A sprawling epic of family, faith, power and oil,
There Will Be Blood is set on the incendiary frontier of California's turn-of-the-century petroleum boom. The story chronicles the life and times of one Daniel Plainview (
Daniel Day-Lewis), who transforms himself from a down-and-out silver miner raising a son on his own into a self-made oil tycoon.
When Plainview gets a mysterious tip-off that there's a little town out West where an ocean of oil is oozing out of the ground, he heads with his son, H.W. (Dillon Freasier), to take their chances in dust-worn Little Boston. In this hardscrabble town, where the main excitement centers around the holy roller church of charismatic preacher Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), Plainview and H.W. make their lucky strike. But even as the well raises all of their fortunes, nothing will remain the same as conflicts escalate and every human value -- love, hope, community, belief, ambition and even the bond between father and son -- is imperiled by corruption, deception and the flow of oil.
Set in the wild west, the film follows the rise to power of a silver miner, Daniel Plainview -- a charismatic and ruthless oil prospector, driven to succeed by his intense hatred of others and psychological need to see any and all competitors fail. In 1911, Plainview gets a tip of oil-rich land in California that can be bought cheaply struggling Sunday family ranch in the impoverished Little Boston, California , he moves his operation there and begins manipulating and exploiting the local landowners into selling him their property. Using his young adopted son H.W. to project the image of a caring family man, Plainview gains the cooperation of almost all the locals with lofty promises to bui
Daniel Day Lewis gives an amazing perforamce. In addition, Paul Dano, who plays the spirited preacher, also gives a great performace, which is overshadowed by Lewis' performance. However, the movie gets a little boring at times and has a tendency to drag on and on and on. A decent movie, but a little overrated. Watch it for the performances of Lewis and Dano, and for nothing else.
fantastic film... Daniel Day Lewis, i take my hat off to your performance.