By Sara Pintilie/entertainment editor
There Will Be Blood (4.5 stars)
There Will Be Blood is a towering force fueled by obsession. It sinks its ferocious teeth into the pursuit to obtain Texas gold and doesn’t let go till the powerful finish.
Different from director Paul Thomas Anderson’s previous works, There Will Be Blood screens more like a traditional epic.
The searing score and beautiful cinematography add a dismal panache to an already enthralling drama.
Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a man with a silver tongue and no soul. His ambition is clear as day as he stakes claim to a dust- riddled town in the early 19th century.
Plainview claims he is an oil man when he buys a little Western town’s right to drill. He also claims he is a family man pointing out his partner and son, H.W (Dillon Freasier).
Both of these statements seem true enough, but as the film progresses, the audience finds out the dark motives behind these truths.
A stranger points him to untapped oil in Little Boston. He sets up shop there, but a shrill and maddening preacher, Eli (Paul Dano), gets in Plainview’s way.
The movie’s undertow is a war brewing between Plainview and Eli. The tension between the two grows till the audience almost can’t stand it anymore.
The movie doesn’t have any heroes, only different shades of villains. But interestingly, the audience roots for the true bad guy, Plainview.
The massive film rests on the incredibly talented shoulders of Day-Lewis, and he handles the epic with great ease.
Day-Lewis is menacing. His Plainview is the perfect charismatic scoundrel in modern cinema, and every facet of his character is elegantly shown with the right amount of malice.
Dano ups his ante as Eli. He shows he has not only the energy and skill to be something other than the token emo teenager but the stamina to stay afloat against heavy weights such as Day-Lewis.
There Will Be Blood has but one flaw: it drags for a moment in the midst of obsessive oil getting. But the film picks back up to its taut pace and finishes magnificently.
There Will Be Blood is a monster of a film but worthy of checking out.
