"I drink your milkshake!" It's a classic...

Rating: 8/10 (21 February 2008)

The title of Paul Thomas Anderson's latest adventure sounds like one of those taglines or announcements you would normally see in a movie trailer "There Will Be Blood". Well, there is an upside for those going to see the film in a movie theatre; the title is definitely a promise that won't be broken. Anderson, a gifted filmmaker and an expert when it comes to uncommon titles, achieves with "There Will Be Blood" not his best picture, but his most recognized one.
It's a shame though, that this praise comes so late in his short career, because there's no difference between "There Will Be Blood" and his previous pieces. Whatever the length time, the characteristics of an Anderson film remain: unexpected endings, classic, focused cinematography and editing, well drawn characters courtesy of the director's sharp writing, chaotic score (I've got to admit Jonny Greenwood's work here takes it too far), characters that are always mature and relatively old and usually live desperate situations that require desperate measures.
A few years ago, Anderson reduced his typical ensembles into a smaller cast for the effective and weird "Punch-Drunk-Love". Now, he puts a risky number of three or less main characters but stays true to the rest of the things that define his signature. Is "There Will Be Blood" weird? You can bet it is, in its own way. It's a movie that can't be compared to any other; it's so different from everything you're used to watch that it naturally stands out.
No, it's not better than "Atonement" or "Juno"; but that's not the point. The point is that if you found a movie of "There Will Be Blood's" proportions, you probably wouldn't think about comparing them. It deals with business; the oil business, and with an oil man who says he can't do anything but speak frankly and is actually full of crap. Besides, he uses his little cute son to convince people into selling him lands.
This is Daniel Plainview, portrayed by Daniel Day Lewis as a man truly possessed by the devil. The second main character, Eli, a somekind of a priest played wonderfully by the on growing Paul Dano, is represented as Plainview's karma; his obvious opposite, and it's a comparison that Anderson keeps throughout the long, slow paced movie that deals with a big part of the characters' lives.
One of the film's best scenes consists of a confession that Eli gets out of Plainview, that's supposed to be serious, but during a few moments, the audience was laughing out loud. This scene is important because it marks the beginning of Plainview's decline, and the ongoing increase of Day Lewis' tour-de-force. Better than Clooney's lack of effort in "Michael Clayton"; better than Depp's ambivalent eccentricity; better than Mortensen's precise silence; Day Lewis' works covers every side of every era of Daniel Plainview's pathetic life.
If that's not enough for you, both Anderson and Day Lewis create a human being that we can feel not the slightest empathy for. We want nothing good for this oil man; we fear him and his eyes make us want to look the other way.