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Rated: R
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Mary Elizabeth Barrett, Paul Dano, Dillon Freasier, Christine Olejniczak
Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson
Loosely based on the Upton Sinclair novel Oil!, There
Will Be Blood unravels a scathingly devilish story with an acting
performance by Daniel Day-Lewis that"s chillingly superb. Oscar nominations should be offered in at
least five categories, including Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best
Direction, Best Screenplay and Best Film for 2007—it"s that good. If you love your drama with a powerful
storyline that has twists and trembles, than There Will Be Blood fits
the bill.
Set in the early 1900’s, There Will Be Blood recounts
the saga of Daniel Plainview (Day-Lewis), a self-reliant man who starts out
scratching a living in the silver fields while raising his young son (Freasier),
following the death of his wife.
After
some success in the mines, he purchases a map from Paul Sunday (Dano) with a
promise that it will lead him to oil on the Sunday homestead. Plainview’s
quest takes him to California
where he makes a deal with the Sundays, a strange ultra-religious family whose
home sits on a veritable underground lake of oil.
His tapping into it, however, sets the dark
tone of the film as Plainview
shows his vicious appetite for the black gold and his uncontrollable and
unstoppable effort to corner the market.
When he faces off against the oil conglomerates and a preacher to whom
he owes a debt, his objective takes a devastating turn.
The writing
and direction by Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia) is tight as he skillfully
moves the film along at a slow pace giving the viewer time to digest each facet
of the compelling storyline. His
brilliant control of the characters can be seen with the lengthy close-ups
while they are summing up a bad situation or finding reasons for circumstances
that are out of control.
Anderson’s uncanny ability to capture Plainview’s bi-polar personality is amazing
and commendable. In several scenes I
felt Plainview’s
pain and desperation, but within minutes I found myself taking a less than
approving view of his detestable tactics.
What can
you say badly about Day-Lewis’s acting ability?
The Academy Award winning Best Actor for My Left Foot: the Story of
Christy Brown rose to the challenge of portraying the strange and
complicated Plainview
in a performance that overshadows any previous character in his career. He should be the top contender for this
year’s Best Actor award.
The film is
not for everyone as some moviegoers may not be able to take the fierceness of
the manipulative Plainview
or his graphic detestable actions. There
Will Be Blood received a rating of R for some violence, but I feel
the MPAA should have added that it is ‘graphically’ brutal.
FINAL ANALYSIS: There Will Be Blood, is an extremely
well acted, written, and directed epoch film for drama lovers who like their
films edgy and blunt.
This Reviewer's Rating:   4.5 / 5
QUESTION! Eli and Paul??? Are they the same? Was it Eli who first sold the information of the California oil or was it his brother? Did Eli even have a brother? The boy was not his son and was the son of a man killed in an early mining accident... He wanted the boy to look good for townspeople to get good pricing on claims... What movie were you watching, they showed his wife in the film... this plot synopsis is wrong in the second paragraph. plainview never married. he adopted a recently orphaned boy. |
