Synopsis:

There Will Be Blood is little more than the story of a man on a mission. A mission to accumulate as much wealth as possible, to bring people under his control and to stomp out anyone or anything which may clash with his philosophy.  It is the story of Daniel Plainview (a spectacularly engaging, terrifying and magnetic Daniel Day-Lewis) as he builds an oil empire over the course of three decades. 

Starting as a silver miner, Plainview comes across oil in his mines.  Plainview's drive for domination leads him to  hunt down oil wherever it may be.  Plainview is an expert in capitalizing on humanity, even taking on an orphaned child as his own and playing him as a card to make himself appear a family man whenever need be.  Coming across an intriguing prospect, Plainview voyages to a small town in California and attempts to scrounge up the oil that is ripe for the taking.  He meets Eli, who leads the local church and becomes his greatest enemy.  Eli is a fire and brimstone preacher, but suffers from the same affliction as Plainview.

The Freak's Rating: A- : The real message of the film is the duality of man and it is done beautifully.  Plainview has a human side to him that is revealed in his love for his son, but the businessman in him is pure evil and consumes his persona more and more each day.  Daniel Day Lewis is amazing in this role and in my opinion has set the bar extremely high for Best Actor.  As Matt says in his review, it truly is an evil vs. evil thing during the confrontations between Plainview and Eli.  Plainview sees straight through Eli's preacher persona and the final confrontation is fun to watch.

Camera tricks are a little off in this one, with the ability to notice a track for running shots and swapping between handheld shots in moments of chaos to sweeping cinematic shots to get the scope of the desolate land.  Repeatability might be an issue for me, but I did really enjoy it.

Eric's Rating: D : There isn't much reward in watching this film. Ahh nice music....

Jennifer M's Rating: A : Awesome movie!  Daniel Day Lewis is absolutely amazing.  Jen, I agree with you completely.  At first I wasn't sure I would want this in the collection only because the subject matter is so heavy, but I think it is a must own.  Loved it.
 

Jen's Rating: A- : This was a really good movie.  The acting was amazing!  Daniel Day Lewis is absolutely outstanding, he completely deserved the Oscar.  I was debating whether or not to give it an A or B and figured I don't think it's worth owning.  I may change my mind though.  Forget it, I did just change my mind.  I already want to watch it again.

Zach's Rating: F : You'd rather play Russian roulette with a loaded gun than watch this.  I lost 2 hours of my life I won't get back.  I only recommend this movie if you are looking to take a nap.

Matt's Rating: A :

I saw this movie last weekend and it was every thing I thought it would be and more.  Going in I had heard that Daniel Day Lewis did a phenomenal job as the lead character and boy did he live up to my expectations.

The story is about Daniel Plainview, an oil man from western USA in the late 19th early 20th century.  He builds up his own oil business and has become quite successful.  He receives a tip from a young man that there is oil on his family's property so Daniel decides to check it out.  Here you can begin to see the evil that is in Daniel.  He tries to swindle them for a lower price knowing that they are suckers.

At this point we meet Elijah, the son of the man who's farm Daniel is trying  to buy.  Elijah is what I'd call an "alternative" preacher trying to summon the devil out of people etc.  Elijah knows that Daniel is trying to screw his father so he makes Daniel pay a heftier price than he was originally willing to pay.  Elijah also sets up a condition that there must be a $5000 donation to his church.  Daniel agrees and he starts drilling for oil.

I won't give away the rest of the tale but I will say the final scene is one of the best I have ever seen.  It really does become a tale of evil vs. evil (in my eyes) and you see how business and religion can corrupt someone so much.

I highly, highly recommend this movie.  I saw it at a budget theater so it might not be playing anymore where you live but it is a must rent for sure!

"I drink your milkshake!"

Brian's Rating: C : This is one of those movies that will get reviews all over the board.  It was well made, the lead actor did an incredible job, and it had the aspect of deeper themes as an undertone.  I recognize all these cinematic successes, however it failed the acid test for me.  It just was not very entertaining.

I am not even sure I agree that it is about the duality of man.  Scott mentions the caring side of Plainview when it comes to his son, however he also abandons him and later reveals that he was just a tool for business success.  To me, the movie spoke more to greed and spiritual manipulation.  As Matt said, Evil vs. Evil.

I guess I am looking for at least an inkling of a protagonist in a plot.  The protagonist does not always have to win, but I am looking for the good guy somewhere.  All this movie makes you think about is that mankind is hopeless and is only deserving of another flood.

The movie is thought provoking, and it is well made.  However, it was just not that entertaining.  Deep thematic movies rarely do it for me.

Sebastian's Rating: A : not to be missed! fantastic acting and a great storyline, for those who like this genre, i would stringly reccomened it

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