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Movie Review: There Will Be Blood

The central focus of this Academy Award-winning movie is one man's struggle with his personal demons. Continue reading for our reviewer's take on the film.

Review by JB Nixon

Friday, March 28, 2008

Name of film: There Will Be Blood

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Lead Actors: Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Dano

Paul Thomas Anderson wrote the screenplay as an adaptation of Upton Sinclair's novel Oil.

The Story: This movie is about a prospector and his struggle with greed, religion, and his family. The movie is set mainly in the 1890's and early 20th century.

Review: Paul Thomas Anderson has brought another masterpiece to the screen. The director, who brought us Boogie Nights and Magnolia, has entrapped the audience with his latest work There Will Be Blood. Set in the late 1800's/early 1900's, this movie follows a prospector who starts with nothing and builds an empire. The movie opens with 20 minutes of silence, which plays out beautifully. Anderson delivers some of the most amazing cinematography I have seen in the past couple of years. He uses all aspects of the screen to show life, pain, and evil through the characters and their surroundings.

Anderson, who wrote the adapted screenplay for the film, lets us witness the growth of evil through the main character, Daniel Plainview. He struggles with demons inside and out. Plainview is a lonely man who starts out prospecting a little on his own; then he adopts a son and launches an oil company with his boy. Daniel Day-Lewis, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for this film, brings to our consciousness an evilness in all of us. Plainview's lust for greed consumes him throughout the film and pushes him until he has gone mad. The turning poing for Plainview happens when his boy is hurt in an oil accident, and he begins to lose himself to greed. At this point, he turns his back on God and lets the evil in the world consume him wholly.

This movie is a good example of society today. Without family and religion, one is consumed by the fire and is lead down a dark path of destruction, mainly of oneself. Day-Lewis' performance entraps the audience because he lives the part. He is one of the best actors in the past century because he engulfs himself in the role and uses all emotions to let the character shine.

Rating:

–Reviewed by JB Nixon of Orlando, Florida

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