A brooding, epic, magnificent film

Rating: 9/10 (5 May 2009)

There Will Be Blood is simply the portrait of a man. This man is evil, greedy, and has no morals. His only goal in life, it appears, is to assert his dominance over everyone around him. "I have a competition on me, and I want no one else to succeed." Daniel Day-Lewis gives one of his best performances, and Paul Thomas Anderson directs without compassion or conscience. He does not attempt to elicit sympathy for anyone, and he gives no excuse for the behavior of Lewis' character. The story simply unfolds. In many ways Paul Dano's character is as evil as Lewis', feigning purity and innocence, when in fact he is greedy himself. The movie was a bit slow, but I found myself so intrigued by the main characters that I was able to overlook the occasional slow parts. And as far as the ending goes, I will say this: with the wills of both the main characters refusing to bend, something had to give. And it was really the only way it could have ended. It was a fresh and unique story, and I loved it.