Oh my god the movie is amazing. I saw it like two weeks ago and have been mulling over it. "There Will Be Blood" is as epic as movies come. Not "300" epic, but the movie has a vastness about it that can only be described as epic.
The movie has a vastness about it? Yes. It is more than the vast, sprawling wide shots of open country (that is in there to). There is the vastness of the story. Starting in the very late 1800's and finally concluding in the mid 1920's. And there is almost three hours between there. There are the performances of the supporting cast. And there is Daniel Day-Lewis. The greatest living actor if not of all time (maybe thats to far, but probably not). Lets get through these.
Daniel Day-Lewis first. You have herd all about it so I am just going to be saying what others have said. I'll try to do this fast. But being brief will be hard. Daniel Day-Lewis is famous for his method acting. He spent the entire shoot of "My Left Foot" in a wheel chair I am told. Grew his hair out and learned to load and fire a musket for "The Last of the Mohicans". And spent time learning to make shoes in Italy for "Gangs of New York". Being around him for this must have been scary. I can't put it into words. Go see it. This is the hight of his career. It is impossible to tell it is him; the voice, the walk, the everything. You see a real person. Seeing this is amazing looking at it nest to his other movies is amazing, no matter how you look at it his amazing performance is matching to that of this amazing movie.
Day-Lewis's performance is a giant in this film, it towers above all else. But amazingly he does not drown out the other performances. They all stand their ground, Paul Dano is the best example. He has worked before with Daniel Day-Lewis and the two have some kind of dynamic. This is hard, always all eyes are on Day-Lewis, he is just so amazing. It is here that the key separation is between him and the rest of the cast. When I see Daniel Day-Lewis on the screen in this theater it is not him but his character he doesn't even look like Day-Lewis. Other actors fall short because they are to much themselves. But I say again, the acting in this movie is superb all around because each role has equal stature for its worth.
Landscapes. The design of this movie is really nice. It has a tactile nature to it. The oil derrick looks like it, and according to the production designer, could actually drill. The use of land is just fantastic. Places look like places. The Town of Little Boston is somewhat surreal but not far from the facts of the time. Other design aspects are also worth noting. The movie captures the period in ways few movies do. Kubrick comes to mind. His work on pictures such as "Barry Lindon" are similar. What allot of the movie looks like is real period photographs. From simply a man standing on a dusty hillside to a dramatic explosion, the movie looks like the real thing, that is cloths, houses, fires, farms, church's, oil derrick's, oil, everything.
When it comes down to it this is the best movie of the year. Period.
Well why does this review's title suggest that there might not be an Oscar in store for this movie? This movie is too much. I have spent weeks trying to figure out how to write this review. And it took several unused drafts and some of it still is not in this one. This movie is so much, too much to be voted on for best picture. "There Will Be Blood" has a fair shot at 6 of it's 8 nominations. Hands down the Oscar goes to Daniel Day-Lewis for best actor. And a minimal chance at best picture.
"There Will Be Blood" is amazing, devastating, and beautiful on every scale. See it. But at your own risk, it is so amazing that it may kill you a little bit. But it is worth it and deserves more than I predict it will get.