There Will Be Blood (2007)

There Will Be Blood (2007)

Guild 45^th Theater, Seattle, WA

February 02, 2008

*** / ****

by Scott Muoio

Writer/director P.T. Anderson makes movies that are different. He makes films that shun formula, say ‘to hell with convention,’ and most importantly, tell unlikely stories in an even unlikelier manner. With his latest cinematic effort, There Will Be Blood, Anderson once again reaches for the heavens but sadly, only makes it as far as Mars.

There Will Be Blood seems to be about the rivalry between opposition entrepreneurs yet only turns out that way because Anderson forces upon us an unsatisfying final act as the rest of the film runs out of steam. This rivalry begins with Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), a hard-drinking, hard-talking, hard man who makes his fortune with and in spite of those whose property sits on black gold. His competition for the people and potential riches of Little Boston, California is Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), a young preacher with aspirations for an ever-increasing congregation. Their feud and obsessive greed is the thread Anderson uses to ignite and tie up his epic tale, but it isn’t necessarily the one that most effectively fits his numerous themes.

The film begins with approximately 30 minutes of fascinating visuals and eerie sound effects but not a single spoken word. Channeling 2001: A Space Odyssey in its marvelous ability to set a provocative stage, There Will Be Blood gets off to a raucously ponderous start. Sprinkled over the remaining two hours is a variety of intriguingly thoughtful and brilliant moments: Ideas on corporate greed, family insecurity, and entrepreneurship are all fascinatingly brought to the surface with individual scenes standing out as breathtakingly genius. Unfortunately, women, romantic love, and anything outside of the half dozen main characters and their immediate problems hardly gets a footnote. And that is where the film’s problems lie.

When unfulfilling tangents and unnecessary plot arcs are introduced and then unsatisfactorily resolved, steam is lost as the film’s main thread is choked. Characters are introduced and then disappear, others spoken of merely in passing, and still others built up and then quickly torn down for a cheap laugh. Is this the way to make an effective epic? By the time we arrive at Anderson’s grand finale, a Daniel/Eli final confrontation, we are left scratching our heads wondering why he is beating a dead horse by returning to the one seemingly resolved storyline in the entire film. With so many red herrings dancing for our attention and vague introductions used merely as window dressing it is difficult to rate this film outstanding when it fails to astound.

I respect and admire There Will Be Blood as a bold idea, daring in its execution, and filled with lots of great moments. But where the film loses me is in its insistence on going overboard (the scenery-chewing Day-Lewis versus the drab Dano rivalry never quite hits the mark), failing to reign in its numerous story arcs yet forgetting to fully explore its pallet, and teasing us with great possibility without appeasing our piqued curiosity. Day-Lewis will probably win an Academy Award for his performance, and in a sense he may deserve it, but I’m not certain his performance fits perfectly with this particular movie.

And what about director P.T. Anderson? His film may be an achievement, and may also win him an Academy Award, but isn’t a director supposed to be the one to assure cohesion throughout his film? Between director and star, something in my eyes has been lost in translation.

Perhaps if There Will Be Blood were lengthened, the story arcs made more robust, succinct, and fulfilling, and the entire movie chopped into mini-series episodes, then the film might be as genius as many critics have professed. As is I can’t quite see it that way.