is, I'm sorry I have to use this term, a bastard, teaches me nothing. And witnessing yet another religious character stereotyped as a hypocritical schemer makes me surrender any hope for this film whatsoever.
The mere existence of "There Will Be Blood" makes the world a worse place to live. I feel the need to repeat myself:
This is a terrible film.
AVOID AT ALL COSTS.
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