Customer Reviews

Very, very good, but not quite great. - By: Johnnybluetime, 01 Sep 2008
Although I enjoyed this film I'd have to say that an awful lot is sacrificed to DDL's acting.The fact that what everyone talks about is his performance says it all really.He is fantastic, but that's largely due to the fact that nobody else seems to get a wordin edgeways.Paul Dano does his best, but like every other character he popsin & out of the film without any great rhyme or reason.There are a few faults,like other reviewers, I was confused for a long time by Dano playing identical twin brothers & there are other elements of the film that are confusing.Dano's congregation grows without the town ever seeming to, & the religous elements are only introducedin short, sharp bursts. But none of this really matters because the film is really about DDL's portrayal of a monster so driven that he even sacrifices his son to his ambition. He ends the film evil & alone and,as he says himself, finished.A fitting ending, but nevertheless very abrupt, & like other sections of the film, with the feeling that something had been heavily cut.

I felt that DDL's performance, particularly the voice, was heavily modelled on John Huston, especially Huston's performance of the evil fatherin Chinatown. Perhaps because of that I began to note similarities between Dano's character & that of Brad Dourif'sin Huston's film Wiseblood, about a deranged young man who creates his own church.

The set pieces are fantastic, as is the cinematography & the soundtrack, which is pitch perfect & almost a characterin its own right.However, far too much is only sketched in; characters, plot, motivation, location, for this to be a truly great film. Nevertheless it still stands a head & shoulders above most other films releasedin the last year & Anderson, like the Coen Bros.,has again shown himself to be a film maker with a great deal of style & ability & with something worth saying

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Some get it, some don't - By: Garth Lj Dixon, 31 Aug 2008
I really enjoyed reading the one star reviews of this film-they are entitled to their (strangely) similar opinions of course. Make up your own mind I say. I thought it was brilliant, & the music even greater.
there you go

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Fabulous, epic... but what's it all about? - By: Robert Machin, 27 Aug 2008
What a very strange & remarkable film this is. Visually, it's brilliant, mesmerising, full of staggering set pieces & resonant images (the old photographs which acted as inspiration arein the extras & well worth checking out). Daniel Day Lewis' performance is towering; he completely occupies the role & utterly dominates the film just as he utterly dominates everything around him. That's the part, as scripted, of course, but there's more to his performance than that - his charismatic presencein the film is remarkable, particularly as it's achieved with almost no shouting, arm-waving or showboating of any kind, & it's hard to imagine any other actor creating it... contrast & compare, for example, Leonardo diCaprio's boyish efforts at Howard Hughesin 'The Aviator'. I'd suggest that this is the film that finally sets Day-Lewis among the all-time screen greats.

Setting aside the bravura performances & direction, however, it's less clear what the film is actually about. Plainview's character is so unique, so individual, that it's hard to draw any broad conclusions. Over-vaunting ambition against family & personal relationships? The ongoing struggle with evangelical religion - God vs Mammon? It's all powerfully realised, but exactly what it is is more problematic. Puzzling too that this epic story ends less on a bang than on a weirdly inconclusive whimper.

Maybe I need to watch it again. I certainly will.

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A hollow shell of a movie - By: Mondoro, 27 Aug 2008
Two great, chilling performances from the central characters, each embodying different forms of obsession (the gaining of control through wealth accumulation vs the gaining of control via the use of religious fanaticism), but there it ends - a beautifully-photographed, but a curiously uninvolving scenario that depends far too much on sudden & unexplained outbursts of violence when the film begins to drag. Great films need more than this.

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There will be oscars..and there was - By: Mr. A. J. Richards, 27 Aug 2008
If someone asked me, 'hey, what type of horrors do you reccomend, ya know something edgy, down-beat & terrifying'. right now i would more than likely say 'There will be blood'.
It has an atmosphere of dread & crippling fear throughout & although a few scenes could have been cut out completlely, this is a superb piece of film-making.
It is definatly not for all tastes with its bleeakness but then there is also twisted fun to be had with Day Lewis's performance. The last 45 minutes is a remarkable, scary & darkly amusing set of scenes. the frustration shown on his face when confronted with the salvation is something to behold.
A studyin hypocracy & greed & of one mans deterioation. the key element being how time isnyt really a great healer & if you got a bad core then your more than likely going to remain that way. asin magnolia the director asks us what we can forgive, & i believe unless something is so sinful, then forgiveness cen be abundent, butin this film there is no room for forgiveness.
Do not get me wrong alot of melodramas have thier fair share of grief but hereis a film that spreads fear from the word go & doesnt let go. faith is only for those that believe, if you dont believe then you have to believein yourself & others such as friends & family as the ones to look up to. the grey area is almost impossible to enter but as Day Lewis's charachter shows once trapped, you may just stay trapped