An amazing portrait of the effect of greed on one man

Rating: 9/10 (27 January 2008)

There Will Be Blood is a film about one man's obsession and greed. This man, played by Daniel Day-Lewis, is, in his own words, "an oilman". And the story is essentially about how this oilman set up the oil well of his lifetime and how it utterly consumed him.
First of all, be warned that this film is very different from director P.T. Anderson's previous works. There aren't a lot of characters and overlapping stories, just one main character and a handful of supporting ones. There's not a ton of dialogue--rather, there's a lot of silence. And the soundtrack, while prevalent, isn't the wonderful musical candy of his previous works, but is striking and eerie.
Technically, the film is fantastic. The acting is strong, even little Dillon Freasier as H.W. Plainview, the son of our protagonist, Daniel Plainview. The film looks great and sounds great, although I felt like the score was something a little too intrusive in the mix, swelling up too much in front when it could've held back a little to give the silence more breathing room and providing cues that weren't necessary--although in its own right, it's compelling stuff for the ears.
The story is an amazing portrait of the effects of greed and a lack of love and mercy on a human being. While it's clear that Daniel Plainview is a man with money on his mind, we watch as his obsession with his oil and getting his own way tear apart all the things that we also found redeeming in him. I'm sure I'm not the first person to point this out, but in this sense, the story had much in common with Citizen Kane, as an examination of the nature of human evil and its effect on one man. And it's remarkable how we watch the man metamorphose so gradually and almost imperceptibly, until the end when we really how much he's changed, and for the worst.
There Will Be Blood is a fantastic and powerful film, while certainly far from uplifting, it is a film that very subtly has a potent warning for those in pursuit of worldly success. And with such a superb presentation, even the 2.5 hour running-time wasn't even noticed. A remarkable work of art. 9/10.