I just saw the movie There Will Be Blood today. It's one of those movies that's so intense, and so powerful that it rips you right out of the theater, throws you around, crushes you, beats you, and hits you over the head with a bowling pin. It's not that it's overly violent. It's not that it's overly gory (indeed, there's hardly any blood in the film at all). It's the way that it's all portrayed that makes it work. The performances are some of the best you will ever see, and I'll be damned if Daniel Day-Lewis doesn't win the Oscar for best actor. The characters, particularly the main character Daniel Plainview, are what drive the movie, and make it the most powerful 2 and a half hours of film you will ever see. It's one of those movies where you can't look away: all you can do is sit there, eyes wide open and mouth agape, and just stare at this brilliant piece of cinema. It's a movie that transcends mere cinema and goes beyond, and makes every effort to take you there with it. And it's a movie that succeeds at every term.
There's a reason it was nominated for 8 Oscars.
