Following a tip, Plainview and his team descend upon the small town of Little Boston, which sits on an ocean of untapped oil. Plainview soon becomes quite wealthy, while failing to live up to promises made to the locals. In particular, he won't make good to Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), a young, ambitious, and melodramatic local preacher that becomes a thorn in Plainview's side.
A well accident leaves H.W. deaf, and he develops emotional problems that cause a permanent rift between H.W. and his father. Around this time humble loser Henry (Kevin O'Connor) shows up, claiming to be Plainview's long-lost half brother. Henry becomes Plainview's sidekick until they have a sudden falling out.
Plainview is drilling a river of oil but needs to build a pipeline to transport it. To obtain permission for the pipeline from aged property owner Bandy (Hans Howes), he is obligated to join Eli's church and publicly humiliate himself. Eli at last has the upper hand, but not forever.
How others will see it. There Will Be Blood was well received by critics. It had eight Oscar nominations, including the major categories of best picture, best director, best screenplay, best actor, and best cinematography. The movie was not a blockbuster but had great success in its home video release.
At imdb.com, the user ratings are extremely high overall, 8.1 out of 10 with a whopping 200K user votes. The score is sufficient to place the film within that website's Top 250. A close study of the votes, though, shows a steady decline in scores with increasing age of the viewer, from 8.6 under 18 to 7.3 over 45.
A gender gap is also present. Women over 45 only give it a 6.3. No doubt, many viewers are put off by the decline of Day-Lewis' character into a monster, and by the film's morals, which are that crime pays and the soul of man is inherently evil.
How I felt about it. I congratulate Paul Thomas Anderson. He can no longer be considered the most overrated American director since Spike Lee, because he has finally made at least one good movie. Boogie Nights and Magnolia didn't qualify.
Of course, for this accomplishment, he can thank Daniel Day-Lewis. Despite his Best Actor wins from Oscar and BAFTA, Day-Lewis may no longer be as great an actor as he was in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The intensity is still there, but the restraint is diminished. However, there is no question that Day-Lewis is highly charismatic, and his accent here, odd as it might be, is both consistent and entertaining.
One problem, though, is that this is really two different movies. The first half, loosely based on Upton Sinclair's Oil, has a different Daniel Plainview than the second half. Up until the accident that leaves H.W. deaf, Plainview is a shrewd businessman but cannot be called evil. After H.W.'s death, Plainview becomes a serial killer whose antisocial tendencies consume his personality.
I like the first half better. It is more credible. The second half is saved by Day-Lewis' engagingly hammy performance. His final confrontation with Paul Dano builds well enough, but there is only reason why he whacks his hated former rival. It will satisfy the Roman coliseum audience who expects the Christians to be fed to the lions. There will be blood after all.