Use of "Fight" scenes in There Will be Blood

Use of "Fight" scenes in There Will be Blood

Cyrus Burris

There Will Be Blood is a film about oil. Oil really isn't anything special. Oil is simply something that comes and goes in life, and that many people can take advantage of to make a decent sum of money. So, why make a movie about it? It's not one of those "sexy" topics like war or time travel, so what can you really get out of it? There Will Be Blood uses it's own lack of spectacle to make itself more real. The key example of this is the usage of fight scenes in the movie. In most other films, those as old as George Lucas' Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and those as new as Edgar Wright's The World's End, fight scenes are long, flashy and crazy. Quite frankly, that's not how fights really go down. Real fights are slow, painful, and are rather personal. There Will Be Blood nails the fight scenes right on the head. The film's fight scenes are exactly as a real fight would be. Daniel's multiple physical standoffs with Eli are slow, painful and incredibly personal. This plays into the entire film's very real feel. Nothing in this movie is entirely out of the ordinary or probably doesn't already exist. Even Eli's crazy church and preaching aren't far from some of those in the deep south. This is a key element of what makes the film so, for lack of a better term, good. It all just seems so real, and the viewer can really feel as if it is happening right in front of them. The "fight" scenes in the film are what really drives this point home.