After all the rave reviews and award nominations this movie has been receiving, I may have gotten my hopes up too high because I was slightly disappointed when I finally saw it. I'm not a big fan of director Paul Thomas Anderson ("Magnolia", "Punch Drunk Love", Boogie Nights") and many of my problems with this movie involve his direction and writing. Based on a novel by Upton Sinclair, the movie follows oilman Daniel Plainview (an outstanding performance by Daniel Day-Lewis) as he travels the west with his "son" (Dillon Freasier), buying land for drilling oil wells and weaseling his way into a sizable fortune. The look of the film is bleak and dark, the characters are not easy to warm up to and there are some pointed jabs at greed and religion. So far so good. The difficulty, for me, is that the director just doesn't know when to quit (as in his previous films). Excess can be effective, but the way Anderson does it detracts from his material rather than enhancing it. The ending, in particular, was ruined for me by Anderson's insistence on going a little too far, passing the point at which he might have achieved the perfect checkmate. Anderson shows too many scenes of oil drilling (not the most fascinating of processes) and pounds us over the head with a few of the ideas he's putting forward. There's also a soundtrack that fluctuates between highly effective and highly annoying.
Two characters in particular stand out in the movie: Daniel Plainview (Day-Lewis) and Eli Sunday (an electrifying performance by Paul Dano -- for me, every bit the equal of Daniel Day-Lewis, but where is his recognition from the awards folks). They become involved in a dual of wills, with devious oilman Plainview constantly running amok of devious evangelical minister Sunday. It's a fun rivalry and was the most involving part of the movie for me. I felt this was a good movie, but not a great one.
Things to love about this movie: Performances (especially Paul Dano and Daniel Day-Lewis), some riveting scenes (mostly in Eli Sunday's church)
Things to hate about this movie: The flawed ending, self indulgence on the director's part, doesn't quite live up to critical acclaim, a little too long
Pleasant surprises: A sly little mystery (Is Dano actually playing two characters or only one?)
Unpleasant surprises: Daniel Day-Lewis' performance, while excellent, wasn't the best I've seen him give (I liked him much better as Bill the Butcher in "Gangs of New York")
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finally got to see the infamous There Will Be Blood... Daniel-Day Lewis' performance was top-notch. He takes well to the overbearing, violent father-figure role -- he also did this in Gangs of New York.
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