The best film of 2007; an outright masterpiece, it shook me to the bone

Rating: 10/10 (17 February 2008)

Before delivering this new opus, Paul Thomas Anderson was already, in my book at least, one of the greatest contemporary filmmakers and certainly one of the best to grow and flourish out of the independent film scene and Sundance Film Festival. His films were unique in their style and scope even though Anderson didn't even try to hide his cinematic references; he openly discussed influences from Robert Altman and Martin Scorsese, and these influences were more than prominent in his films, especially his two oeuvres, Boogie Nights and Magnolia, both of whom characterized with an ensnaring sense of visual style with dizzying, ever-flowing camera-work and featuring broad, multi-character palettes. Punch-Drunk Love was a deviation from his previous films in that its scope was notably smaller, but Anderson's visual style and "indie" film quirkiness were prominently front-and-center. It seems that the 4-year break since his last film have changed the director, who returns in There Will Be Blood with what is his most mature, epic and self-fulfilling work to date. Stripping himself of his Altman and Scorsese influences, this time around Anderson provides us not with a sprawling mesh of multiple characters or quirky dramas, but rather a singular, monolith character study perhaps most easily comparable to Citizen Kane; There Will Be Blood is, first and foremost, an utterly full and complete dissection of its main character, Daniel Plainview.
After viewing the film I tried to imagine another actor portraying the main role, but came out empty handed. Half of what makes the character of Plainview is Daniel Day-Lewis' proficient, spellbinding, grand performance. His turn in this film has prompted me to go back and seek out all of Day-Lewis' previous films in an attempt to take in all of his film roles, and as I see more and more of him it is becoming my opinion that he is the single greatest actor working today, and perhaps who has ever worked. His ability to completely and utterly disappear into his roles; the wide variety of roles he has played  going from a gentle aristocrat in The Age of Innocence to an insane and viciously violent gang boss in Gangs of New York to a real-life quadriplegic artist in My Left Foot. The man is a truly a mystery; reclusive, managing to be perhaps the only actor working today who is selective about his film roles and seemingly refuses to act in something "just for the money" as many of the great actors have had to do over the years  it's no coincidence that he has done only 12 movies in 20 years; 4 of them in the last 10 years. After Gangs of New York he swore to never act again, instead focusing on his hobby of shoe-making  but I can't seem to express my thankfulness that first his director-wife Rebecca Miller and now Paul Thomas Anderson have managed to coax him back into the profession. His recluse is a curse for movie-lovers, and it is simply unfair to us movie-lovers, not to mention unfortunate, that perhaps the most talented actor of all time denies us his genius. His climactic performance in There Will Be Blood is not only a career best, but is also, in my humble opinion, a top contender for the single greatest film performance of all time.
Again deriving from his usual style, Anderson has stripped himself of his extensive troupe of famous regulars and populates his film mostly with unknowns and non-actors, although he does provide us with one more familiar face in the cast, the young Paul Dano. Although the young actor has previously had small, supporting roles in television and some lowbrow movies, last year he wowed us with his poignant turn in Little Miss Sunshine. If that increase in quality projects was any indication, his gripping, powerful turn in There Will Be Blood assures that his career is heading in the right direction. It is an incredibly skillful performance, least of all just because of its impressive ability to riff off of and play against the freight train that is Daniel Day-Lewis. It is a performance that deserves a lot more praise than it gets  people no doubt distracted by Day-Lewis' dominating role, but I'll have Dano know that I'm rooting for him, if that's any consolation.
Paul Thomas Anderson never ceases to amaze me. Two of his previous four movies are, in my opinion, unprecedented masterpieces, both have garnered 10/10 ratings from me, and both are very high up on my top 100 movies list. I thought that contemporary cinema couldn't get much better than Boogie Nights and Magnolia. But Anderson has succeeded in proving his true worth by delivering something that is at once entirely different from his previous two masterpieces but also an unparalleled modern masterpiece of its own. I feel torn because after viewing this year's other neo-Western masterpiece, No Country for Old Men, I was sure that this was the Coen Brothers' year, but after being absolutely blown away by Anderson's opus, my initial opinion is challenged. Masterpiece doesn't even seem fitting enough a word for this unbelievable, indescribable work. Anderson creates such thrilling scenes that my heart was frantically pounding throughout most of the film, reaching a peak in one of the most absolutely, downright incredible scenes in recent motion picture history, the now infamous bowling alley scene. This movie literally blew me away; it shook me to the bone. With There Will Be Blood, Anderson has crafted a technical, directorial and thematic masterwork, reinforced by an inexpressibly remarkable performance by Daniel Day-Lewis, and delivers the best movie of 2007 and one of the single greatest modern classics of contemporary cinema.