Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 01/27/2009 Run time: 158 minutes Rating: R

Unmistakably a shot at greatness, Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood succeeds in wild, explosive ways. The film digs into nothing less than the sources of peculiarly American kinds of ambition, corruption, and industry--and makes exhilarating cinema from it all. Although inspired by Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil!, Anderson has crafted his own take on the material, focusing on a black-eyed, self-made oilman named Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), whose voracious appetite for oil turns him into a California tycoon in the early years of the 20th century. The early reels are a mesmerizing look at the getting of oil from the ground, an intensely physical process that later broadens into Plainview's equally indomitable urge to control land and power. Curious, diverting episodes accumulate during Plainview's rise: a mighty derrick fire (a bravura opportunity that Anderson, with the aid of cinematographer Robert Elswit, does not fail to meet), a visit from a long-lost brother (Kevin J. O'Connor), the ongoing involvement of Plainview's poker-faced adoptive son (Dillon Freasier). As the film progresses, it gravitates toward Plainview's rivalry with the local representative of God, a preacher named Eli Sunday (brimstone-spitting Paul Dano); religion and capitalism are thus presented not so much as opposing forces but as two sides of the same coin. And the worm in the apple here is less man's greed than his vanity. Anderson's offbeat take on all this--exemplified by the astonishing musical score by Jonny Greenwood--occasionally threatens to break the film apart, but even when it founders, it excites. As for Daniel Day-Lewis, his performance is Olivier-like in its grand scope and its attention to details of behavior; Plainview speaks in the rum-rich voice of John Huston, and squints with the wariness of Walter Huston. It's a fearsome performance, and the engine behind the film's relentless power. --Robert Horton

this has been one of the best movies i've seen in a long time. the acting is fantastic and the story line drags you right in, gorgeous score as well. i'm reading a lot of negative comments about the packaging but i don't think that ought to win this fantastic film only one star. actually, i think its rather creative. i could understand the issue with scratching but i haven't experienced it myself.

There Will be Blood is EXCELLENT. I have not seen filmaking of this quality in some time: Consistent brilliant acting, flawless directing, phenomenal music, great editing, etc., etc. Daniel Day Lewis owns every scene he is in.

TWBB stands alone in a vast sea of "&^%$ films" that are coming at us at an unprecedented scale. It is refreshing that hollywood has taken a risk in creating a film of this nature. Hopefully we can have more (knock on wood).

Director P.T. Anderson has created a moumental but flawed film about one man's ambition as it comes into conflict with the concept of faith. Based on Upton Sinclair's novel Oil!, There Will Be Blood tells the story of independant oilman Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) as he struggles to get rich in turn of the century America.

Day-Lewis,channeling John Huston, gives a career defining performance as a man totally alone in his ambition to become rich. This film is a character study more than an action narrative. Daniel Plainview is a complex man with no friends, no sense of history and presumably no morals as he attempts to control his destiny in the growing oil business. When he comes into conflict with an evangelical preacher Eli Sunday (Paul Dano) true colors are shown and a fight to the finish is begun.

The performance by Day-Lewis won him a deserved Best Actor Oscar. Also of note is the great camara work by Richard Elswit and the unique musical score by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead.

I viewed the two disc edition which features the film on disc one and special features on the second disc. The special features include 15 minutes of stills and research to a Greenwood score, two trailers and some deleted scenes. These extras run for about 30 minutes. The main feature here is The History of Petroleum (1923-27) a silent black and white film produced by Sinclair Oil and the US Bureau of Mines. This short is also scored by Greenwood.

This film is definately worth checking out but may be a better rental than purchase. One further note the packaging on this set is horrible. The discs are squeezed into cardboard sleeves that virtually insure scratching with repeated viewings.

So this film is for intelligent people with an attention span who have an afternoon or an evening to spare. Go get your favorite thing to eat. For me, that'd be California rolls, I'm mad for those, and San Pelligrino lemonade.
Rent this, or buy, I can see buying, it's that good. I could also see watching it with someone of equal intelligence, just so long as you don't have to spend any time explaining things. I hate having to explain story line, plot, you catch me.
This movie is amazing. Enjoy yourself.

After enduring the longest and most painful two and a half hours of my life watching this ghastly, pretentious, ridiculous and nauseous drivel, I came to the Amazon site expecting a flood of one-star reviews saying exactly the same.

Instead, I see hundreds of whinges about the DVD box! Who cares if it's cardboard or plastic or solid gold? For crying out loud, if it's packaging that turns you on, why don't you spend your money on corn flakes instead, and put your reviews on the Kelloggs website?

My one-star review is entirely about this film. Daniel Day Lewis, eyes all blacked up to make him look mean, plays it like some silent movie villain out of a Laurel and Hardy film. Which is all rather apt as for the first half hour of this bum-numbing eternity of torture, nobody actually says anything!

When they do start talking, it's a relief... but only for a few moments. After just a few minutes of DDL's grimy mumblings I was starting to grind my teeth. As he tried to bond with his loathsome kid, I started pacing the room, slapping abaseball bat in my sweaty mitts. But the final straw was when that odious teenage preacher started screaming and raving in his squawky pre-pubescent voice in his 'church'.

"That's it!" I told the wife. "I'm going outside to get some half bricks to lob at the screen!"

In fact, as this turgid, plotless and hideously over-rated guff unravels, you end up wanting to throw bricks at every single character who shows up. What a load of dross!

Is it all a metaphor about human life? A searing indictment of man's capacity to carry revenge through several generations? What powerful emotional undercurrents are at work here in the corrupt frontier land of early 1900s America?

I couldn't give a flying fig.

All I want to know is... when am I going to get my money back for this shameful corruption of my OWN emotions... and when will Mr Day Lewis apologise for his terrible hammy performance and hand his Oscar back?

Those idiots who complain about the cardboard DVD sleeve should count their blessings... at least you've got something to line the bottom of the budgie cage.