# I watched "There Will Be Blood" \[Spoilers\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 15, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-there-will-be-blood-spoilers/592796 "2011-08-15T17:16:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-there-will-be-blood-spoilers/592796/1 "2011-08-15T17:16:30Z")
I don’t get it. What was the point of this movie ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-there-will-be-blood-spoilers/592796/2 "2011-08-15T17:30:58Z")
It was finally released on Laserdisc? ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-there-will-be-blood-spoilers/592796/3 "2011-08-15T17:35:01Z")
I finally got the DVD from the library. I kept waiting for something to happen. It was just this guy going around and drilling for oil. ---
**Author:** ![joew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/34f0e0/32.png) [@joew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joew)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-there-will-be-blood-spoilers/592796/4 "2011-08-15T17:36:21Z")
To be entertainment. To see Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Dano in virtuoso acting roles. To tell a compelling story set in an American West that most people do not understand - A bridge between the “old West” and the Robber Barons. It is a story of egos run rampant and the damage that they do to the people themselves and their environment. And it is a story about a man who was so driven to get everything that in the end had nothing. I love the movie. I think it is one of the best released in the last 25 years. But to toss it back to you…What didn’t you get?What didn’t you like? What was the point of your post? ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-there-will-be-blood-spoilers/592796/5 "2011-08-15T17:38:27Z")
I don’t know. I just heard that it was good, and when I watched it, I didn’t like it. So I assume I must be missing something. It just seemed boring to me. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-there-will-be-blood-spoilers/592796/6 "2011-08-15T17:42:04Z")
I don’t understand the question. It was the story of Daniel Plainview, and oil baron and what his quest for money/power/oil did to him/gained him/cost him. It was juxtaposed against the story of Eli Sunday and indeed the whole Sunday family and the town they lived in. The point was to tell an interesting and possibly thought provoking story with echos on our (America’s) modern struggles both economically and politically. What did you miss? Edit: I do find it interesting that most of the people that I know who really liked the movie saw it in a theater. I suspect it doesn’t work, at least not as well, at home where you can’t become fully immersed in the story like you can in a dark theater. ---
**Author:** ![Iggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Iggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggins)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-there-will-be-blood-spoilers/592796/7 "2011-08-15T17:42:44Z")
Watch it again, but think of it as a comedy. I thought it was one the funniest movies released that year. (Personally, I thought it was kind of overrated. Good movie, but somewhat boring to me. An interesting character study, though.) ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-there-will-be-blood-spoilers/592796/8 "2011-08-15T17:46:49Z")
PSXer, my dad rented it, and I asked him if it was any good. He told me to come watch a scene towards the beginning (someone was trying to blow something up?), and said “this is the most exciting scene in the whole movie. So no, it’s not.” Oddly, I haven’t been compelled to watch it myself. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-there-will-be-blood-spoilers/592796/9 "2011-08-15T17:49:39Z")
I agree that is sucked, and probably still does. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-there-will-be-blood-spoilers/592796/10 "2011-08-15T17:49:46Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > I don’t know. I just heard that it was good, and when I watched it, I didn’t like it. So I assume I must be missing something. It just seemed boring to me. You have to play the dialog backwards to reveal the secret hidden movie. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-there-will-be-blood-spoilers/592796/11 "2011-08-15T17:50:09Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > I don’t get it. What was the point of this movie Well, Daniel Plainview’s just this guy, you know? ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-there-will-be-blood-spoilers/592796/12 "2011-08-15T17:52:18Z")
And why did he kill Eli at the end ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-there-will-be-blood-spoilers/592796/13 "2011-08-15T17:53:01Z")
The movie’s about drainage, **PSXer** ; _drainage_. I’m so sorry. Here, if I have a milkshake, and you have a milkshake, and I have a straw… you see? Are you watching? And my straw reaches acroooooooos the room and starts to drink your milkshake. I… drink… your… milkshake! ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-there-will-be-blood-spoilers/592796/14 "2011-08-15T17:56:18Z")
Obvious pot stirrer is obvious. ---
**Author:** ![HoboStew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f17d59/32.png) [@HoboStew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoboStew)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-there-will-be-blood-spoilers/592796/15 "2011-08-15T18:04:14Z")
Daniel Day-Lewis definitely put on an acting clinic in the movie, and the milkshake scene is justifiably iconic, but there was no reason this movie needed to be 2 1/2 hours. I saw this after I saw Boogie Nights (one of my alltime favorite movies) and really wanted to like it, but I agree it fell kinda flat with me. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-there-will-be-blood-spoilers/592796/16 "2011-08-15T18:05:09Z")
Yeah I was waiting the whole movie for the milkshake scene. That scene was good, but after 2 1/2 hours I was ready for it to be over. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-there-will-be-blood-spoilers/592796/17 "2011-08-15T18:14:04Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > I finally got the DVD from the library. I kept waiting for something to happen. It was just this guy going around and drilling for oil. Agreed. It was a long, dull, pointless slog with the incredibly stupid milkshake line and the dumb bowling alley scene, and then it ended. Good actors wasted on an absurd script. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-there-will-be-blood-spoilers/592796/18 "2011-08-15T18:24:54Z")
If you think it was too long, you’re not getting it. As with _The Assassination of Jesse James_, a substantial part of the point is in the slowly-unfolding mood paintings. The slowness itself is a device for power. I loved both, but I understand this is one of those things that just doesn’t work in some brains. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-there-will-be-blood-spoilers/592796/19 "2011-08-15T18:30:40Z")
I kinda liked it, though it’s not really my cup of tea. I get that the times called for hard men, by Day-Lewis’s character was just a little too much of a vindictive psycho, even fairly early on (I guess somewhere around the time he sent his deafened foster son away), for me to have much sympathy for him. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-there-will-be-blood-spoilers/592796/20 "2011-08-15T18:36:11Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > Edit: I do find it interesting that most of the people that I know who really liked the movie saw it in a theater. I suspect it doesn’t work, at least not as well, at home where you can’t become fully immersed in the story like you can in a dark theater. I saw it on DVD, and thought it was very compelling. It’s a slow, bleak tragedy, so it’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-watched-there-will-be-blood-spoilers/592796.md?page=2)