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| Reviewed by: Chris Burton 21 Mar 2008 There Will Be Blood
| |  Its rare that a director changes both their style of storytelling and filmmaking so noticeably and rapidly. Paul Thomas Anderson is responsible for some excellent films. Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Hard Eight, Punch-Drunk Love- these are all films that I love. However, they are very similar in tone. The scripts are similar, the dialogue is similar, even the performances. I guess you could call them hip.
There Will Be Blood, if you had to pigeonhole it, could be considered classical filmmaking. Its like a beautiful symphony, carefully constructed and perfectly executed. It is the story of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), an entrepreneur in the oil business in turn of the century (the one 100 years ago) California. He travels the state opening oil fields in various towns. He basically rips off the citizenry and plunders the riches from their fields. Based on the classic book by Upton Sinclair, There Will Be Blood is quite an indictment of the capitalist, cutthroat system.
Daniel travels the state with his son, H.W. Plainview. Well, he's actually not his son, just a boy whose real father died in a drilling accident years ago. But H.W. is not aware. A young man from the Sunday family in Little Boston, California comes to Daniel with information about oil under the ground on his land. Daniel heads out, where he meets Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), a young faith healer and preacher and Daniel's rival for control of the town.
Daniel Day Lewis' performance is absolutely outstanding. He absolutely deserved the Oscar for best actor. Plainview is calculating and almost evil, but we root for him all along the way. The pauses, the glances, just the subtlety of the performance should be enough to make an aspiring actor weep. Breathtaking.
The dvd is presented in 2.40:1 widescreen. The video presentation overall is truly excellent. The source material is beautiful. But this isn't a polished and digital film. You can tell it was shot on film, and There Will Be Blood wouldn't work otherwise. Grain is evident, but never interferes. The wide expanses of the California countryside is truly something to behold, as is the bold blue beauty of the Pacific Ocean. Audio is Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, and quite good. However, this movie is very understated, which is reflected oftentimes in the audio presentation. This may disappoint some people, but I felt it was perfectly appropriate. |
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Copyright (c) 2007 Rock Star Media Works, Inc. All rights reserved.
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