There Will Be Blood

Viewer Rating:Tim Gannon has rated There Will Be Blood rating: 5 Star

its too soon to tell if 'There will be Blood' is a great film. what we do know for sure is that it is the most vibrant, exciting American cinema in recent years. All the classic elements are there for drama/tragedy-greed, betrayel, success and failure. the film plots the meglamania of oil Adventurer Danial plainview and the pain he inflicts on to others and himself to achieve unreachable dominance. this is the American dream taken to its zenith and toppled over. For all the comparsions with Giant and Chinatown, the film is a much more of a strange mood piece than either of the foreamentioned. its opening sets the bold tone; the first six minutes offers a dazzling assortment of cinemas attributes. it tells a story of the first spirit sapping search for oil by the lead character mostly in darkly lit close shots down a well accompanied by atonal drone and with no dialogue exceot for the occasional breathes and nuanced bodily expressions of Danial day lewis.all these elements combined tells us more than any well written voiceover could approach. this is pure cinema. and director Paul thomas Anderson only gets better. he orchestrated the cinematography abeited by a voracious Day dewis (in his best john Huston as dictator impresonation) and a strong turn by Paul Dano (no one does the winey teenager better!, although this time he must be commended for his overall acting). one particular scene illustrates the combined powers of the director,DOP, actors and sound designer. As Jonny Greenwood's soundtrack stabs at the screen like the strains of the bathroom scene in Pyscho, Day lewis struggled to hold down the eruption of one of his oil towers. after a couple of heartthumping minutes, through the naturally lit camera we see the flames cascade through the sky and with his back to the viewer Plainview lays out his hands in both christ like pain and as if he is consuming the flames. is he the creator or destroyer? he wants to both. he wants to play God. this has to be seen to be believed and has a filmic granduer on par with the bell making seqeunce in Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev. the question must be asked is the film a satire on greed and comsumption. maybe satire is the wrong word. the film definately doesnt pull any punches and has a kubrickian sense of hyperrealism and palyfulness that leads to either bewilderment or great laughs in the final scene. the reviewer was slightly confused, if enormously entertained by the climax but with further viewing could only laugh at the most black and uncompromising of endings. all the elements that make a classic are here to be seen in 'There will be Blood'. will it be like Magnolia, on its release called an instant masterpiece but now, in this reviewers opinion, has lost some of its appeal. only time will tell. for an immediate impression its one hell of a ride.

Review published on the 10 July 2008 11:38