There Will Be Blood (2007)

First thing's first: This film is NOT the second coming of Citizen Kane as so many reviewers have stated. I can understand why people would be blindsided into thinking so. Not since Kane has a movie so deftly addressed the notion of a man's drive to measure success in life only by wealth and achieve it without much mercy by stepping over anyone in his path to get it.
There Will Be Blood is a cousin to Kane thematically, but that's where it ends. Kane was a brilliant film, where Blood is a ballsy effort but, in the end, a fantastic mess.
To call it "taut" is ridiculous because it is ungodly long...you feel every moment of time for each frame and unless you enjoy watching the process of drilling for oil in what seems like real time, it doesn't maintain its excitement.
And for as much as the film nods to Citizen Kane, it also has bits of films like Giant in it.
I read a review that said that the film is as if Terrence Malick had made Kane. That's on the right track, though I like both Malick and Kane far more than this.
Day Lewis is MAGNETIC and the reason why I couldn't turn away from the movie. And yet his performance this year is second for me to Depp's work in Sweeney Todd, where a theatrical performance feels like a better fit. Day Lewis is SO stagey here, shuffling between an imitation of John Huston and, dare I say, Sean Connery. There is no denying his physical control of the acting craft; he's among the best.
Paul Dano is also excellent in the film, and the musical score by Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood was a highlight for me.
In the end, though, the problem with There Will Be Blood is a problem that relates back to Citizen Kane, and I credit Roger Ebert with catching it. There Will Be Blood has NO ROSEBUD!!! For those of you who aren't familiar with Kane, what I am saying here is that there is no redeeming quality in Day Lewis' Daniel Plainview. He is without remorse and there is no plot device that allows us to feel sorry for him, empathize with him, or want better for him.
Now that I'm done complaining, I will say that there was incredible camera work in this film, and a few scenes -- particularly one where Eli Sunday humiliates Plainview in front of his congregation -- were electric filmmaking.
The ending is crazy, but I didn't hate it as much as so many others did. They call it screwball and out of left field. I actually expected it. A monster like Plainview acting like a monster...how did you not see it coming?
In the end, I file this in my "brilliant mess" file along with movies like A.I.: Artificial Intelligence. It's a gutsy film by a film-loving and experimenting director that shifts between brilliance and mediocrity scene by scene. Good, but by no means great. And it ain't no Citizen Kane!

2.0 out of 4