I’ve been waiting to see There Will Be Blood for ages, and now that I finally have, I can fully recommend it to you.

I’ll just say it; it’s a dark film. Daniel Plainview is an oilman whose seemingly loveless nature is matched only by his competitive hunger. He travels around the country in search of promising areas to drill for oil, along with his adopted son H.W. Through the decades he becomes increasingly more powerful, ultimately consuming entire communities of unsuspecting farmers. Plainview, if not a complete psycho at the beginning, definitely ends up corrupted by power and greed. And yet somehow Day-Lewis manages to keep the audience engaged and somewhat sympathetic towards Plainview, who finally gets exactly what he wanted.

I think the only thing that really irked me about this film was the running time. At 2hrs 38mins, this one’s a biggie. Still, it held my attention the whole time, and the overall pacing of the movie was very nice. I’m not sure if I would sacrifice the potency of some of the scenes just to cut down on running time. Hmmm… Indeed…

I also hugely enjoyed the soundtrack for There Will Be Blood. Composed by Radiohead’s guitarist Jonny Greenwood, it was a perfect accompaniment to some of the film’s unpleasant images and themes. It’s a shame his score wasn’t able to be nominated for an Oscar. I have a feeling it definitely could have had a good chance.