"There Will be Blood" was one of the most drab, boring, washed out, and damn near unwatchable movies of all time, yet everyone claims it's a masterpiece. It's just a story of a man becoming richer than god, and going off the deep-end, culminating in a scene where his adopted kid tells him how much they hate him, and him murdering someone in a misguided fit of rage. None of the characters are relatable, redeeming or interesting. The script has like a grand total of 1000 words across the entire 2.5 hour run time, and none of it is particularly compelling. What a snooze fest.
I get where you're coming from. There will be Blood is based on an Upton Sinclair novel, Upton Sinclair was a staunch socialist and this could be felt in his writing. The film is a send-up of American exceptionalism. Daniel Plainview literally pulls himself up by his bootstraps. In my opinion it's an amazing comedy
I appreciate the perspective! Gotta say though, Jesus that's some deep-level dark comedy that I just don't understand. I was watching it as more of an art piece, and less of a commentary. I still don't like it, but I never thought of it in this light.
Yeah I totally get it, I think the marketing did the film dirty and the pedigree of the actors and director didn't help either plus all of the oscar nominations made people expect something different. It's a very melodramatic and campy film, in the original script Daniel throws Eli down the bowling alley to knock down the pins after killing him.