A brutal original is one of the year's best

Rating: 10/10 (21 January 2008)

A brutal, dazzling film. One of the year's best and a unique, uncompromised vision of evil. Director Paul Thomas Anderson's (Boogie Nights, Magnolia) latest film tells the story of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis), a self-proclaimed "oil man" whose only engine is to acquire and export oil. Plainview is not as concerned with wealth as he is conquest. He wants to subdue the earth and have dominion over it. Accompanying him on his mission is his young son HW, a loyal, trusting boy and excellent prop with which to give the illusion of family values to prospective business partners.
Daniel's quest takes him to the struggling village of Little Boston, California which he hopes contains previously untapped oil wealth. Before he can possess the land, however, he must contend with the charismatic evangelist Eli Sunday (Paul Dano) who has his own plans for the town of Little Boston.
The performances, as in previous Anderson films, are phenomenal. Daniel Day Lewis once again allows his role to completely possess him and displays the same intensity and hatred that defined his Bill the Butcher character--the main reason to see Scorsese's muddled The Gangs of New York. Paul Dano, who played the son with the vow of silence in Little Miss Sunshine, amazes as the evangelist determined to subdue Plainview. Their power struggle provides the film's primary conflict and when the two share the screen, you are transfixed. The film's score by Radiohead guitarist Johnny Greenwood is insistent, overwhelming, and ominous. Like the film it accompanies, it is unique and exquisite.
There Will Be Blood will not be admired by all. Many will find it emotionally distant, its vision of humanity too bleak, its rhythms odd and off-putting. But Anderson has constructed a singular and completely new work unlike any that has come before. This will either make you supremely uncomfortable or amaze you in its audacity.
Highly recommended.