There were Oscars and there will be future viewings.

Rating: 8/10 (28 September 2008)

To watch There Will Be Blood is to experience There Will Be Blood. Such a film is long, but does not feel like it; such a film is broad in its studies and locales, but never feels like a blockbuster; such a film is highly interesting and demands a lot of attention; but could still be enjoyed even with a sit back and relax attitude. Such a film is There Will Be Blood, Paul Thomas Anderson's latest film and recent Academy Award best picture nominee which is set amongst the vast, dusty hills of California at the turn of the Twentieth Century as it becomes apparent one man's work is about to boom.
I suppose for a film to predominantly centre around the conflict of interests to do with oil, There Will Be Blood's timing is somewhat significant given what's going on in the Middle East but this never veers too far into the realm of politics. Daniel Plainview, played by the Oscar winning Daniel Day-Lewis, is a man seeking territory and oil for his own profit and his methods of attaining the land and the oil is slippery and ruthless  he's the sort of towering professional that was just born to be a businessman. But there are no daft metaphors directed towards political leaders in this portrayal although the manner in which Plainview delivers his speeches about oil and such to the townsfolk, to me, looked like a President or a world leader delivering a speech to its delegates or citizens.
There is nothing really embedded in this film but greatness, and greatness on a grand scale. Similarly to Magnolia of 1999, Anderson has adopted a large canvas on which to decorate his ideas and themes but he has matured as a filmmaker in the sense he does not bite off more than he can chew this time round. If it were worth sitting through the painfully progressive Magnolia just so that I could see There Will Be Blood, then it was worth it. The difference is that Anderson focuses his attention on two to three characters in one setting at a designated point in time which aids the periodic, artistic piece he is trying to create in There Will Be Blood. Needless to say, it works. While Magnolia was all well and good on the surface with the best of intentions (ie; a large scale, 'revolves around nothing', urban drama with interlocking stories), the film fell flat through its lack of conflict and mass-character study.
Anderson tones things down here. He tones things down to the point that there is not one word of dialogue in the opening twenty or so minutes  not even when it is a necessity to warn someone of impending doom as a well support crashes down on top of an individual. In the opening, we get an explosion; the audience jumps; an on screen death and not a title card nor a rousing composed score in sight  this is exciting film-making but not of the blockbuster variety. When someone does speak, it is the man of the hour Daniel himself. The character just drips charisma; the sort of individual who could worm his way into a situation, out of the situation and then back into it if he really wanted to. He is told by a young man about certain owned land not too far away and the oil prospects it garners. Daniel ventures there with a young child he has raised as his own after the unfortunate opening events and the film unfolds from here on in.
At its centre, There Will Be Blood is a continuous conflict between the broad subject that is religion and one man's business ideas and reaping of the Earth of natural sources for his own personal gain; call it greed, call it business. The one individual that stands in Daniel's way is Eli Sunday (Dano), whose brother Paul (also Dano) gave the Plainview's the notion to go to the plot of land in the first place. Eli is a faith healer, a man of religion and acts as the lone person willing to stand up to Daniel. As a concentrated conflict, the two will exchange blows but not in a fighting sense more-so an egotistical one with feuds in smatterings of mud that do not adopt a violent sense as the fight is too one sided anyway. Daniel's dream and overall target flails and stutters in light of this religious presence, very much 'my church versus your oil rig'. Indeed, when one rig or extractor burns, Eli can only watch on as he gains another point amongst the chaos and burning.
The idea that the film at its core is a study of this conflict is emphasised in the final scenes when the two are face to face in a showdown scenario. But leading to this point, the film really works as a stone wall drama. There Will Be Blood is brilliant enough to actually sidestep its primary strand and focus on those around its protagonist, namely Daniel's adopted son H.W. and his antagonism towards Daniel with his deafness and the reason for it preceding this. These scenes work due to the prior hour and a half revolving around Daniel and what a ruthless and somewhat greedy individual he is meaning we cannot help but feel a certain amount towards a now grown up H.W. With stupendous acting and an impressive score as well as wonderful attention to detail, There Will Be Blood is a definite triumph.