THERE WILL BE BLOOD

Paul Thomas AndersonBased on a novel by Upton Sinclair Starring: Daniel Day Lewis, Paul Dano, Dillon Freasier, Ciaran Hinds Distributed in the U.K. by Miramax

Film will be released on Region 1 on DVD on April 1st 2008 from retailers such as Amazon for $22.99

Film has no U.K. release date set as yet.

Review by Ray DeRousse

Film:

rating: 4.5

DVD Set:

rating: 3.5

One of the most talked about films of 2007 was Paul Thomas Anderson's unflinching There Will Be Blood. While the film itself belongs on the shelf of any movie lover, the DVD fails to provide much more in the way of illuminating the dense, unsentimental movie within. THE FILM Although based on the Upton Sinclair novel Oil!, Anderson has taken the source material and drilled right to the nasty black heart in its center. The basic storyline follows the determined, single-minded rise of oil man Daniel Plainview. Plainview is a man without faith in anything else other than his own abilities. Everything around him - land, oil, or humans - are all commodities or equipment used in the achievement of wealth and power. This uncontrollable quest for power and control puts Plainview in direct competition with forces counter to his beliefs, particularly those of a self-righteous young preacher named Eli Sunday. In the end, Plainview's selfish consumption consumes him, but only after destroying everything in his path. As Plainview, Daniel Day Lewisgives a nearly perfect performance for most of the film. Commanding, charismatic, and absolutely repulsive, Lewis uses every gesture and glance to reveal a creature in Plainview completely alien to those around him. Most of the performance is unbelievably understated; it's perhaps Lewis' most subtle performance ever. This comes as welcome relief in comparison to Paul Dano'soverstated, scenery-chewing turn as Eli Sunday. Overly-twitchy and affected, Dano employs a halting, ridiculously hauty tone to his voice that over-amplifies the character's obvious flaws. For three-fourths of the film, Anderson maintains a mesmerizing tone. The images conjured by Anderson and cinematographer Robert Elswitborder on miraculous, easily smothering you in this long-forgotten world like a wet, grimy blanket. The beautiful images are given uneasy emotional life through Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood's plucky score. However, that last fourth of the film - the much-discussed climax - diminishes the film's power. Coming abruptly after two hours of measured moments, the climax rushes to push Plainview beyond reason, culminating in a bizarre rant and murder that fails to make a connection to the material preceding it. Here Lewis is allowed to lose a grip on his performance, overacting to the point of unintentional hilarity. The script does him no favors by giving him lines like "I drink your milkshake" that cannot be anything other than pure camp. This final collapse is so complete that, during my screening of the film, I found myself fidgeting uncomfortably in my chair with an audience that had deflated utterly. The careful build up of tension Anderson had achieved through most of the film had been, sadly, lost. Still, the film has much to say about the human condition. By blowing up Plainview on this of canvas, we see a hatred of others inherent in ourselves. We see it in our politicians today, happily content to destroy the innocent for their own selfish gains. Plainview, though abhorrent, is merely the extension of our worst characteristics. His final denouement, though repulsive, represents the end result of a selfish life. DESIGN Although I usually don't bother mentioning the design of the packaging, this one stands out for good and bad reasons. The case holding the DVD's is designed like a Bible, which opens up to reveal the discs inside. It's weathered and old-looking, and is defitely eye-catching and unique. However, the case makes it difficult to remove the discs out of the sleeves that hold them without getting your fingerprints all over the discs, which is definitely a minus. EXTRAS Like the film itself, the extras are spare, cryptic, and ultimately unsatisfying; those looking for clues from director Anderson or Lewis in behind-the-scenes interviews will be sorely disappointed. Aside from outtakes, the only other extra here is a silent film from 1923 called The Story of Petroleum. Remarkable for its day, the film, which was produced by the Department of Mines and the petroleum industry, showcases a revelatory use of animation and editing. Greenwood supplies his score over the top to make the film more palatable to modern audiences. OVERALL Without a doubt, There Will Be Blood stands as a near-masterpiece, and a must-have for anyone who wants to own one of the best films of a remarkable year in cinema. However, this unremarkable collection does a great disservice to a film of such scope and emotional power. It might be wiser to wait for the more detailed and revealing collection inevitably to come.