There Will Be Blood

Masterful craftsmanship without artistic compromise. A perfect study of an ambitious, egocentric soul, in whose bearer – the oilman Plainview – the film world has one of the juiciest characters in its history. The gripping first half, when the plot revolves more around the building of an oil empire, is almost visually hypnotic (the scene of the oil rig fire accompanied by rhythmic percussive music has a kind of horror-apocalyptic feel). The second half is more intimate, with the narrative focusing more on the oilman's troubled relationship with his son and the sycophantic religious fanatic Ali (Plainview's "confession" at the baptism gave me chills). It seems as if no one played Plainview, that this slightly stooped man with a distinctive moustache was brought in by Anderson in a time machine from a hundred years ago and filmed with a hidden camera, letting him live out his story… No, really. Daniel Day Lewis… There are no words to describe my fascination with his performance; the facial expressions, the complete change of voice (which doesn't seem mannerist at all), the slightly hunched posture, the imposing appearance. That's no longer acting, that's reincarnation, which perhaps only Day-Lewis is capable of using his famous 'Stanislavsky method'. Daniel and Paul, you have my applause. When Day-Lewis accepted his second Oscar this year with his aristocratic appearance and massive earrings, he looked like a being from another world. And so does this film. (03/09/2008)

An epic fresco, in which Anderson's purposeful filmmaking is matched by the riveting acting of Daniel Day-Lewis, who once again gets to the heart of his character and doesn't act, but simply is that character. The two-and-a-half-hour portrait of a tough egotist who managed to fulfill the American dream without faith and family may not be to the liking of many American churches, but at least it creates a functional subversion of the established rules. This is the essence of perfect filmmaking! (03/15/2008)

A delicacy. Daniel Day-Lewis steals the whole picture. He is the type of heavenly actor who would be capable of ripping down and retracing in all of David Plainview’s character contours. A struggle for money and faith, where money always wins. A demolition of the American dream, a dream that doesn’t just sit and wait for you, but you have to wade through mud, oil and blood to get to achieve it. Paul Thomas Anderson knows this. A masterpiece. (02/25/2013)

If is it was less protracted, it would be great. I have to admit that in terms of filmmaking, There Will Be Blood is close to perfection, but I prefer films that are a bit more human (not so dry). Oscar here, Oscar there, but I just got bored and it be couldn’t avoided, even with Daniel Day-Lewis’s performance – anywhere else, I’d probably be unable to take my eyes off him. 3* for me, but it’s certainly worth watching. (10/03/2008)

Maybe I was too excited by the five-star compliments from my favorite users and their enthusiastic comments full of superlatives, just like the Oscar nominations, because when I finally managed to watch it thoroughly, I was slightly disappointed. It is definitely a case of professional filmmaking with quality camera work, a strong storyline, and quality actors. However, fitting 30 years of the main character's life and work into a single feature film is still a challenge, and the screenplay could not avoid a few significant jumps in time, cutting out certain motifs, and overall flattening. Sometimes the character Daniel Plainview is compared to the main protagonist of The Social Network due to his self-centeredness, but with that film, it only took one year spent alongside Mark Zuckerberg for me to get into his mindset and understand his motivation, whereas, in the case of the oil prospector, his motivation and character slip through my fingers somehow. It could have been a great film about the oil industry, which, along with the automobile industry, shaped the economic history and prosperity of the United States in the first half of the 20th century, but the screenplay fails to capture the grandiose growth of innovation and wealth or simply everything that moved the lives of the residents of the mining areas. Nevertheless, there are a few scenes that leave no doubt in my mind that the film deserves its 4-star rating, such as the final confrontation between Plainview and his ideological opponent, the leader of the religious community. Overall impression: 75%. (01/09/2012)