A near unblemished semi-classic tour de force driven by a leading character performance to rival the very best.

Rating: 10/10 (19 February 2008)

"I'm an oil man!" Proclaims Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) to a township brimful of naïve citizens of which he is astutely wrapping around his finger one by one. However (in this case) the man speaks no lie for his veins do indeed run rich with plutonium oil. A crude, black substance embedded deep in the heart of director Paul Thomas Anderson's gargantuan North American epic- There Will Be Blood. A perpetually steady, emotionally-draining tale about the evil deeds of an oil guzzling tycoon that vigorously chews on the themes of gluttony and narcissism, faith and ambition, death and abomination. Do not be mislead by its title, though. For this is not some hysterical slasher-flick (as the juveniles sat behind me seemed to think at the outset). It is a gruelling, drawn-out dissection of a loathsome yet sinisterly-comical individual consumed and maddened by his own persona. And it's absolutely formidable. But it's also a marathon, meaning that it's not for everyone. So if movies of the elongated breed just aren't your thing, then I'm afraid there will be no blood for you. Sorry. However, if you sincerely believe that you've got what it takes to go the 158 minute distance, then brace yourself for a near unblemished semi-classic tour de force driven by a leading character performance to rival the very best.
There Will Be Blood begins, then, with a poignant fade-in of a series of desolate mounds scattered across a dauntingly atmospheric New Mexican landscape. This is the first of many deeply satisfying fades employed that are aided quite brilliantly by Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood's unsettling score which helps underline the overall mood of the tale. Add to that, every nuance of every cinematic and visual component which all work so well with one another to help give this: Paul Thomas Anderson's fifth feature film, such power and impact.
More importantly, though, than any of the cinematic aspects citied above, is the protagonist. Well, antagonist to be precise. Daniel Day-Lewis playsno scratch thatDaniel Day Lewis is Daniel Plainview. A late 19th century Sean Connery sounding miner who while thrashing away at the crust of his motherland strikes silver and several years later, oil. But Plainview's profitable discovery comes at a price as one of his fellow miners pays for the unearthing with his life, leaving Plainview with the moral duty of raising the desist's new-born son, H.W (Dillon Freasier). And so, with the youthful, innocent H.W poised firmly under the oil sodden wing of Plainview, the two travel the continent, Dad: buying up large segments of land in which crude oil is stirring directly beneath, and son: smiling chastely for the native punters to help sweeten the deals. Thus, Plainview's success, reputation and wallet all begin to swell at a rather substantial rate and in 1911 he receives a generously eerie, yet pricey tip-off from Paul Sunday (Paul Dano) as to where there may be a sturdy supply of his beloved oil. And, like a moth to an oil fuelled flame, Plainview meanders ominously into Little Boston, California where the true colours and characteristics of the indomitable oil baron edge disturbingly into light.
Daniel Plainview is an angry, vengeful man whose promises and loyalties to those around him are as false and as futile as his love and respect for the lord. He promises the locals of the Little Boston ranch; food, water, schools and, to the town's irregular preacher Eli Sunday (also Dano), a newly renovated church of the Third Revelation. But he cares little for the reserving of his pledges and spends little time guilt-tripping over his numerous acts of fraudulence and immorality. "I look at people," he says "and I see nothing worth liking." "I have a competition in me," he adds "and I want no one else to succeed". Harshly honest words, from a partially harshly honest man for Plainview is as putrid and as predatory as any character to ever grace the big screen. He putrefies slowly, though. And to be honest, the end product is more entity than it is man. Plainview is a symbol of sin. An emblem of pure self-serving evil, and from the first frame to the last, the sheer presence boasted by the oil sucking chief governs the screen in an implausible manner in which only an actor of Day-Lewis' calibre can. The critically marvelled, multi-award winning performance of the unfaltering London-born method actor is the epitome of everything grand about Paul Thomas Anderson's finest feature yet: intense, immense and utterly, utterly chilling.
Nevertheless, for all its blood soaked and oil sopping glory, There Will Be Blood requires a patient, focused audience who are not fazed by its unhurried temperament. Admittedly, the film does have a tendency to slowdown to a near crawling pace at times, and I can't help but feel that the colossal performance of Day-Lewis carries the narrative in certain areas. But to begrudge There Will Be Blood for those slender drawbacks would make youwella sinner!