There Will Be Blood
July 2008 Reviewed by: Mischa Hayek Format: Blu-ray	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

There Will Be Blood has been compared to both George Stevens’ Giant (1956) and Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane (1941) for its grand scale and similarities in story line. Nominated for eight Academy Awards in 2007, and winning for Best Cinematography for Robert Elswit and Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis, it is considered a masterpiece by several film critics and has even been called the second-best film of all time (behind Michael Curtiz’s Casablanca) by James Christopher, The Times chief film critic.

The movie tells the epic story of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), a silver prospector turned oilman during the oil boom of the late 1800s. Plainview is approached by Paul Sunday (Paul Dano), a young man just off the family farm and setting out on his own. For several thousand dollars, Sunday tells Plainview of a county where oil is plentiful but untapped. The property in the center of this oil field is his family ranch in California owned by his father Abel (David Willis). Scouting the property with his son HW (Dillon Freasier) while pretending to be quail hunting, Plainview observes oil seeping to the surface. He approaches Abel and his son Eli (Paul Dano), Paul Sunday’s twin brother, with a business proposition. Pledging a donation to Eli’s church, he secures rights to the property and using Abel’s good name and the support of Eli and his church buys the rights to all but one of the surrounding properties. However, an accident at one of the drill sites that harms HW causes Plainview to become enemies with Eli, who has become an influential preacher in the area. As his financial success increases, rather than becoming happy and content, Plainview becomes increasingly hateful of his fellow man. Viewing everyone else, especially the local preacher and even his own son, as competitors, he destroys everyone who would stand in his way.

The story is loosely based on Upton Sinclair’s novel Oil!, which in turn was loosely based on the life of oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny Sr., who had made his fortune in the California oil boom, in particular developing the Los Angeles oil fields. (By his own admission, director-writer Paul Thomas Anderson changed the title of his film from Oil! to There Will Be Blood because he used only the first 150 pages of Sinclair’s novel to develop his script.)

What gives Anderson’s film such authenticity is the painstaking research done to capture the look and feel of the times, and Daniel Day-Lewis's ability to get into character. Day-Lewis actually listened to voice recordings from the late 19th century and of John Huston, actor and director of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, that Anderson sent him, in order to develop Daniel Plainview’s slow, haughty and eloquent diction. Anderson visited many museums in the Bakersfield, California, region that were dedicated to the oil industry to obtain background information. Original pictures used by Anderson as guides for costume and set design are shown in a 15-minute special feature included in this Blu-ray’s bonus materials.

Two types of images dominate: large, sweeping scenes shot with a grand sense of scale, and tight, intimate close-ups, usually of Plainview’s face. In both cases, the image on the Blu-ray Disc is exceptionally crisp and highly detailed. In fact, it is so detailed and there is so much going on in the background scenes that the film needs multiple viewings to take it all in. Some home-theater systems may have trouble with the bright outdoor scenes, where the whites tend to be blown out. If your display is too bright, the picture might edge toward being washed out.

The soundtrack is always an interesting aspect in Paul Thomas Anderson films. In this case, as in Magnolia (1999), he uses a haunting score (including the last movement of a Brahms violin concerto) that constantly builds with tension as the story progresses. This is one film where the sound effects and music really add to the dynamic of the film. Also, during the opening 20 minutes or so, when Plainview is searching for oil for the first time, there’s no dialogue whatsoever -- just the sound of him working and his occasional primitive grunts. It’s a very interesting way to start. However, the sound quality itself is only good, not extraordinary. Voices are clear, but there is a touch of hollowness from time to time, and the sound effects are effective but rarely awe-inspiring.

I would have liked more features, especially a director’s commentary. The best feature is a black-and-white silent film made in the mid 1920s by Standard Oil Company documenting the extraction of oil and its distillation. Included in the bonus features are several deleted scenes and the 15-minute slideshow mentioned previously with pictures and other research materials used in the making of There Will Be Blood.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s film was released so late in the year that it never made my top-10 list for 2007. Seeing it now, I think There Will Be Blood may have been the best film of 2007, and its Blu-ray release is a satisfactory way to catch up with this masterpiece if you likewise missed it in the theater.

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