Review of There Will Be Blood (2007) by Cameron H — 10 Apr 2017

Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), a rags-to-riches oil miner whose psychopathic tendencies bound him not on what he is willing to do to get the upper hand in a relationship with another person, will live down as one of the most terrifyingly glamourized characters in movie/TV history, right up there with Travis Bickle and Walter White.

And similar to Taxi Driver and Breaking Bad, director-writer Paul Thomas Anderson introduces the character as just another person who cares deeply about what he loves. Overtime, we dig deeper into their motivations, their relationship with the world, and discover a frightening, despicable person that we had first tried to love or admire.

Plainview is a hero to the working class, starting from nothing and working his way to the top of the food chain. We want to root for him, because he represents everything we dream of becoming. Then we see how he handles his personal affairs, feigning compassion when it is means to the ends -- more money / power.

Even in moments where it seems like he redeems himself for his selfish ways, there are signs of deceit, resentment, full-fledged disgust towards anything to do with other people. And again, much like Taxi Driver and Breaking Bad, P.

T. Anderson does an excellent job in coordinating cinematography, lights, sound (good grief, does Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood know how to use an orchestra for crawling under your skin without indulging in full atonality), costumes, and makeup (the use of oil and mud to dehumanize characters in scenes is one of the film's greatest strokes of genius), all for the purpose of seeing the world through the eyes of Daniel Plainview.

An additional round of applause for Paul Dano as Eli Sunday, a small-town church priest who bears little mercy for the sinners, but enough such that everyone has the chance to be saved. Day-Lewis and Dano each commit to characters whose beliefs are near polar opposite, yet have unnervingly similar psychopathic tendencies.

Point being, there are no heroes in There Will Be Blood. Only people whose voices shout the loudest.