Day-Lewis is Outstanding in well made Tale of Greed

Rating: 8/10 (27 January 2008)

Without a word spoken over the film's first fifteen minutes director PT Anderson succinctly defines the persona of rugged individualist Daniel Plainview in this epic tale about greed and oil in There Will Be Blood. In excruciating detail we watch prospector Plainview toil under dangerous conditions as he burrows alone into the dark earth endure debilitating injury and literally crawl to the assayer's office to make his claim. Plainview is clearly a man to be reckoned with and over the next two hours we are witness to his rise and fall as he seduces, bribes, murders, gets saved and cajoles his way to vast wealth in the early years of the twentieth century.
In Blood director Anderson deviates from his previous works such as Boogie Nights, a dull soap opera on the porno film industry and Magnolia, a promising Altmanesque quilt with a spectacularly inane climax, by avoiding the multiple speaking roles that tend to deaden and distract from character development. In Blood he focuses on Plainview alone and we are rewarded with one of cinema's most powerful and fully formed character portrayals of this young century. Daniel Day-Lewis lives and breathes the role of Plainview that remains riveting from start to finish. Minus the Brooklyn accent and scenery chewing that plagued him in Gang's of New York he displays every bit the threat and ruthlessness but in a more chilling and stoic fashion. Anderson daringly and successfully keeps Plainview in nearly every scene revealing his lust for money and his methodology. At the same time he allows the audience to ponder the ambiguous side of Plainview (misogyny, feelings toward religion)on their own. Anderson also does a deft balancing act in maintaining Plainview's relationship with H.W., his adopted son. Claiming him as his own son (he states the mother died in child birth) there are scenes of genuine fatherly love, but oil, wealth and power still remain Plainview's greatest passion and as the film progresses one questions his use for the boy in his grand plan.
Robert Elswit's photography has a superb texture that presents us with a dry and dusty harsh California landscape filled with bleakness and challenge in which only the strong and driven can survive. He also daringly under lights scenes to convey the darkness of Plainview's character and world. John Greenwood's music score is uneven but effective most of the time and the sound recording is top notch.
My only minor complaint about Blood is the miscasting of Paul Dano in the role of Eli Sunday, Plainview's religious fanatic opponent. Every bit as greedy as Plainview, Dano's Sunday lacks the strength of character and maturity needed to oppose Plainview. His fire and brimstone tirades seem out of place and out of time, very much resembling the contemporary style of Tom Cruises' Magnolia preacher. This aside, There Will Be Blood is a very rewarding piece of cinema, imaginatively directed, patiently told and masterfully acted by Lewis.