This is a long, unhappy tale, and it involves a few significant subplots, one concerns H.W. and another sees another relative of Plainview’s coming to Little Boston unexpectedly. I’m sure much will be made of the final sequence, which takes places years later and allows all the principal characters to say what was only hidden in the subtext before. It’s a bold scene, but in that sense it’s a microcosm for the whole film; after Magnolia and Punch-Drunk Love, writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson once again creates something entirely different.

There’s one more thing worth noting: the music. Like I said, There Will Be Blood is sometimes reminiscent of a horror film; that’s mostly thanks to the score, which uses classical instruments but in dissident, creepy tones that set the unique mode perfectly. They assure us, along with the film’s title, that happy things are not in store for Daniel Plainview and company.

Movie Grade: A-

Synopsis:

A sprawling epic about family, greed, corruption, and the pursuit of the American dream. Set in the booming West coast oil fields at the turn of the 20th century, There Will Be Blood follows the rise of rugged prospector Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) who becomes an independent oilman after hitting it rich with the strike of a lifetime. Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, the film is inspired by Upton Sinclair's novel Oil!