Quick Review: There Will Be Blood

I finally saw one of my most anticipated films of 2007 and it only took me until the 3rd weekend of January '08 to see it. Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood is a movie that will haunt you for days after seeing it. While I can't say its the film of the year (No Country for Old Men still has that title), it is clearly a close second and upon more thought it may take the top spot.

Following the rise of oil man Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis), the script loosely based on Upton Sinclair's Oil demands patience and attention from the audience. While this is truly a character study in the vein of Citizen Kane, you always feel that a huge moment is around the corner. Truth is the movie is one gigantic moment that arcs over the whole film. I tend not to go for period pieces but the fact that I was watching one never occurred to me. I lost myself in this film and more accurately in Daniel Plainview.

This is a character for the ages and perhaps the greatest one I've ever seen committed to film. Here is a man so driven and so full of passion that his flaws are alternately a weakness and a strength. Watching him throughout the film you see moments of growth followed by moments of regression. His relationship with his son HW is superficially the driving relationship of the film but the real truth of the film can be found in his relationship with Reverend Eli Sunday played to perfection by Paul Dano. Their final confrontation makes for the climax of the film and a moment the likes I've never seen on celluloid.

I have so many thoughts on the film still growing in my head and that's one of the best compliments I can give to a movie. Its a great film but one that you might not be able to completely formulate your thoughts on for days, weeks, or even years.