Danny's Review:
Some Intense Violence Some Naughty Language Lots of Bitch-Slapping Across the Face! Running Time: 158 Minutes Very Important: A Sense of Humor is for Maximum Enjoyment of this Review Page! If you need to understand why, Click Here! NOTE: All studio images/trailers and content is used for the purpose of publicity and No Copyright Infringement Is Intended.
   
Finally! After a month of waiting, finally I got to see There Will Be Blood! I can't remember the last time I wanted to see a movie so badly....but was unable to find a theater that was playing it. I live in a rural section of Central California. When most people think of The Sunshine State, they think of the L.A., San Francisco, San Diego and all of the smaller towns and cities surrounding those areas. Well, I don't live anywhere near those areas. I used to live in a Very Populated Area....back in New Jersey. Back there, I Never would have had to wait an entire MONTH to see a movie! That's how long it took for this movie to start playing in my area.....a whole month AFTER it's initial release! That Totally Sucks! But now that There Will Be Blood was nominated for Eight Academy Awards....they've finally decided to show this great movie to small markets areas like mine.  Copyright © 2007 Paramount,
He reminds me of Robert De Niro and Al Picino when they were doing their gritty dramas in the 1970's. Very few actors have the Strong Level of Confidence in themselves and in their acting abilities the way that Daniel Day-Lewis does. Just like in Gangs of New York, Daniel Day-Lewis's performance in There Will Be Blood is extremely intense. To the point where he's pretty scary. Not to the extreme as his "Bill The Butcher" character in Gangs of New York..... .....but Pretty Goddamn Close! In There Will Be Blood, Daniel Day-Lewis plays an oil prospector named Daniel Plainview. Daniel Plainview is not a very nice guy....in fact, he pretty ruthless. And he would have to be in order to succeed in the cutthroat business of Oil Drilling in the early 20th Century. History is one of Danny's favorite subjects...but I have to admit that I'm not too familiar with this period of American History. There Will Be Blood takes place in the early 1900's when oil was becoming the Must-Own Commodity. Competition was intense at the time....not a place for weaklings who were not willing to do whatever it took to own the rights to some of that Precious "Black Gold....Texas Tea." If that meant ripping off small town folks, endangering the lives of your workers and committing cold-blooded murder....than so be it. I'll definitely want to refresh myself in this chapter in American History after seeing There Will Be Blood!  Anyway, one day Plainview is approached by a young man named Paul Sunday who has information about the site of an untapped "Ocean of Oil." Paul Sunday is played by Paul Dano....the depressed, goth kid from Little Miss Sunshine. So Plainview packs up his son and heads over to a remote area of California called Little Boston. Little Boston is populated by an extremely religious group of people lead by a very charismatic young preacher. This young preacher will look very familiar to you....but I'm not going to give it away! As you would expect, Plainview wants to drill the oil on "His Terms".....but the Young Preacher is NOT stupid and he has terms of his own. And soon, Plainview and the Young Preacher start to have "Differences of Opinion" over the distribution of the extreme wealth that the oil will produce. Of course, I've seen plenty of movies with this kind of plot before. The difference is in the performance by Daniel Day-Lewis. The lengths he will go to to get what he wants. Plainview has no love for people....he uses them to achieve his own ends. And usually he's able to mask his contempt for everyone around him.  When Plainview's son is seriously hurt at the Oil Drilling Rig, Plainview's anger and hatred begins to seep out in Intense, Berserk-like Outbursts. His greed and his ambition leads him to do things that no "Civilized" Person would do:
He has no problem in Killing a man who lied to him. He has no problem in getting rid of troublesome Family Members. He has no problem in Threatening the lives of men who are his competitors in the oil business....this includes his own family. He has no problem in allowing himself to be Baptized even though he hates God and all life....with the exception of his son. He has no problem Beating a Man to Death with his Bare Hands to settle an old score. He has no problem in working his men in Extremely Hazardous Conditions ....there was no such thing as Worker Safety Laws back then.  I went into There Will Be Blood EXPECTING to see a quality movie because of the previous great work of Daniel Day-Lewis and director Paul Thomas Anderson. Paul Thomas Anderson directed Boogie Nights, Magnolia and Punch-Drunk Love. What struck me right away in There Will Be Blood was the music. The music hits you right between the eyes from the very beginning of the movie. The wild, intense Orchestral Score was created by Johnny Greenwood, from the British Band Radiohead. The Best Sequence in There Will Be Blood is when the accident at the Oil Drilling Rig also sets fire to the underground oil. The Rig itself is engulfed in flames....which results in a 30 Foot Towering Wall of Flame! The image of an Enormous 30 Foot Wall of Fire in itself is already intense.... but the music that orchestral music that accompanies the scene, makes the entire sequence Hypnotic. Danny is not a Musician at all.....so I don't know how to describe (in writing) what the music shows like. I don't know what instruments are being used to create the Unique Music in There Will Be Blood. The best that I can do is tell you what movies the Music reminds me of. It reminds me of the intense music from Stanley Kubrick's The Shining and 2001: A Space Odyssey! There is a kind of Rage in the music that I think mirrors the Rage that's hidden inside the character of Daniel Plainview. The Flaming Oil scene is Very Important.....it's at this point that Daniel Plainview begins to place his Lust for Money and Power at the Top of his Priority List. Everything else in his life are now Less Important to him.....including his son.  You really get the sense of being in early 20th century California in There Will Be Blood. The remoteness of the area has a real Majestic Beauty to it....and the beauty is disturbed by the approach of industry and of bigger towns and cities. But the movie avoids any Eco-Friendly Dialogue here....which I'm very grateful for. If there is one thing that annoys Danny more than anything else....it's to be Preached to by the movie I'm watching. I hate movies that try to squeeze in the personal Political Beliefs of the actors, directors and writers. I find it manipulative and disrespectful. Danny goes into greater detail about my Aggravation with Political Messages in Movies on The War Movies Page! While it could have been easy for There Will Be Blood to bash us over the head with an Environmental Statement....they do not do it. They didn't fall into the trap of using their movie to Force their Politics on their Audiences.....to do otherwise would have been Very Selfish! Instead they let the Camera do their talking for them....which I prefer much more. There Will Be Blood doesn't preach any political agenda.....as far as I'm concerned. The movie shows the actions and consequences of Extreme Greed! Men (and Woman) who are under the spell of Extreme Greed can be found in all Races, Religious, Countries and Political Parties. Extreme Greed is a Universal Sin!
Unlike actors like Sean Penn and Tom Cruise.....Daniel Day-Lewis doesn't let his personal life overshadow his work on screen. Daniel Day-Lewis isn't a make-believe, wanna-be Politician who pretends to have the Answers to all of the Problems of the World: Alec Baldwin.....hint, hint. All anyone knows of Daniel Day-Lewis is his work on screen....which is why he's so well respected and liked. You don't see Daniel Day-Lewis acting like an Idiot in Public. My Favorite Actors are the ones who never forget The One Thing that their fans want from them: Entertainment! When an "Entertainer" stops being "Entertaining"....then their career is Pretty Much Over! Daniel Day-Lewis is one of the most well-liked and well-respected actors working today because he lets his work speak for itself. And he keeps his Personal Life and his Personal Beliefs to himself....where it belongs. Be sure to check out Danny's Hollywood Celebrities Page! There Will Be Blood is loosely based on a book published in 1927 called Oil! by Upton Sinclair. I've never read the book....but I've heard that there are a lot of differences between the book and the movie. Paul Thomas Anderson also wrote the adapted screenplay....with the book as his inspiration. If you want to give the book a try, you can find it at most online book stores.  Click Here!  
January 22, 2008 There Will Be Blood was Nominated for Eight Academy Awards for 2007: Best Picture Best Actor - Daniel Day-Lewis Best Director - Paul Thomas Anderson Best Adapted Screenplay - Paul Thomas Anderson Best Cinematography Best Art Direction Best Sound Editing Best Film Editing UPDATE February 24, 2008 There Will Be Blood won Two Academy Awards for 2007: Best Actor - Daniel Day-Lewis Best Cinematography 
Plainview: [to Paul Sunday] If I travel all the way there and find out that you're a liar, I'll find you and take more than my money back, is that alright with you? Cool Movie Quote No. 2 Plainview: One night, I'm gonna come inside your house, wherever you're sleeping, and I'm gonna cut your throat. Cool Movie Quote No. 3 Plainview: There's a whole ocean of oil under our feet! No one can get at it except for me! Cool Movie Quote No. 4 Plainview: Are you an angry man, Henry? Henry Brands: About what? Plainview: Are you envious? Do you get envious? Henry Brands: I don't think so. No. Plainview: I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people. Henry Brands: That part of me is gone... working and not succeeding- all my failures has left me... I just don't... care. Plainview: Well, if it's in me, it's in you. There are times when I look at people and I see nothing worth liking. I want to earn enough money that I can get away from everyone. Henry Brands: What will you do about your boy? Plainview: I don't know. Maybe it will change. Does your sound come back to you? I don't know. Maybe no one knows that. A doctor might not know that. Henry Brands: Where is his mother? Plainview: I don't want to talk about those things. I see the worst in people. I don't need to look past seeing them to get all I need. I want to rule and never, ever explain myself. I've built my hatreds up over the years, little by little, Henry... to have you here gives me a second breath. I can't keep doing this on my own with these... people. [laughs] Cool Movie Quote No. 5 Eli Sunday: Daniel, I'm asking if you'd like to have business with the Church of the Third Revelation in developing this lease on young Bandy's thousand acre tract. I'm offering you to drill on one of the great undeveloped fields of Little Boston! Plainview: I'd be happy to work with you. Eli Sunday: You would? Yes, yes, of course. Wonderful. Plainview: But there is one condition for this work. Eli Sunday: Alright. Plainview: I'd like you to tell me that you are a false prophet... I'd like you to tell me that you are, and have been, a false prophet... and that God is a superstition. Eli Sunday: ...but that's a lie... it's a lie, I cannot say it. [long pause] Eli Sunday: When can we begin to drill? Plainview: Right away. Eli Sunday: How long will it take to bring in the well? Plainview: Should be very quick. Eli Sunday: I would like a one hundred thousand dollar signing bonus plus the five that is owed with interest. Plainview: That's only fair. Eli Sunday: I am a false prophet and God is a superstition. If that's what you believe, then I will say it. Plainview: Say it like you mean it. Eli Sunday: Daniel... Plainview: Say it like it's your sermon. Eli Sunday: This is foolish. [long pause] Eli Sunday: I am a false prophet! God is a superstition! I am a false prophet! God is a superstition! I am a false prophet! God is a superstition! [pause] Eli Sunday: Is that fine? Plainview: Those areas have been drilled. Eli Sunday: What? Plainview: Those areas have been drilled. Eli Sunday: ...no they haven't... Plainview: It's called drainage. I own everything around it... so I get everything underneath it. Eli Sunday: But there are no derricks there. This is the Bandy tract. Do you understand? Plainview: Do you? I drink your water, Eli. I drink it up. Everyday. I drink the blood of lamb from Bandy's tract.  Rotten Tomatoes!  Classic Drama Movies 
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Copyright © 2007 Paramount,
Copyright © 2007 Paramount,
Copyright © 2007 Paramount,
