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Title: There Will Be Blood
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P.T. Anderson is a director to keep an eye on. The man only has five films under his belt, but he’s already proven that he has the talent and the ambition to be the next Martin Scoresese. It’s been five years since his last film, “Punch Drunk Love,” was released, and you may remember that film as the first Adam Sandler vehicle that showed the former Saturday Night Live star had some serious depth and acting skills. Now Anderson is back, full of confidence and skill, with his new film “There Will Be Blood.” So confident is he, that he credits himself with his full name, Paul Thomas Anderson, which is most likely a deceleration to the world that he is ready to be a serious film maker. Instead of bringing out unusual depth from an actor people didn’t think much of before though, Anderson is directing the one and only Daniel Day Lewis.
Though Lewis is an acclaimed Academy Award winning actor, he only makes a movie once in a blue moon. That is, he only makes a movie if he likes the script. In this film, Lewis carries the film as an oil man named Daniel Plainview, a name that is one of the better in-jokes I’ve seen in a movie this year. Plainview is a successful oil tycoon who has open three successful drilling stations, and he heads to California to open a forth based on a tip from a young man name Paul (Paul Dano). When he gets to California oil is easily found, and the land is easily swindled from the families who own the land. Though easily taken, the one person who has reservations about Plainview is Eli Sunday (also played by Dano), who is an spiring pastor of a local church. He sold the land on the condition that Plainview would pay $5,000 to the church if the land produced oil, a fee Plainview doesn’t exactly volunteer willingly.
Then there is Plainviews son, H.W. Plainview, who is nothing more then an innocent face for Plainview to exploit at business pitches. Once the boy loses his hearing, Plainview’s indifference to the boy is shocking and cruel. Of course, how can Plainview be expected to be anything but indifferent? He needed the boy as a political tool, not a sick boy who needs loving attention. Though not Anderson’s best film to date, there are many signs as to why the director stills holds his position as a auteur artist. There are some great shots and cinematography in this movie. Much like another desert bound drama, “No Country For Old Men,” Anderson does what he can to make the desert a major character in the storyline. Though more occupied then in the aforementioned film, this film is also barren to a certain extent.
We don’t leave the oil rigs much, and so we get the sense that we are truly only involved in Plainviews own personal, enclosed world. It’s just more happens in this particular world. A couple of oil accidents provide two of the most visually stunning scenes in the film. But credit due where credit is due, this movie lies on Daniel Day Lewis’s gripping performance as Plainview. Though the story is light and a little fluffy, Plainview is an interesting character to watch from beginning to end. Really, the whole movie rests on this guy, as the storyline is a bit thin at times, though always interesting. That said, for such a thin storyline, the movie is two and a half hours, about thirty minutes longer then it needs to be.
I’ve forgiven Anderson on the length of his films before, but I think the time has come to start editing the films better. People shouldn’t be getting bored with climax’s that feel drawn out to no real purpose. And while we’re speaking of climaxes, the aesthetic ending this film has is a tad bit shocking to see. Though Anderson has never claimed whether he had any spiritual beliefs, it can’t be denied that many of his films (particularly “Magnolia”) contain strong spiritual themes, as well as spiritual characters that are portrayed (almost shockingly) as positive and influential people. To say that this new view caught me a little off guard is saying something. Still, overall this is a good film. It has it’s problems with the pacing and ending, but it still is a good movie, and I find myself excited once more for Anderson’s future projects.
- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -
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