There Will Be Blood

I think it goes without saying that Daniel Day-Lewis is quite a fine actor. In fact, he's achieved quite a reputation for going to extreme lengths to prepare for his various roles. Like in My Left Foot, it was said that he never once broke character, not even between takes—and thus the cast and crew had to physically transport him all around the set (since he played the cripple Christy Brown, whose sole working appendage was . . . you guessed it—his left foot!). And in The Last of the Mohicans, it was said that he prepared for the role of frontier warrior Hawkeye by actually living in the woods for an extended period of time.

God only knows what kind of preparation he did for Gangs of New York! Though maybe we don't want to go there . . .

So when I first got word of his new movie There Will Be Blood vis-à-vis the rapidly-generating Oscar buzz . . . to be honest, at first I was rather dubious. I guess my cynicism was responding, "Gee, Daniel Day-Lewis, maybe up for another Oscar! Big surprise . . ." Then I saw the first trailers for There Will Be Blood, and my cynicism quickly gave way to growing curiosity, particularly when I saw the specifics of his role—he'd be playing an oil tycoon, but not in the present day. Rather, he'd be playing an oilman in the early 20th century. Very quickly I was reminded of his previous acting venture, itself another period piece—the aforementioned Gangs of New York from Martin Scorsese—and right away my mind drew parallels between the two characters: both had very sinister mustaches (laugh if you will, but that little bit of facial hair contributed greatly to each character's physical aura!), and both carried very overpowering, menacing presences. Even their voices were similar! (Despite Gangs requiring an old-school New York accent, and Blood needing merely a sophisticated, upper-class tone.)

Going into my viewing of There Will Be Blood at the Silver Spring AFI back in January (yes, this review is that long overdue), I was expecting the theme of the movie to be oil and the ambitious pursuit of corrupt wealth. A sort of late 19th-century/early 20th-century Syriana, if you will. But that's not at all what I discovered. Yes, oil was the talisman through which we view this character, but the oil itself wasn't the primary focus of the film. Instead, There Will Be Blood turned out to be a very controlled, very subtle character study of one man: oil tycoon Daniel Plainview.

Much has been made of the film's slow pace, but I almost don't even notice that while being carried deeper and deeper into Daniel Plainview's world—a world he keeps very rigid, very closed off from the rest of humanity. Only in the presence of those he trusts with his life does he begin to crack and show us the inner workings of this very complicated, very angry man.

To date, I've had mixed feelings about director Paul Thomas Anderson's work, so when I first went to see There Will Be Blood, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I was greatly disappointed with Punch-Drunk Love, although Magnolia showcased some of the finest acting I've ever seen (I'd even go so far as to say John C. Reilly was more deserving than Tom Cruise of an Oscar nomination) despite the story's far-fetched nature (frogs from heaven, anybody?). Boogie Nights, however, was quite impressive—very reminiscent of Martin Scorsese in terms of period style and the great depths to which certain characters can fall when at their worst (think of the similar drug lows between Boogie Nights and Goodfellas). But in There Will Be Blood, we see a very slow, very gradual, and dare I say very patient descent of one man into his own self-destruction. A modern-day Raging Bull, if you will.

Like World Trade Center and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, there's no dialogue whatsoever for the first 15 or 20 minutes of the film. What we see instead is a physical narration of Daniel Plainview's humble beginnings: his own long days down a well, chipping away at the rock in the hopes of finding gold and silver; how he came to adopt the orphan baby boy, who would eventually come to be known as HW Plainview; and how a random equipment accident in a well produced his greatest find: an untapped oil well. I think we should credit Daniel Day-Lewis's seasoned acting abilities in that scene, for he firmly shouted out, "We're rich!" without once uttering a word: when the crane surfaced from the mine after accidentally striking oil, he ran his hand down the oil-covered shaft, then raised his oil-covered hand to the sky triumphantly, illustrating his euphoria at potential wealth and delivering a terrible portent of his capitalistic blood-lust to come.

As the years go on and Daniel Plainview becomes a more established oilman, he and his adopted son HW travel from town to town offering to drill for oil, always making great promises to the townspeople, who aren't often swayed so easily. Then one day Daniel gets a visit from a young man named Paul Sunday (played by Paul Dano), who dangles an offer in front of him: pay him $600 up front, and Paul will show him the location of a vastly untapped oil field—i.e., his family's ranch. Daniel is a little skeptical at first, but he and HW nevertheless make the journey out to the Sunday ranch, using the cover that they're quail-hunting and looking for a good place to set up camp. When Daniel and HW do find oil on the land, they conveniently make an offer to buy the Sunday ranch—at a quietly substantial profit to Daniel and HW, of course. Abel Sunday, the family's rather weak and easily pliable father, finds Daniel's offer very appealing . . . though Paul's brother Eli (also played by Paul Dano; we're essentially supposed to presume they're twins, and that Paul Sunday doesn't live on the ranch anymore) has an agenda of his own, and doesn't buy into Daniel and HW's offer to purchase the land.

Eli, you see, has his own church, and when we're finally treated to a view of his normal church service, it's as clear as day that he's a charlatan, that he's using his church and his easily-swayed parishioners as a stepping stone to something greater. And from here on out, he and Daniel play a near-constant test of wills: who can outplay the other in their conquest of ambitions.

I would call their conflict one of control, credit, and agendas, and it reaches such perfect heights during the baptism scene, where the ambitions of both men become crystal-clear. Daniel accepts Jesus into his life—but only as a condition to buy away a man's land for his oil pipeline. (Watch for Daniel to utter the word "pipeline" during his baptism.) And Eli, not missing a glorious opportunity to humiliate Daniel, furiously strips him of his dignity for stealing Eli's thunder for so long. Worse yet, he hits Daniel right where it hurts the most.



Daniel Day-Lewis won a well-deserved Oscar for his performance as Daniel Plainview, and he dominated the screen through every moment of the film. You could almost make the argument that the best reason to see There Will Be Blood is to see Daniel Day-Lewis give a showstopper performance, much like you watch Scent of a Woman to see Al Pacino tear up the scenery (though There Will Be Blood has far more to offer than Scent of a Woman, in my opinion). Paul Dano more than held his own opposite the gigantic Day-Lewis, and I was actually a little disappointed that he didn't receive a nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

This also won an Oscar for Best Cinematography, which was a pleasant surprise, as I figured it would go either to No Country for Old Men or The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Crawford. I was personally hoping this would also take home Best Director and Best Picture, but alas, no such luck. All the same, this was a beautifully crafted film, with superlative acting and exquisitely-honed editing and camerawork (the oil fountains and the pivotal oil fire alone are worth the price of admission).

My one complaint with the casting is that I wish Paul Thomas Anderson had found adult actors for Mary Sunday and HW that more closely resembled their child counterparts. That's sort of a pet peeve of mine, as I hate it when older versions of the same character bear no resemblance to their younger version.

But despite that one complaint, I rate There Will Be Blood a perfect 10—a true masterpiece. And I couldn't end this review without at least one video of that new line for the ages.