Flawed

Rating: 7/10 (7 August 2010)

Daniel Day-Lewis is Daniel Plainview, a turn of the century oilman, driven to succeed no matter what the cost.
Let's take Day-Lewis' powerful performance as a given, even if it is a very close relative of his Butcher Bill from Gangs Of New York (a much better film, by the way).
There is an interesting story to be told here, but There Will Be Blood isn't it. The movie rambles, and the story is told very slowly with many asides which appear hardly relevant - it seems early on as if there is going to be a strong oil vs. evangelism plot thread, for instance, but this more or less disappears.
In the end the movie ends up a portrait of a man whose motivations and actions are driven, antisocial, sometimes incomprehensible, and almost always unpleasant. Day-Lewis is always magnetic to watch, but the movie didn't have enough to engage me without something else to offer beside his performance.
Many of the music cues appear intended to alienate to such an extent that it is difficult to imagine in what way they are intended to complement the narrative.