A story of family, religion, hatred, oil and madness, focusing on a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business.
Bill Goodykoontz says on AZ Central:
Paul Thomas Anderson’s instant classic features a performance by Daniel Day-Lewis as an early 20th Century oilman as brilliant as any you’ll ever see. A bleak study of the capitalism and religion, the film is a masterpiece. (R – 158 minutes)
He gives a more detailed review here, and a perfect 5 star rating
This did not strike me as a movie about capitalism & religion, rather it examines greed & corruption. The only untainted characters in this character study are the children. The ‘religion’ is a perversion of some sort of ancient revivalism. Plainview’s quest can only be a study of capitalism if you buy the rhetoric of the left, who would have you believe anyone who sets out to make a better life (and more money) is this type of ruthless, irredeemable monster. But, let’s skip away from Goodykoontz…
Also in The Republic (the old media, printed version of AZ Central) was a review from Marty Richelsoph, a moviegoer in Surprise, who gave it 2 1/2 stars:
…It was nearly painful to watch, with an overwrought musical score and visual set ups to scenes that left me feeling empty. Part of the problem is that the main character is irredeemable as a human being. He is an ambitious sociopath whose actions seemed based solely on ego and avarice…
I agree. Certainly the score was not well conceived. Where the complete lack of music in No Country For Old Men contributed to the tension and overall creepiness of that flick, the overwhelming and ill-fitting music chosen here takes you out of the film.
Day-Lewis gives a fine performance, as he always does, though early on I was wondering what sort of vocal affectation he was working on. As he descends deeper into madness, his skill as an actor becomes more evident. I have often said that playing crazy amid the sane is easy, while playing sane amid the crazy is hard. Here, Day-Lewis’ Plainview is both. The full scope of his derangement always threatening to break through his tenuous facade of ‘normalcy’.
There Will Be Blood was also overlong, incorporating plot lines and characters we have no interest in. This was an adapted screenplay that could have benefited from a bit of judicious editing.
In spite of these flaws, it was still a good movie. Perhaps not the “great” movie I was expecting, I imagine it suffered from too much hype. It may have scored higher on the Word of Mouth Scale if more of my circle were into the type of story told here.
Rated R for some violence, though I don’t recall anything worse than you could see on prime time TV.
Rotten Tomatoes: critics 91%; users 82%
