It’s difficult to believe that Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘There Will Be Blood’ was only filmed last year. Such is the epic scope of the film that you could be forgiven for thinking it was made in the era that produced ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ or ‘Gone With The Wind’ rather than the era that produced ‘Norbit.’
Set at the turn of 20th century, it tells the story of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis), a wannabe oil baron aiming to make a profit from the Sunday Ranch in the town of Little Boston. While initially successful, he does not encounter the obstacle of the townspeople, especially preacher Eli Sunday (Paul Dano).
The plot is firmly rooted around the powerhouse performance of Daniel Day Lewis. As Daniel Plainview, he is a callous, ambitious, greedy, hateful, repulsive, self-centred, heartless psychopath. And boy is he brilliant at it. Day Lewis also manages to be genuinely amusing which only adds depth to the character. In one hilariously shocking moment halfway through negotiations to sell oil to a pair of dry businessmen, he threatens to cut their throats.
Daniel is prepared to trample over anyone in order to reach his goals (which is to “eliminate the competition” and be rich), whether this is abandoning his son, his shocking cruelty or backstabbing the townspeople of Little Boston. You truly believe him when he says “I hate people.” Some of the best scenes involve his confrontations with preacher Eli, chief nutjob in a town full of crazies (and as who, Paul Dano performs remarkably well), who wants his promised share of the money to fund his church. The power struggle between these two characters moves between a side-splitting baptism to a gruesome violence.
However, it could be said that the main star of ‘There Will Be Blood’ is not Daniel Day Lewis, but the stunning scenery. Anderson effectively recreates the grandness of the American West and the film is at its most awe-inspiring when the characters are being showered in the black rain of oil or the chillingly ominous soundtrack by Johnny Greenwood (of Radiohead) is puncturing the scenes.
While ‘There Will Be Blood’ is a very good film, it just falls short of being a great film. It’s unnecessary long and the plot is not as substantial as the performance by Day Lewis and direction of Anderson deserves. The subplot regarding Daniel’s brother could have been dispensed with entirely as it does not really add anything to the story. However, this is merely nitpicking on my part and I would recommend the film for anyone who wants to see a masterful character study.
‘There Will Be Blood’ is now showing in a cinema near you.
By Craig Purshouse
February 22nd, 2008 at 10:55 pm
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Chris Moran
February 23rd, 2008 at 2:32 am
Great review
I agree wholeheartedly, although I find the brother-subplot really adding to the story of the “blood”(family) relationships, which is rather a trademark of Anderson’s films. I think I would like the film equally if this particular plot hadn’t been there, but I do think the film is much emotionally fuller with the plot included 
But that’s of course a matter of taste.
Greetings