Any other year, a worthy Oscar winner!

Rating: 10/10 (18 March 2008)

Ambitiously executed There Will Be Blood is a very impressive film. The backdrop and arrangement of the film alone will evoke such films as Gone With The Wind and Citizen Kane. That may seem like a bold statement but the ambition that is on show here is driven with such force and pedigree that it seems only fitting that comparisons to those films should be made, as will be explained in due course. The film tells of man called Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis), who discovers oil, refines his methods and steadily increases his wealth. One day a worker is killed and Plainview adopts his son and names him H.W. Plainview (Dillon Freasier), and by 1911 Daniel is one of the most successful men in California.
In keeping with the current Hollywood trend of echoing 1970s cinema the film has a slow burning plot and a lack of strong women. Furthermore, the lead character, Daniel Plainview is an archetypal anti-hero with a moral complexity and a classic rejection of traditional values. He is also a character with immense tenacity and an unrivalled drive for success. The first 15 minutes encapsulates all of these traits and lays down the foundations for his characters development. With no dialogue Plainview falls down a shaft and breaks his leg, but he manages to pull himself out and to the nearest town. The opening 15 minutes is monumental storytelling as without the tool of dialogue the director (Paul T Anderson) is able to establish a character with grit and determination; a strong, immovable man unwilling to let anything hinder his progress. Daniel Day Lewis's profound acting ability in There Will Be Blood, and Plainview's flaws and inability to be human, are very similar to those of another character and masterpiece of the same name, Citizen Kane, as Plainview is also a man that will stop at nothing to get everything.
As with the directors' previous works (Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love) the film carries a lot of religious imagery most of which are directly attributable to Christianity. In one scene a young man by the name of Paul Sunday visits Plainview to inform him of a place (his family's home) where oil seeps through the ground and that he can have the location of it for a small fee. In selling his family out to such a tyrant Paul becomes the Judas of the picture. Ultimately Plainview lies to the Sunday family about its worth and purchases the land at what can be only be regarded as pittance. In a beautifully metaphorical fashion Plainview ignores the advice of a preacher to bless his well and digs up the land, which intern results in disaster. He releases hell, flames shoot upwards, the sky turns black and his blackened demonic face emerges gleaming with excitement unable to hide his pleasure even after the near death experience of his son, H.W. Plainview. The scene is truly magnificent and had me harking back to Classical Hollywood epics (Gone With The Wind, Grapes of Wrath) the score that accompanies it is dauntless and the direction superb. It should also be noted that the sheer aesthetics of the film, from the intrepid soundtrack to the flawless cinematography, make it an immensely pleasurable experience.
Unfortunately I had issues with the various stereotypes the film employed. Primarily the film has strong homo-erotic undertones, that truly come to light upon the emergence of Daniel's alleged brother, Henry (Kevin J. O'Connor). During the film the two share quality time on a beach and quite clearly bond during an oil pipeline mapping expedition. Plainview is a man that exhibits the clichéd idiosyncrasies associated with homophobic tendencies. From his absent history with females, his statement at hating all men, his dislike of men and his outlandish dismay at the discovery of his Henry's betrayal. His reaction at Henrys lie confirms a sense of denial in Plainview, albeit an outrageous reaction, as he is clearly angry with himself for letting his emotions surface towards another man, thus adding prominence to his tears.
Further problems with the film lie with its story, it refuses to give away too much information and divulges key elements at irregular moments and weights them with too much emphasis or not enough. The scene in which Daniel and his son meet the other Sunday brother Eli (Paul Dano) for the first time is very well executed, as we the audience share with Daniel his bemusement at whether or not this is the same person he met earlier or if it's a twin. This scene is brilliant but it is left wide open and it is not really tied up, despite the fact that he attacks his father for allowing Paul to leave and divulge their location. His father is not allowed to retort, alluding to the fact that maybe Eli is suffering a character disorder; if this was the case it would be much more fitting. Additionally, at the end of the film, Daniel lies to Eli about how much he paid Paul for the information  confusing the matter further.
There Will Be Blood is a film that some might believe is ostentatious, but in unravelling the films layers and various metaphors it is a true joy. It is a brilliant examination of politics, fascism, greed and religion and in doing so becomes (perhaps unwittingly) an allegory for contemporary American society and the issues surrounding big business and religion. Daniel Day Lewis is truly outstanding, perhaps the finest physical actor of our generation, his mere presence makes the film compelling, he is undoubtedly every directors dream.
In being concurrent with the first scene, the final reels of There Will Be Blood deliver one of the greatest performances by an actor ever committed to celluloid (the milkshake metaphor is brilliant) and one of the greatest final lines in cinema history "I'm finished".