'There Will Be Blood' Review

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Writers: Paul Thomas Anderson (screenplay), Upton Sinclair (novel)

Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Ciarán Hinds

Genre: Drama, History

Won 2 Oscars - Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Daniel Day-Lewis)

Best Achievement in Cinematography (Robert Elswit)

Official Synopsis: A story of family, religion, hatred, oil, and madness, focusing on a turn-of-the-century (19th/20th) prospector in the early days of the business.

Review Summary: Daniel Plainview will do whatever it takes to achieve his goals. "There Will Be Blood" is an astonishing masterpiece that is almost flawless. Daniel Day-Lewis, who is playing the main character (Daniel Plainview) won an Oscar in nomination as Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, and it shows. Although this antihero character is a good speaker and even looks like a good person, he might be interpreted as a symbol of demon or evil spirit. Christianity takes a big role in this film that makes this theory even easier to believe.

We all know how evil people can be especially when talking about money. Money almost always is the main reason for conflict, but how far can we go? Plainview's son character, who has been adopted for reasons that are not clear, has a big role when talking about emotions and Paul Thomas Anderson plays with them successfully. The main idea is that the evil will not get near if someone allows or even invites it. Just like one of the biggest stereotype of vampires; they are not getting in unless you invite them. In this case there even appears like a bond between the servant of the God and greedy 'oil man' that is only interested in materialism, that is an absolute contrast between the characters showing that they are not so different after all. However, this is probably the best way to show a fight between religion and capitalism.

Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln, Gangs of New York, The Last of the Mohicans) and Paul Dano (Looper, Prisoners, Swiss Army Man) carry this film with their astonishing performances as Daniel Plainview and Paul Sunday and that's why it is even harder to accept that Day-Lewis has left his career as an actor. A big surprise for me was Dillon Freasier who plays the adopted son of the main character. Although he doesn't appear on the screen that much he has a big role in the story. What surprises me is that it is the only film Freasier has done when looking on IMDb.

The music is as good as it can be and every scene (with brilliant cinematography) is made even more special. Soundtracks are high-powered, that makes the movie much more thrilling. The first scene already makes us get goosebumps when string note assaults our ears and leaves us waiting for something dramatic to happen and it works as good as it's possible. My favorite scene is when the drilling rig is on fire and the man stands in front of it while the music is playing. You just have to see it!

Only bad thing about this film is that it is a bit too long - 2 hrs 38 mins, and if it would be a little shorter, it might turn out to be more exciting, although it still is one of the best films ever made. This movie is a good example of genius filmmaking that, I hope, is never forgotten.

I give this film a 9/10