There Will Be Blood

*** 1/2 (3 and 1/2 stars)

There Will Be Blood (2007)
Genre: Drama
158 minutes - R rating
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano,

Brief Plot: The story follows Daniel Plainview, a prospector who begins and oil business and attempts to profit from oil discovered in the Little Boston region of California. Paul Dano stars as Eli Sunday, a local church cleric, who has his own ambitions and plans.

Best Audience: An obvious must if you are a fan Paul Thomas Anderson, or Day-Lewis. If you like good acting, interesting cinematography and are willing to sit through two and a half hours' worth, this is a good choice. Not a movie for the casual movie-viewer, in my opinion. R rating is rather mild, mainly due to a few violent scenes with minimal blood.

My Review: As much as this movie has been hyped and praised, I finished it feeling a little disappointed. Daniel Day-Lewis is very good, there is not questioning that, I really liked the musical score as well, and had no problem with the cinematography. Most of the script was also very good. I liked the lack of dialogue at the beginning, and who could not like the "milkshake" scene? I think the plot and the story were what actually bored me with this movie. It didn't seem to be enough to really grab me. The whole movie is really just about the Day-Lewis character, and you kind of get the idea that he's a crazy, ambitious and ruthless guy from the beginning but he really breaks out into that form at the end of the movie. That seemed to be it. Paul Dano's character seemed more like a diversion and the movie desperately needed the scenes he was in. I guess there doesn't seem to be enough progression to satisfy me in this film. It was much too much like just watching Daniel Day-Lewis play this character for two and a half hours without enough happening or his character changing very much. It's hard to explain but I didn't love this movie. I liked it, I just didn't wildly love it such as many of the other film critics out there did. I would rather have watched a partly historical film about Rockerfeller with Day-Lewis playing him. That would be something to see!