A film about an oil pioneer whose trailblazing spirit is equaled only by his murderous ambition.

Rating: 9/10 (25 June 2010)

There Will Be Blood is a creation myth for American capitalism, blazingly mounted against barren California landscapes. In 1898, prospector Danial Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) strikes silver. It marks the start of his rapidly growing empire and his move into the oil business. He and his young son H.W. (nominally his partner) visit a tract of land in California, said to be oil-rich. On striking oil, Plainview crosses swords with a young local preacher (Paul Dano) who disapproves of his voracious greed.
The film is a historical epic that has the power of timeless myth, a story with Biblical overtones about a man who became immensely rich and powerful but lost his humanity on that journey. Day-Lewis's portrayal of Plainview, a solitary misanthrope with an appalling, barely concealed fury, is an astonishing master-class in acting. Dano as the young preacher Eli - calm but smug and manipulative makes an effective foil. But it's writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson's conception that carries the day; he has fashioned a story that surveys the well-spring of American business and entrepreneurialism and finds it morally wanting. This is an angry, roaring discordant film, and you emerge feeling genuinely jolted.