"There Will Be Blood"

Daniel Plainview is an oil man; on that you will agree. He is joined by his son and partner, H.W. Plainview. Daniel Plainview is also a driven, competitive, murderous man bent on his singular success at any cost. It is this drive that both motivates and haunts Plainview, and this film is his story, from beginning to end, and his successes and failures across those years.

Before I get too far into the review, let me say that I expected to leave saying that There Will Be Blood is my new favorite movie of all time. I didn't. There have been countless reviews of the movie lauding it as "an achievement in greatness of the highest order". This won't be one of them. What I will say was that TWBB is a remarkable feat by an incredible director, headed by one of the greatest performances by an actor that I have ever seen. Even through all that, I still left the theater feeling like it was less of a complete movie than other highly-reviewed movies of the same Oscar season (No Country For Old Men, namely). It would be unfair to compare TWBB to normal movies. It is not a normal movie. TWBB deserves its place among great films, but it wouldn't top those lists. It was a fantastic film, don't get me wrong, but one that deserves its fair share of criticism just the same.

The movie was, however, a great accomplishment in filmmaking for P.T. Anderson. I have been a PTA fan since Magnolia (one of my favorite films or all time), and have enjoyed everything he's made. PTA is a skilled director with an eye for amazingly picturesque scenes. Every second of this film could be frozen and preserved as a picture, it was that stunningly beautiful. The shots are obviously considered carefully and PTA hits a homerun with his artistic vision. It is a tragedy that he was overlooked for the Best Director Oscar this year, even if I didn't think the film was Best Picture. He deserved it.

Speaking of deserving an Oscar, Daniel Day Lewis won the Oscar for Best Actor as soon as the film ended. I can't imagine a performance more perfectly executed, and no other actor stood a chance this year. Truly an amazing performance, DDL didn't have me completely convinced until the last scene of the film. He was good up to that point, but he was great after it. Take my word for it: his depiction of Daniel Plainview is worth the price of admission a few times over.

The movie is, essentially, Citizen Kane. Instead of newspapers, we have oil. But the basic story arc is the same: rise from nothing, succeed at all costs, fortune brings downfall. The difference between TWBB and No Country For Old Men was the most basic of differences: one (TWBB) is based on characters and the other is story-driven. TWBB does not have a particularly engrossing story, but the development and interaction between the characters is what drives the film. In NCFOM, the pursuit and the resolution of the story create excitement. It all depends on what you prefer in a film, but both employ their different strategies brilliantly.

The unmentioned hero for this movie is Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead, who organized and composed all the music for the film. The music makes the movie, plain and simple. It fits perfectly and complements every scene. PTA puts music even places where other films would be silent, and the effect is constant suspense. The movie balances noise and silence perfectly (the first 20 minutes have no dialogue) and the music composer must be one of the first to be congratulated.

After all that, I liked the movie. I didn't love the movie, but I will purchase it when it is released. It is definitely good enough to travel to the theater to see, and worth seeing a few times. Bottom line: whether you like TWBB more than any movie ever made or not, its a great film from an immensely talented director that deserves the positive praise it has received.

ROTTEN TOMATOES GRADE: 91% critics, 83% viewers

ANDERSON ELLIS GRADE: A