One of the best films of the decade

Rating: 9/10 (1 March 2008)

Arguably the best contemporary actor and director team up for There Will Be Blood, Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Thomas Anderson. Based on the 1927 novel Oil! by Upton Sinclair the story centers around Daniel Plainview played by Day-Lewis, an early oil prospector beginning the in the late 19th century. Little Miss Sunshine star, Paul Dano plays the charming minister of the new area Plainview wishes to drill. The rivalry between them grows and the whole film will have the viewer itching to find out what happens next between them. Despite oil being the center point of the film's plot, as the story progresses, it becomes clear it is about far more than just oil.
To call Daniel Day-Lewis phenomenal would be to insult him, it is quite possibly the greatest acting achievement of the decade. Though it is very similar to the character Bill 'The Butcher' Cutting he played in Gangs of New York, this role has more depth and the transformation of the character was shocking. The incredible thing of all of Day-Lewis's performances is how much he embodies the character. He often becomes so involved that he has needed therapy to detach himself from the character after filming is over, particularly the unlikable ones like the greedy, manipulative Daniel Plainview.
The script, which was written by director, P.T. Anderson is to die for. It creates a stirring mix of dark comedy and tense drama and it is structured in such a way that the films most tense moments will follow the most comedic, so as to invoke a powerful immediate reaction that will cut the laughter abruptly and make the viewer feel guilty for laughing in the first place. The sheer genius of the dialogue that is used to help Plainview's slip from sanity is heart pounding. It's an excellent combination between director and actor when a simple line like, "I can't keep doing this on my own with these people" becomes bone chilling and terrifying. To boot, there is a line near the conclusion, that I shan't say for fear of spoiling it, that is poised to become one of the great lines in film history.
P.T. Anderson's directorial influences are heavy throughout the film. As Martin Scorsese's influencing hand was evident in Boogie Nights, Stanley Kubrick's is in There Will Be Blood. The first twenty minutes contain next to no dialogue with short shots of desert surroundings, joined only by strange noises and Ligeti heard over the soundtrack (which was mostly composed by Radiohead star, Johnny Greenwood). Of course, this is akin to the opening act of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey where we see primitive man in awe exploring a black monolith proceeded by the discovery of tools, leaping man into the next stage of evolution. In this case the anti-hero, Plainview, is in search of another black substance that will cause a different substantial leap for man. Not only that, the main character's self-destructive pattern resembles Redmond Barry's in Stanley Kubrick's historical drama, Barry Lyndon. It even contains a comparable shot of the lead assaulting the young male antagonist. Less concrete are the black comedy elements of A Clockwork Orange, and a score similar to The Shining.
Stanley Kubrick isn't the only one to have a noticeable influential impact; the thematic exploration of greed and wealth is almost identical to John Huston's The Treasure of Sierra Madre. This isn't to say P.T. Anderson copied or stole from these great directors; if that were true, almost every director working today would be accused of copying Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles (who was probably also a big influence of There Will Be Blood).
The cinematography played a large part in the eeriness of the film. Short shots of desert and oil derricks enhance the feeling of being there among the workers and villagers. Perhaps most amazing of all being a shot of a derrick before rumbling is heard and oil bursts from the ground and shoots dozens of feet into the air before setting on fire and crashing to the desert ground, presumably killing some workers. This is very creepily followed by Plainview exclaiming in joy, "There's a whole ocean of oil under our feet!"
There Will Be Blood is everything one could want in a film. Day-Lewis so good he can make one root for a character one would otherwise despise. It is clearly the vision of an auteur director, it has moments that will make you take the view to the edge of his or her seat, or glue them to the back of it. Complexity of theme is present as it explores greed; religion, karma, ambition, and vengeance. Each are thought-provoking and moving. ****/4.