A grand old Epic with modern touches

Rating: 10/10 (24 January 2008)

Call it socialist, anti-religion, anti-capitalist----whatever. There Will Be Blood is truly the best movie to come out in a long time. Its a rarity to see a film take a huge leap with such a stunning indictment on not one, but two relevant institutions in current society. And it is done so in a solid and deliberate manner which fully illustrates the madness that is created by hate and greed.
There Will Be Blood hardly pulls any punches. Greed consumes all. The hopeful heart is easily manipulated. The quest for pomposity blackens the heart. Family is only relevant in comparison to the mighty dollar. There are all lessons that humanity must battle everyday, and Paul Thomas Anderson throws all of these struggles onto the shoulders of two men, Daniel Plainview and Eli Sunday. Both are manipulative, both talk of grander, more majestic worlds that stir the imagination, and both would seek untold riches at any cost. Its an interesting battle that the pair have for much of the film, fighting to gain a leg up on each other but also playing with the hearts and minds of those they directly affect. Some might call this a direct attack on the oil industry and Evangelical Christians, but the movie merely depicts both areas for what they truly---corruptible, just like everything else. Its a relatively fair statement, considering both Palinview and Sunday are much different and far more idealistic in their earlier depictions in the film.
Anderson's visual work was also quite astonishing, making the bleak landscapes a character unto themselves. He also made the movie work with a relatively unknown cast of actors, which gave the film so much more depth in its characters because you could believe them. Paul Dano's whiny Eli Sunday was a perfect juxtaposition to Daniel Day Lewis' Daniel Plainview. One uses his anger and hatred for power while the other uses manipulation and ignorance. And the even more interesting thing is that both statements could apply to either character.
There Will Be Blood is easily the best movie of 2007, much less of any decade. Go and watch it.