To quote Vincent Vega: Damn, that's a pretty bleep good milkshake

Rating: 10/10 (13 March 2008)

This is without a doubt the best movie of 2007, it's not only a movie with one of the best male performances of all time, but it's just a complete masterpiece, Paul Thomas Anderson has created a time less epic, the sorts we've not seen in a long time...(read more), it's right up there with such pillars as Citizen Kane, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Raging Bull.
There Will Be Blood is such a complex story, about greed, morality, family, religion and hate. The adaptation of the novel Oil! by Paul Thomas Anderson is a force to be reckon with, it's clearly one of the best screenplays written in the past 20 years. The story holds similarities with such great titles as Citizen Kane, Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Raging Bull. When I started hearing critics compare the film to these, especially to Citizen Kane, I was intrigued, what film could deserve such comparison, but then I saw it, and immediately agreed, this film is destined to become a classic.
The other incredible element of the film is the direction of again, Paul Thomas Anderson, the man behind Boogie Nights, Magnolia and Punch Drunk-Love. I used to consider him a director that was in the brink of a massive out burst of greatness. Boogie Nights was a fantastic head turner, but ultimately the Martin Scorsese cover direction became a much to great a shadow to overcome. Magnolia and Punch Drunk-Love were definitely great, off beat films that revealed his other interest in classic cinema, such as Jonathan Demme, and Robert Altman. But here, with There Will Be Blood, Anderson has created a massive work of art that exceeds in originality and unrelenting passion for film making that is translated into every single frame. The movie's tone, atmosphere, epic canvass, the story telling, everything is just an example of what a great director with encyclopedic knowledge of film can accomplish, it ranks with the works of Stanley Kubrick, Orson Welles & Martin Scorsese. The direction is so sober, so patient, yet so determined and unyielding, it does not compromise anything for the sake of audience enjoyment, every single element is in the service of the story.
As for the performances, despite it being a very rich film with lots of characters, it really ends up being a Daniel Day-Lewis vehicle to show all of what he can accomplish as an actor, and probably, everything that an actor can accomplish. The performance is just so commanding, so overwhelming, is one of those performances that creates legends, like Brando's Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront, Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire and Vito Corleone in The Godfather, like Bogart's Rick Blaine in Casablanca, like Gable's Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind, like De Niro's Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver and Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull, like Pacino's Sonny in Dog Day Afternoon, Tony Montana in Scarface and Col. Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman, Day-Lewis performance is the stuff of legends. After we thought he had done such a performance in Scorsese's Gangs of New York, which he did, he comes here and tops himself, in every which way possible. His character is one of the most puzzling, challenging characters since probably Orson Welles Charles Foster Kane, and even though he is not an enigma as Kane, he is just as complex and mesmerizing, and such a commanding screen presence due to the numerous mannerisms and speech patterns, the performance is just magnificent. However, Day-Lewis is not the only actor of the show, Little Miss Sunshine's Paul Dano is also exceptional, managing to stand toe to toe against Day-Lewis, something that as DiCaprio proved in Gangs of New York, is a very difficult feat to pull off, but Dano manages to create such an interesting and twisted character, that still puzzles probably as much as Day-Lewis character.
The production value of the film is certainly without question, the gargantuan work of cinematographer Robert Elswit is palpable on every scene, the intense use of low lighting, using only fire as source of light, as well as the use of the sun, the natural lighting, and the special 43mm Pathe Lenses for color shifting at corners, it's the stuff we have not seen since movies by David Lean, George Stevens's Giant, Kubrick's Barry Lyndon and Warren Beatty's Reds. The subtle yet sprawling Production Design by by Jack Fisk and Jim Erickson is also extremely effective, and also reminiscent of classic Hollywood.
This film is virtuoso film making from the opening scene to the end, is one great, fascinating story that captures you from the start, due to the incredible array of talents that just erupts from the screen like an oil tower. There Will Be Blood is certainly the most interesting work from a young film maker since American Beauty, and puts Paul Thomas Anderson in the same league as Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick, David Lean, Orson Welles, the list can go on, and on. I cannot recommend this film further, my only final piece of advice is see it, I took precautions not to reveal any plot details, cause even though you might think you have the story down from the trailers, trust me, you have no idea what you are in for. This movie is to be seen, and seen again. That's pretty much all I have to say about it, see the film immediately if you haven't...."I'm finished."