When is a “Collector’s Edition” not a collector’s edition? When the second disc barely has an one hour’s worth of additional featurettes and other extras. “There Will Be Blood” deserved to be recognized as one of the finest films from last year. That’s not to say the film is perfect but its flaws are pretty easy to overlook because of Paul Thomas Anderson’s sweeping and ambitious storytelling. I’d recommend the single disc edition as the “Collector’s Edition” doesn’t have all that much in the way of extras. The single disc edition is really all you need even though it doesn’t have ANY extras.
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The packaging for this set is horrible (which I could forgive if the discs weren’t scratched up in the process). How did this get past the marketing department at Paramount?
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“There Will Be Blood” based on Upton Sinclair’s novel OIL! gives us two portraits of two very different men both ruled by their own obsession–Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis in his Oscar winning role who seems to be channeling John Huston from the film “Chinatown”)an oil man who in spite of his impressive skills as a smooth talking salesman, doesn’t like people very much (aside from his son H.W. which he uses to help sell people that his is “a family business”) and Eli Sunday (Paul Dano)a smooth talking healer and leader of the Church of the Third Relevation. Both men want wealth and power for Plainview its a means to escape. While Sunday sees the oil leaking out of the ground of his father’s ranch to gather a flock, reach out with his message and, in turn, gain the power that he believes he deserves. The two men don’t get along from the moment they meet–Eli is on to Daniel’s “plain speaking” way of doing business and getting something for next to nothing and Daniel believes that Eli is a charlatan. In their own way each is a hard nosed uncompromising businessman with visions that don’t mesh.
The DVD:
Robert Elswit’s cinematography deservedly won an Oscar for the film and while the DVD transfer looks good, the night sequences are a bit murky and dark. Detail overall is pretty good with a color scheme that accurately captures the theatrical look of the film.
Audio sounds terrific nicely reproducing Johnny Greenwood’s score.
There are no extras on the first disc which has a menu as plain as Daniel’s view of the world. The second disc features a vintage silent featurette that runs about 27 minutes and uses Greenwood’s score to accompany it. It tells the “story” of oil and shows us how oilmen hunted for it and brought it to market.
We also get “15 Minutes” a collection of vintage stills from the era taken around oil sites, behind-the-scenes footage and various clips showing all the work that Anderson and his crew put into researching the film. It’s a silent segment accompanied by music and lasts, yep, just over 15 minutes.
Next up we two deleted scenes that last nearly ten minutes. Under three minutes “Dallies Gone Wild” is an alternate take of the restaurant scene involving Daniel, his son H.W. and employees of Standard Oil.
We also get the teaser for the film and the original theatrical trailer both of which remind me of the lost art of crafting a great trailer that will pull in an audience without giving away too much. All things considered, this is a disappointing “Collector’s Edition” even with the awkward collectable packaging that is included (where the discs slide inside) and would be prone to damage with time.
Conclusion: A powerful, terrific film and one of the ten best from 2007, “There Will Be Blood” appears in a disappointing special edition from Paramount. The film looks fine and the soundtrack is brilliantly rendered which should be enough to get fans to purchase the single disc DVD and that’s what I would recommend.
The extras on disc two of the “Collector’s Edition” are slim pickings to say the least. It’s as if Paramount rushed to pull this material together in light of the Academy Award nominations and wins the film scored. They are very disappointing for a two disc edition and I can’t strongly recommend the two disc edition based on this. If you just want the film, go for the single disc edition and wait to see what the Blu-ray comes packs in the way of special features.
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“There Will Be Blood” is probably the absolute best film of the year, and this is due to more than the extraordinary talent of Daniel Day-Lewis. At its core, it tells a story of insatiable greed, of how the lust for absolute power can drive anyone into a state of pure evil. Based on Upton Sinclair’s novel “Oil!” the descent of oil tycoon Daniel Plainview (Lewis) is long and slow, but it’s definitely constant–he starts off in 1902 with drive, passion, and charisma, only to lose himself to hate, arrogance, and a complete lack of decency by 1927. By the end of the film, absolutely nothing about this man is likeable, and one gets the sense that he wanted it that way all along: “I hate most people,” he says at one point. “I look at people and I see nothing worth liking.” Here’s a character that can’t be pitied, simply because he created exactly what he wanted for himself.
The first ten minutes of “There Will Be Blood” contains no dialogue, but it still manages to establish a cohesive story. It begins in 1898, during which a lone prospector digs for oil in the mountainous deserts of Texas. By 1902, an entire team led by Plainview has made camp in the area and has successfully struck oil. One day, a well accident kills one of the workers, leaving an infant boy without his father. For as yet unknown reasons–be they selfless or selfish–Plainview decides to care for the boy and raise him as his own. The story then flashes forward to 1911, which opens with Plainview trying to negotiate a deal with the locals of a small town. When the deal falls through, Plainview is introduced to Paul Sunday (Paul Dano), a young man from a small community called Little Boston; he offers Plainview his family’s property in exchange for a handsome sum of money. Apparently, that property is rich with oil.
Without missing a beat, Plainview and his son, H.W. (Dillon Freasier), enter Little Boston posing as quail hunters. After discovering that the Sunday property does, indeed, contain oil, and after setting up camp with his team, Plainview gets acquainted with the devoutly religious Sunday family. The son, Eli (also played by Paul Dano), is thought to be a spiritual healer, and he shows this side of himself during some passionate church meetings. He and Plainview share an interesting relationship, to say the least; Plainview initially states that he likes all churches and thus doesn’t belong to any specific sect of Christianity, but as the film progresses, it’s obvious that church–or more specifically, God–has not and never will be a part of his life. Eli, who believes he has the power to heal his fellow parishioners, falls into disfavor when H.W. has an oil-related accident that can’t be healed.
Things take an unexpected turn when a man claiming to be Plainview’s long lost half brother enters the picture. His name is Henry (Kevin J. O’Connor), and he’s come from a job in New Mexico to be a part of Plainview’s life, to work for him and help him find more oil. Something about him clearly isn’t right from H.W.’s point of view, and he makes this clear through a drastic act I won’t reveal. I will say that, as time goes on, Plainview also begins to suspect Henry, which actually isn’t saying a whole lot since his very nature is to be distrustful. One understands this all throughout the film–with even the subtlest of expressions, Plainview can easily express the anger, hostility, and fear that are slowly taking control. It seems all he has left is to let himself be manipulated, especially by Eli: if he wants permission to run an oil pipe through a piece of property he doesn’t own, he must agree to be baptized in Eli’s church. And as you might expect, Eli will actually be leading the ceremony. Watching Plainview being forced to say things he doesn’t believe is a mesmerizing experience, not only because it foreshadows what lies ahead, but also because the scene is incredibly intense.
Pretty much the same thing can be said about the entire film, which thrives on tension despite appearing to be low-key. One of Lewis’ expressions is an almost frightening counterpoint to Johnny Greenwood’s score, a Bernard Hermann-inspired opus of screeching, tremulous strings. Such music is heard even during the “calmer,” “insignificant” moments, such as shots of Plainview walking from one room to another. This would be inappropriate were this any other film. But this isn’t any other film; “There Will Be Blood” is all about expressing Plainview’s emotional turmoil, and as such, it’s easy to believe that he’s never had a quiet moment in his head. It’s also easy to believe that entering his mind would be one of the most terrifying experiences imaginable, not just because of his contempt for humanity, but also because of the depths to which his contempt will sink him.
The final twenty minutes of this film takes place in 1927, at which point Plainview is more morally than physically aged. He’s rich beyond his wildest dreams, yet he’s emotionally bankrupt, and this is shown through two brief but significant meetings. I won’t describe what happens or reveal whom he speaks to, but I will say he does everything he can to make everyone hate him, including us. In essence, we hate him just as much as he hates himself, which isn’t pathetic so much as it’s detestable. I realize that such an ending is not a typical crowd pleaser, but considering the story that’s being told, typical doesn’t apply, here. This goes double for Daniel Day-Lewis’ performance, one of the best I’ve seen in a long time. To sum everything up with a brief phrase, “There Will Be Blood” is an absolutely brilliant film.
