Blood/Oil
Daniel Day-Lewis channels the voice of John Huston for his portrayal of the nasty oil-baron Daniel Plainview. And for the first half of
There Will Be Blood that's all you care about; whenever he's on screen, watching and listening to him is mesmerizing. After that, you start to wonder where the plot is going, and realize that there's not much there. Apart from a rather arbitrary antagonism between Plainview and a superficially pure preacher (
Little Miss Sunshine's Paul Dano), it's not story but the character of Plainview alone that is the purpose of the film. There are great settings and set pieces, but ultimately, there's nothing in the film that can stand up to that magnificent baritone.
Posted by netrc at January 15, 2008 12:47 PM