There Will Be Blood (2007)

Introduction

From The Guardian to random lists online like mine, There Will Be Blood (2007) is more than often referred to as the greatest film of the 21st century. It's something that is very difficult to argue with as it has all of the charisma of Citizen Kane (1941) without any of the pretentions, it has all the character and machiavellianism of The Godfather and is pretty much right up there with it and finally, it has all the atmosphere of an Western without actually being a Western, thank god. There Will Be Blood (2007) is a 21st century testament to great filmmaking.

Plot

Daniel Plainview is just an average guy working an oil rig when something terrible happens, leaving Daniel in charge of a small baby. As we see him turn his back on working like the common man to build himself an oil empire, the atmosphere of the Upton Sinclair novel it is loosely based on comes to life. The pure charisma of a psychopath blended with the single chance to make some sort of pipe dream become a very real situation. Daniel Plainview sells himself as a 'family man' running a 'family business', his 'child' as the bait to hook in an unsuspecting town.

He becomes entrenched with the Sunday twins, he becomes suspcious of everyone around him - including his 'brother', Henry. A fantastic story of power, conquest, revenge and absolute idealism - this story never fails to amaze its audiences not just because of the terrific writing and directing - but because it proved to us just how far its main actor would go to make the perfect role. Sir Daniel Day-Lewis is not called one of the greatest actors of all time for no reason. This is just one of the reasons.

Appraisals and Awards

Appearing in many 'top ten of the year' lists, There Will Be Blood (2007) took itself straight to the top. The following magazines and newspapers rated it as their 'Number 1' of the year: Giant, The Austin Chronicle, CNN, The New York Times, Time Out New York, LA Weekly, Staten Island Advance, Premiere, Orange County Registry, The AV Club, Salon, The Oregonian, The Chicago Reader, The Montreal Mirror, Slant Magazine and Entertainment Weekly.

Obviously when it came to the Academy Awards, this film did actually quite well. It won the awards for Best Actor (Sir Daniel Day-Lewis) and Best Cinematography (Robert Elswit). At the BAFTAs, Sir Daniel Day-Lewis won Best Actor in a Leading Role, he also won the Golden Globe for the same thing, the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor, the LA Film Critics Award for Best Actor, the BFC Award for Best Actor and the International Online Film Critics Award for Best Actor. He probably won more but that's enough honestly, Sir Daniel please have mercy on my typing hands.

The film has gone on to be named the greatest of the 21st century by a number of end of decade lists and newspapers around the world. If you don't understand why, either remove yourself from my page or read this instead.

Legacy

There Will Be Blood is bravura film-making by one of American film's modern masters. Paul Thomas Anderson's epic poem of savagery, optimism and obsession is a true meditation on America. The film drills down into the dark heart of capitalism, where domination, not gain, is the ultimate goal. In a career defined by transcendent performances, Daniel Day-Lewis creates a character so rich and so towering, that "Daniel Plainview" will haunt the history of film for generations to come. - AFI Jury, 2011.

Sometimes referred to as a black comedy of the American Dream, this oil-infested machiavellian drama shines as not only one of the greatest films of all time, but as a stark reminder as to what films can do. Not only can they entertain us and make us feel things for the characters whether it be hatred or love, but in many cases stated by reviewers of There Will Be Blood, they can haunt the audience afterwards. There Will Be Blood shows itself as the dark shadow of greed in which Sir Daniel Day-Lewis perfects his already unbeatable talents. Just take a look at what the AFI Jury had to say about it - it is practically one of the best films you will ever see.

My Personal Opinion

I've written about this film before and honestly, my personal opinion has not changed. In the book 1001 Films to See Before You Die, this film comes in pretty strong and I still to this day tell the story of being absolutely terrified the first time I watched it. If I show my age to the generations Z and Alpha, I saw it when it came out in the cinemas. It's one of those films that I feel wasn't trying to teach me anything but it ultimately and probably accidentally did. It was, to that day, the greatest performance I had ever seen by a leading actor in a film, by that point I had already watched Fritz Lang's M (1931) and that's saying something. It changed my life and yet, it also left me comparing other performances to it - again, we cannot compare it to its counterpart of No Country for Old Men. But, if we were going to, Sir Daniel would win every day of the week.

Conclusion

I think that this is where Paul Thomas Anderson peaked. Inherent Vice was a mess and he didn't really make anything awesome until he did Phantom Thread (I wonder what the common denominator is there). To be honest, if we look at films like Licorice Pizza I am surprised that PTA wasn't grabbing on to Sir Daniel's heels begging him not to go as he walked away from the circus for the last time in 2016 and straight into retirement. There is no doubt whatsoever that There Will Be Blood will always be their greatest masterpiece.