There Will Be Overrated Praise From Critics

Rating: 6/10 (22 March 2008)

Lewis hams it up in his Oscar winning role as Daniel Plainview. His performance is truly phenomenal. But unfortunately, this is all TWBB has going for it. There is simply not a rich enough storyline to justify the film's close to 3 hour running time. Plainview comes across as a boorish, manipulative hustler in the first 2/3rds of the film. Not until the film's final act does Lewis get to go full throttle and act like an unpredictable sadistic madman. Loosely based on Upton Sinclair's "Oil", the title of the film is misleading to say the least. I've seen more blood in the average Nip/Tuck episode. To the film's credit, the cinematography and set design are superb.
Paul Dano plays twin brothers in the movie who befriend and cross Plainview. I did not know these were supposed to be two separate characters until I read an article about the film after I saw it. Paul Thomas Anderson is hardly the cinematic auteur critics would have you believe. On the plus side, this is clearly PTA's most accomplished work thus far. At least he didn't try ripping off Scorsese's GoodFellas (Boogie Nights) and Altman's Short Cuts (Magnolia) this time around.
Long story short, There Will Be Blood shows PTA has grown slightly as a moviemaker and story teller. DDL confirms the notion he is one of the greatest actors of his generation. But that is where the praise begins and ends. TWBB is not the work of a gifted filmmaker, and is surely not one of the best movies of the year.
As a side note, I fail to understand why the MPAA gave this an R classification. This film could very reasonably have been rated PG-13.