-Barrett McPhaul
There will be Greed. There will be Vengeance. But most
importantly, There will be Blood. Built upon these three elements, Paul Thomas
Anderson’s There Will be Blood takes madness
and voracity to never before seen echelons. The egocentricity that is bestowed
in the film’s main character Daniel Plainview, a portrayal which won Daniel
Day-Lewis the Oscar, is that of proportions never before vested into one sole
person. Ruthless and unforgiving, the film is an incredible portrayal of
From the opening scene to the surprising climax, Blood engrosses its audience with a sense of intrigue and credibility. Similar to No Country for Old Men, Blood relies on its captivating imagery to aid in the telling of the story. The parallel structure of cinematography is equally comparable and commendable to No Country, proving its worth by also receiving an Academy Award Award for the respective category.
Plainview, desperate for power, risks death in digging his own oil well, an unquestionably dangerous venture. His life journey has now truly begun. As he grows more successful, so does his empire. Along the way he encounters obstacles that not only hinder the prosperity of his oil kingdom, but his soul and persona. Paul Dano emerges from his Little Miss Sunshine shell to portray Eli Sunday, a prophet for the Church of the Third Revelation. Eli and Daniel’s mutual feelings of uncertainty grow deeper over the course of the film. Backed by greed, vengeance and blood, the correlation between the two eventually spiral into a inward vortex of emotion, leading to the aforementioned surprise ending, the true justification for the portrait of Daniel Plainview.
Despite its somewhat daunting running time of 158 minutes
(it could easily be shortened to 130), Blood’s
thought-provoking style of mystification and endurance conveys an entertaining
evocation of determination and the greed that inherently follows. It’s only
obstacle in the way of winning Best Picture was No Country for Old Men.