Holy crap. If you have not gone to see There Will Be Blood in the theatre yet, stop reading. Grab your coat, go to a movie theatre, buy your pack of Junior Mints, sit down, and take the cheapest Master Class in acting, writing, and directing you will likely ever find.
In addition to providing some of the most memorable moments in recent film history (including the T-shirt destined “I drink your milkshake! I drink it up!” and one of the best final shots/lines I’ve ever seen), this movie is a friggin’ masterpiece of storytelling beginning to end. And that’s actually a major point; this movie is all about the story.
Daniel Day-Lewis is a phenomenon, but that’s old news. Paul Thomas Anderson is a great director, I’m sure you’ll be shocked to hear. Turns out Jonny Greenwood can write music pretty well. All stop-the-presses bulletins, to be sure.
The beauty of this movie is that it is all about the story. Everything serves it beautifully. On the surface, Daniel Day-Lewis steals the show, but afterwards I realized that my willingness to embrace his teeth-gnashing performance was fundamentally tied in to the way the plot line and pacing made me need to watch him. And that’s a credit to Paul Thomas Anderson’s writing and directing. I reckon Upton Sinclair deserves some credit as well, though I will admit to not having read Oil!, the book on which the movie is based.
Just so this review doesn’t turn into a gushfest, let me talk about the few things that crept into my head while I was watching. I’m not a big continuity hawk. I could care less if a clock reads the wrong time in two different shots unless it really drags me out of the story. However, there was a scene where DDL and son have lunch in what appears to be a big city restaurant and bump into some big oil company execs. The thing about it that bugged me is that both before and after the scene, the impression is that DDL and son are out in the boonies somewhere on site at an oil strike. It’s not a big deal, and the scene was worth leaving in, it just pulled me out a little bit.
The other point is not really a point against, it’s just an observation. Paul Dano is great, but he just paled in comparison. Now, I can’t imagine trying to go one on one with Daniel Day-Lewis, even on his worst day, so I give the kid props. The thing is that he never seemed as fully realized as he should have. My girlfriend pretty much nailed it when she said that he always seemed to be playing the character instead of playing the moment. A useful lesson.
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