Okay, welcome to my first blog entry...ever. To get things started, I'll tell you that I like to ramble, but to all my faithful (yeah right) readers, I'm going to give you my honest opinions about movies that I've seen recently. Because of work and responsibilities at home, I don't get to the theater often, so many of the movies will be ones that I've seen on TV, or maybe even on DVD. We'll see.
So, let's get started. Several days ago, I watched "There Will Be Blood," with Daniel Day Lewis (who I'll refer to as DDL). It was on AMC, and the description of the movie stated that DDL gave an Oscar winning performance as a self-made, but evil oil tycoon. I figured that although the movie is 3 1/2 hours long, DDL is an outstanding actor, and if he won an Oscar for this movie, it ought to be good.
The movie starts by showing how DDL's character, Daniel Plainview, progresses in the oil industry in the early 1900's. First, he's seen digging coal out of a deep hole in the ground by himself. The next scene is similar, except he had a couple of guys helping him. And the third scene shows even more guys working on an oil derrick. These scenes show the first 10-15 minutes of the movie, and there still hasn't been any dialogue. And I have no idea how much time has passed through these scenes. 6 weeks? 6 months? 6 years? I don't know. After one of his workers is killed on the job, Plainview begins to care for the deceased employee's infant son. Where's the mother? I don't know. The movie never says. Or if it did, I COMPLETELY missed it.
The following scene shows Plainview talking to a crowd of people, offering his services on drilling for oil. There is a boy with him who appears to be 8 or 9. I assume this is the same kid that was an infant in the previous scene, but the movie never states how much time has passed. And Plainview has named the kid "H.W." but never states what it stands for. A short time later, this guy shows up, wanting Plainview to drill on his town's property, but seems more obsessed with his church, and how much money his town will make when oil is struck. Plainview takes the job, and this weird guy, Eli, reappears quite a few times, and is really bizarre. He is obsessed with his church, and his people, but we never learn if he is the teenage minister, or just a self proclaimed savior to the people. But ALL of his scenes are just kind of creepy, and I don't quite see how Plainview is "evil," as described by AMC.
The movie goes on for another two hours, and not a whole lot happens through it. H.W. loses his hearing in an accident, is sent away to a special school, and comes back a short time later, due to Plainview's guilt for sending him away. The rest of those two hours just shows Plainview running his business. NOT very mentally stimulating.
With approximately 30 minutes left in the movie, I'm STILL waiting for something good to happen. I see Plainview in a mansion, shooting a pistol across several rooms at furniture. Why? I have no idea. How much time has passed? I don't know that either. Next, I see a young man, probably in his late 20's, come in and sit down in front of Plainview. He had an interpreter, because he was using sign language. This must be H.W. I have no idea what is going on, but H.W. tells Plainview that he his moving to Mexico with his wife (his wife?) and starting his own oil company. Plainview gets angry and tells H.W. that he's not really his father, and then H.W. leaves. Oooooookaaaaaay. The next thing I know, Plainview is passed out in the middle of his private two-lane bowling alley. He's passed out on the lanes. Was he drunk? I don't have a clue. And then Eli shows up. Eli? I was really hoping I was done with him.
So Eli asks for money because he claims that he's in a bad spot, but we never learn what that "spot" is. Eli and Plainview talk for a bit, and then Plainview gets mad, I have no idea why, and frankly, at this point, I don't care. I've lost interest. So then Plainview chases Eli around the bowling lanes, and beats him to death with a bowling pin, and then the credits start rolling. That was the best part of the movie. I just wish it had happened three hours prior.
Overall, the movie was 3 1/2 hours of my life I'll never get back. The scenes of the film were all very dark, and it proved hard for me to see what was going on. I lost details in the darkness. Time passed, but I never knew how much, and I'd have to say at least 1/3 of the movie was without dialogue, just showing people working. How DDL won an Oscar for this is beyond me. He's still a great actor, but the movie just plain sucked. What the plot was, I'll never know. I guess then, it's obvious to say that I did not enjoy the movie.
