There Will Be Blood

Ang and Mia are out of town, so I took the opportunity to go see a movie I figured Ang wouldn't care to see. I ventured out to the epic "There Will Be Blood."

It was gripping, excruciating, heart-wrenching, insightful. I think I've been trained to appreciate a movie that is so normal: define the good guys and bad guys, have them duke it out, and someone wins (see "Transformers" or even the "Bourne" movies). Those are great in their own right, but that type of "plot" is almost too simplistic.

"There Will Be Blood" has the same rivalries; it has heart-break and humor. There are relationships that get torn apart and brought together. But there's no real end. I've noticed that in more movies these days, the end often leaves you...hanging. Or maybe, we (as shallow, pleasure-seeking Americans) have been led to believe that a "good" movie must have lots of action; things must happen. "There Will Be Blood" definitely brings closure to many storylines, so there is certainly a feeling that the movie has ended. But with the final scene torn from my eyes, I sat there thinking, "Hmmmm...that was it??"

The movie is probably the most popular among critics, FWIW. See: NYTimes and WashPost.

It's relatively clean, just a minor amount of violence, so it's worthy of a watch. It's long (almost 2hrs 40mins), and sometimes I kept wondering when something would actually happen. But there is no question that the cinematography and acting were quite incredible. Watch it each scene at a time; enjoy the amazing work. Just don't expect that climactic fight scene or battle for control of the world - that's what "Lord of the Rings" is for.