There Will Be Blood (2-Disc Collector's Edition) (DVD)

Since his incredibly realized second film, Boogie Nights, Paul Thomas Anderson (who will lovingly be referred to as PTA for the remainder of this review) has consistently proven himself to be one of his generation's most talented filmmakers. Whether it be the epic melodrama of Magnolia or the dizzyingly beautiful Punch-Drunk Love, PTA has become the rare writer/director that actually grows artistically with every project. That being said, however, there is nothing to prepare us for the huge leap forward that is There Will Be Blood.

Loosely adapted from Upton Sinclair's novel "Oil!", There Will Be Blood is a claustrophobically intimate yet marvelously epic character study of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), a morally ambiguous oil prospector in the early twentieth century. Like most of PTA's best work this is more about character than plot, but is still wrapped in an engrossingly sprawling story that moves things along just enough to give his characters room to truly come to life. For a topic that can most likely bore as much as excite, this is one story that is never anything less than captivating. To answer your question, yes. Daniel Day-Lewis is as fantastic as you've heard.

Just as important as PTA's script and Day-Lewis' performance is Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood's incredible score. Largely made up of an oddly tuned quartet and sounding very much like the orchestral parts on some Radiohead songs*, Greenwood's score is unlike anything you've ever heard in a movie. His dissonant noise and haunting melodies truly become their own character, and are unbelievably effective at immersing the viewer into the deranged, dark mind of Daniel Plainview. When combined with Robert Elswitt's stunning cinematography, this makes for an amazing visceral experience, and not only the best movie of last, but one of the best of at least the last ten.

Much like the Punch-Drunk Love DVD, There Will Be Blood's features consist of some odds and ends that will elate die-hard fans and bewilder the rest. Two deleted scenes seem to have been wisely cut but are great on their own, and "15 Minutes" of various pictures and research materials is somewhat interesting. The best features are "Dailies Gone Wild" in which Day-Lewis improvises a drunken rant, and "The Story of Petroleum", a vintage promotional film from 1923 with a new score by Jonny Greenwood. Again, these features will delight fans of the movie, but will seem irrelevant to most. It's nice to see a DVD skip the needless, but it would have been nice to at least get an interview with PTA.

While certainly not for everyone, There Will Be Blood is a truly amazing film. It's challenging like a good movie should be, and those willing to give it the effort and attention it deserves will be vastly rewarded, and will thank PTA for giving them a great two-and-a-half hours. At the risk of making this review too personal, I'll end things by saying this is my favorite movie by one of my favorite directors, and by that logic is now one of my favorite movies of all time.

*Faust Arp, How to Dissapear Completely, etc.