Review of There Will Be Blood (2007) by Matt M — 19 Dec 2014

There Will Be Blood may just be the most sincere, challenging and provocative examination of American capitalism since Orson Welles' Citizen Kane. Whereas the celebrated Welles masterpiece's starting point was the newspaper media, Theer Will Be Blood takes place in the early days of the oil business and the malevolent and crooked ways of the leading antihero, the power thirsty son of a gun Daniel Plainview.

Paul Thomas Anderson's film is in fact an examination of evil and a comment on the beginnings of the corrosion of society and the corruption of moral standard. Yet, he initially allows the audience to be seduced by the central businessman figure Daniel Plainview, interpreted by Daniel Day-Lewis in yet another masterful performance as he transpires and embodies a deceitful and conniving type of restrained ferocity.

On top of the study on the oil business, there is also an examination of the its contrast with religion through the preacher interpreted by Paul Dano. Yet, the two sides do not seem antagonistic, but rather both seem an equal threat.

There Will Be Blood is a dark and thought provoking film that deepens and darkens through its pictorial cinematography, meticulous occasional use of visual metaphor and an intelligent and mature screenplay.