There Will Be Blood

Daniel Day-Lewis in "There Will Be Blood" (Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon/Paramount Vantage)

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In the early 20th century West Coast oil fields, powerful oil prospector Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) expands his land and profits while butting heads with a minister (Paul Dano, chilling).

Big question: Can writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson ("Boogie Nights") adapt Upton Sinclair's "Oil!" and prove he can deliver a period epic with a smaller ensemble?

Catch it: Day-Lewis is remarkable, acting with the force of a train but never pushing his engines harder than he needs to. With the movie centered around a guy that doesn’t change, though, his relentless oilman takes time away from the broader clash between religion and dollar signs that's surfacing around him--and "Blood" becomes a very, very well made film that elicits more of an intellectual than emotional reaction.

Skip it: If you think it's always shameful to fall asleep in a bowling alley. As Plainview proves, it's not as bad when the alley's in your house!

Bottom line: Anderson has never worked on a canvas like this, and while "Blood" doesn't have the pulsing complexity of something like "Magnolia," it's loaded with shots that can only be achieved by an extraordinary filmmaker unafraid to test himself and his audience. There will be blood in "There Will Be Blood," but a firmer, deeper exploration of its characters' moral conflicts would have helped that blood course through the veins of the viewer through all of a loooong two-and-a-half hours.

Bonus: Anyone looking to brush off advances from aggressive religious recruiters should simply recite Plainview’s brilliant strategy: “I enjoy all faiths. I don't belong to one.”

mpais@tribune.com

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