There Will Be Blood (2007)
A Monolith of Greed, Isolation, and Human Collapse
Some films feel like stories. Others feel like they were carved out of stone. There Will Be Blood is the latter a brutal, hypnotic portrait of ambition, obsession, and the emptiness that comes from sacrificing everything in pursuit of power. It isn’t just a film about the birth of an oil empire; it’s a haunting character study of a man who gains the entire world only to discover there is nothing left inside him.
From its nearly silent opening, director Paul Thomas Anderson announces that this will not be a conventional American success story. There are no easy heroes, no comforting lessons, and no celebration of the dream of prosperity. Instead, There Will Be Blood drags us into a harsh landscape of dirt, fire, and endless hunger a world where ambition is the only religion and morality is just another obstacle.
At the center of it all is Daniel Plainview, played with terrifying intensity by Daniel Day-Lewis. Plainview is one of cinema’s most unforgettable creations: a man built entirely from determination, resentment, and control. He is charismatic enough to convince people to follow him and ruthless enough to destroy anyone standing in his way. Day-Lewis doesn’t simply play the character he becomes a force of nature, delivering a performance that feels less like acting and more like watching a man slowly reveal the darkness he has always carried.
The film’s genius is that it never turns Plainview into a simple villain. He is horrifying, but he is also fascinating. He represents the extreme end of a very human desire: the need to win, to prove yourself, to never be powerless again. Anderson presents him as both a creator and a destroyer a man who builds something massive while hollowing himself out piece by piece.
Opposing him is Eli Sunday, portrayed by Paul Dano, a young preacher whose ambition mirrors Plainview’s own. Their conflict becomes one of the film’s defining battles not simply between oil and religion, but between two men desperate for influence and recognition. Neither represents purity. Both are performers. Both crave devotion. Both are willing to manipulate others to get it.
Visually, There Will Be Blood is breathtaking. Cinematographer Robert Elswit captures the American frontier as something both beautiful and terrifying. The wide landscapes feel endless, but they also feel empty a perfect reflection of Plainview’s internal world. The oil derricks become symbols of progress and destruction, towering over the land like monuments to human greed.
Adding to the film’s overwhelming atmosphere is Jonny Greenwood’s unsettling score. The music doesn’t simply accompany the images; it challenges them. Its chaotic strings and uneasy rhythms create a feeling of instability, as if the entire world of the film is constantly on the verge of collapse.
What makes There Will Be Blood so powerful is that it refuses to give the audience comfort. It asks difficult questions about capitalism, faith, loneliness, and what happens when success becomes the only thing keeping someone alive. It is a film about winning at all costs and realizing too late that victory can still leave you defeated.
Like the greatest works of art, There Will Be Blood grows more powerful with time. It is not an easy watch, nor is it meant to be. It is a slow-burning, merciless examination of human desire a film that stares into the darkest corners of ambition and refuses to look away.
A modern American epic. A portrait of a man consumed by his own hunger. A reminder that the pursuit of everything can leave you with absolutely nothing.
Rating 9/10
Review
by
Michael Benesh