There Will Be Blood

Last weekend I wanted to watch the Jackie Chan remake of The Karate Kid. My local video store had a deal; rent an over-night and for a few more dollars get 4 weeklies.
So I thought, "hey, why not?"
After taking some time to make my final decision I selected this film as the 4th film, just as a means to get out of the store and get home.
Of course, I'm talking about There Will Be Blood.
I thought, "Daniel Day-Lewis. It's won some awards (hasn't it?). How could I go wrong?"

Here's the trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml2Ae2SIXac

And here's the movie poster.



About an hour and a half into the movie, despite being an engrossing film I was left wondering, "Where's Josh Brolin and that guy with the oxygen tank?"
Silly me, I picked up this movie instead of what I actually wanted to see.
No Country For Old Men.

Here's the poster.



Anyway, I pressed on with the film as it was pretty interesting.
Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) is an oil man. He digs and drills for oil.
Over the course of the film we see how he's gone from a one-man operation into an industrialist. It's also set just after the Amercian Civil War, which I always find neat.



Soon enough though we realise that Daniel Plainview isn't the nicest man in the world.
In fact, all he thinks about is oil. He's consumed by it.
And he's making a really good go at it too, until he meets Eli Sunday (Paul Dano).



If you were to consider this movie to be the be-all and end-all you could say the film is a commentary on religion and how it destroys everything.
Now I'm not the world's biggest bible basher. I can't remember the last time I was in a church.
I will admit though, religion does have it's place in the world.

Just not anywhere near the world Daniel Plainview lives in.

It also doesn't help that Paul Dano portrays Eli Sunday as a weeny little brat, throwing tantrums whenever he doesn't get his way.
It certainly doesn't put religion in the strongest light.



Next up we have Daniel Plainview's son H.W (Dillon Freasier), who looks and acts so much like my brother-in-law it's scary.
I was over at my parent's-in-law's house on the weekend and saw some old photos of my brother-in-law. Yep, H.W to a tea.

Daniel and H.W's relationship is tested (to put it mildly) by an oil rig accident.
But that's only part of the story.
All up There Will Be Blood is a movie about one man's life-long dream to make it rich, and do away with any and everything that got him to were he is.

Oh yes, and his hatred for religion.

All the while I was still wondering if this guy was ever going to turn up...



Now I found this movie enjoyable. It can be fun to poke fun at religion every now and then. Daniel Plainview though just took it one step too far.

You'll have to watch the movie to see what I mean.

Maybe I could track down the novel to get a broader grasp on the overall story? It couldn't hurt.
All up I give the film 6 out of 10.

Please feel free to leave a comment about this review.
Until next time!