Review of There Will Be Blood (2007) by Tommy H — 22 Apr 2015

Very powerful film. The atmosphere it creates makes you feel lost and alone. It creates a void, like a religious person who feels a void because he no longer believes in God, or a void created by the loss of a loved one.

The film opens showing the hills with little life on them and no people living there. The booming and frightening soundtrack, like a nuclear alarm siren, makes the hills seem even more large, desolate and foreboding.

The whole film and all the characters in it have a ghostly quality. If the movie ended with one of those twists where the whole thing was someone's personal hell, I wouldn't be surprised. The movie is very mean and angry.

It doesn't want to be friends with you, it just wants you to listen. The characters aren't likable, but the actors know how to bring their characters to life. Authentic characters are always appreciated even if they're flawed, or I should say, especially if they're flawed.

There Will Be Blood does an excellent job of transporting you back to the turn of the century, but it feels more like a medieval period piece.