There Will Be Blood Review

"There Will Be Blood" is, without a doubt, one of the more impressive cinematic achievements of this past year — but I didn't love it.

I can certainly see how the movie — the story of turn-of-the-20th century oilman/madman Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) — picked up each of its eight Oscar nominations (tied with "No Country For Old Men" for the most this year).

Well, almost.

Let's start with the good (of which there is a lot) — Daniel Day-Lewis is a force of nature as Plainview and a lock to pick up the Oscar for Best Actor. Are there similarities to his Oscar-nominated work in "Gangs of New York" (especially the voice)? Absolutely, but his work as Plainview allows the actor to dig even deeper than he did as Bill the Butcher in "Gangs".

Appearing in almost every scene (and holding your attention in each of them), Day-Lewis not only channels into Plainview's ambition and madness, but also his dark sense of humor and the character's anger and sadness at not being able to relate to anyone around him. If I were picking out his Oscar clip, I'd play his, "there are times when I look at people and I see nothing worth liking" bit, right before he gets up to accept the trophy.

However, Day-Lewis isn't the only one working at the peak of his powers. Writer-director P.T. Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love) is one of my favorite American filmmakers and this — an adaptation of Upton Sinclair's "Oil!" — is his most ambitious project. And he mostly pulls it off.

Anderson brings the American landscape in the late 1800's/early 1900's to life almost right away with an opening, dialogue-free sequence establishing Plainview's lonely prospecting existence. (I originally missed this sequence because I took my time getting to the theatre and was 20 minutes late, but I caught it online later).

Oscar-nominated cinematographer Robert Elswit makes all the places Plainview visits with his boy H.W. to swindle oil-rich land from unsuspecting farmers seem BIG — as in larger-than-life, places like this don't seem to be around anymore.

He also smartly tossed in a somewhat anachronistic, but effective score from Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood. This is probably one of the more polarizing aspects in a polarizing movie — some people will see the score as too "look at me" indulgent, but I think it the often-intrusive strings in the score makes a nice contrast for Anderson and Elswit's sometimes-serene visuals.

(Also, I wish I could get the title of this movie, set to Maroon 5's "She Will Be Loved" out of my head — "...ask her if she wants to stay a while/ and there wiiiiiiilll, be blooood...")

What doesn't work as well for me is P.T. Anderson, the screenwriter (though he was nominated for a writing Oscar, so what the hell do I know?) At 158 minutes, the running time isn't ridiculous, but the film lags in its final act, before finishing with a powerful, but baffling scene.

Also, since the movie largely deals with religion, greed, power, family and other Big Themes through Plainview's, um, view, there just isn't very much to the story. As a result, as brilliant as Day-Lewis is, watching him berate employees, family members, etc, can become tiresome.

There IS one cast member who came to play and who, inexplicably, got little love during awards season. Paul Dano (coming off his mute role in "Little Miss Sunshine") does terrific and powerful work as Eli Sunday, a holier-than-Daniel preacher who becomes a strong adversary of Plainview's. They meet after Eli's brother Paul (Dano again) alerts Plainview's about his family's oil-rich land. Eventually, we learn that Eli isn't all that different from Daniel and far from a complete saint.

For people who appreciate great filmmaking, there's a ridiculous amount to like in "There Will Be Blood". For people who love a great story — not so much.

There Will Be Blood...B