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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

There Will Be Blood
Paramount Vantage


7.1

based on 39 reviews
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based on 569 votes
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FILM:

Internet Movie Database

MPAA RATING: R for some violence

Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Ciaran Hinds, and Kevin J. O'Connor

When Daniel Plainview gets a mysterious tip-off that there's a little town out West where an ocean of oil is oozing out of the ground, he heads there with his son, H.W., to take their chances in dust-worn Little Boston. In this hardscrabble town, where the main excitement centers around the HOLY ROLLER church of charismatic preacher Eli Sunday, Plainview and H.W. make their lucky strike. But even as the well raises all of their fortunes, nothing will remain the same as conflicts escalate and every human value--love, hope, community, belief, ambition, and even the bond between father and son--is imperiled by corruption, deception, and the flow of oil. (Paramount Vantage)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Paul Thomas Anderson
DIRECTED BY:	Paul Thomas Anderson
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: April 8, 2008 Theatrical: December 26, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	158 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Newsweek David Ansen

There Will Be Blood is ferocious, and it will be championed and attacked with an equal ferocity. When the dust settles, we may look back on it as some kind of obsessed classic.

100

Premiere Glenn Kenny

There Will Be Blood is, in fact, not a historical saga; rather, it's an absurdist, blackly comic horror film with a very idiosyncratic satanic figure at its core.

100

The Hollywood Reporter John DeFore

Daniel Day-Lewis stuns in Paul Thomas Anderson's saga of a soul-dead oil man.

100

The New Yorker David Denby

An enthralling and powerfully eccentric American epic.

100

Variety Todd McCarthy

Boldly and magnificently strange, There Will Be Blood marks a significant departure in the work of Paul Thomas Anderson.

100

Slate Dana Stevens

For a story that's all about the harnessing of fateful chthonic forces, Paul Thomas Anderson has dug deeper than ever before, and struck black gold.

100

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

For bleakness, the movie can't be beat -- nor for brilliance.

100

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

The film is above all a consummate work of art, one that transcends the historically fraught context of its making, and its pleasures are unapologetically aesthetic. It reveals, excites, disturbs, provokes, but the window it opens is to human consciousness itself.

100

Film Threat Zack Haddad

This may be an extremely bold statement to make, but there hasn’t been such an amazing character study in film since “Citizen Kane.” I honestly can’t praise it enough. From the opening to the ghastly ending, this film will sit in the depths of your stomach for some time to come.

100

Village Voice J. Hoberman

This is truly a work of symphonic aspirations and masterful execution.

100

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Daniel Day-Lewis's portrayal is not just the performance of the year -- there will be injustice if he doesn't win an Oscar -- but a creation of awesome proportions.

100

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Anderson's uncompromising masterpiece will continue to resonate as a harrowing cautionary warning to a country with oil pumping through its veins, clouding its judgment and coarsening its soul.

100

Time Richard Schickel

One of the most wholly original American movies ever made.

100

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Day-Lewis... the role of a lifetime.

100

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

A searing, apocalyptic and finally breathtaking drama.

100

LA Weekly Scott Foundas

With There Will Be Blood, Paul Thomas Anderson has taken a stab at making The Great American Movie -- and I daresay he’s made one of them.

100

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

An unusual, visually hypnotic, American Gothic historical epic that traces the rise and tragic fall of a Western mining magnate of the Gilded Age.

100

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

There Will Be Blood" is anti-state of the art. It's the work of an analog filmmaker railing against an increasingly digitized world. In that sense, the movie is idiosyncratic, too: vintage visionary stuff.

100

New York Magazine David Edelstein

Anderson’s fearless, bighearted filmmaking is an antidote to the toxic cloud of Manifest Destiny. He has made a mad American classic.

100

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

In terms of excitement, imagination and rule-busting experimentation, it's a gusher.

100

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The fact that that character happens to be so repellent -- and yet so endlessly fascinating -- is one of the film's many strokes of genius.

100

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

There Will Be Blood is not a movie that disappears quietly.

100

Empire Helen O'Hara

Uncompromising, intelligent and searing cinema. Along with The Assassination Of Jesse James... and No Country For Old Men, this is the best batch of Western-set dramas in decades. John Huston would have been proud.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

It's first-rank filmmaking, through and through, even if it struggles to find closure.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Sprawling yet cramped, There Will Be Blood may not be the best movie of the year, but it's certainly the strangest. It evokes passing comparisons to everything from "Giant" to "Citizen Kane" but it's impossible to pigeonhole.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

It's important to remember that Sinclair was as much a committed socialist as a novelist, someone who probably wrote for political purpose more than for dramatic effect. So while Day-Lewis' gorgeous acting largely disguises it, the people in "Blood" tend to be schematic and the film as a whole has a weakness for the didactic.

USA Today Claudia Puig

A searingly intense and artful tale that grabs hold of the viewer from its jarring and wordless opening scenes and doesn't let go.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Just a few barrels short of being a masterpiece.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

That's not to say that There Will Be Blood isn't something exceptional; it's just that the movie is jarringly erratic, ranging from moments of delicacy to majesty to over-the-top bombast.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The kind of film that is easily called great. I am not sure of its greatness. It was filmed in the same area of Texas used by "No Country for Old Men," and that is a great film, and a perfect one. But There Will Be Blood"is not perfect, and in its imperfections we may see its reach exceeding its grasp. Which is not a dishonorable thing.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

With a grating symphonic score by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood and the constant sense of danger following Plainview, "Blood" does not release its grip on the audience until its last, bizarrely crazy minutes.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Between D-Day, the sheer ambition of Paul Thomas Anderson's historical epic and Robert Elswit's dazzling cinematography, this is a must-see movie - even though its emotional temperature rarely rises above freezing and the climax goes way, way, way over the top.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Unfortunately, the film's final third is poorly focused and, while there is a clear conclusion, it feels strangely hollow.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Ambitious, deeply flawed and studded with sequences that achieve pure, majestic greatness.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

It's mostly a disturbingly believable portrait of a psychopath whose true depths of rage are buried where none but he can see. The ironically named Plainview does not come into plain view until the last scene, and the lupine, scowling Day-Lewis is mesmerizing in the role.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

This has loads of swagger, but for stylistic audacity I prefer Anderson's more scattershot "Magnolia."

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Anderson almost brings off a picture worthy of his grandiose ambition.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

There are epic impulses everywhere you look in There Will Be Blood; what's missing is character development, focused storytelling and, most significantly (apart from that terrific opening sequence), any sense of raw, intuitive drama.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Anderson and Day-Lewis strip themselves of their natural talents for invention and poetry, as if any hint of romance, nobility or fun would soften the film.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.1 (out of 10) based on 569 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Steve S. gave it a4:
Calling this a good movie is an insult to good movies. I wanted to like it, and DD Lewis is always entertaining, but let's face it - the movie is ultimately a failure.

Tom M. gave it an8:
Those familiar with the past work of Daniel Day-Lewis will not be surprised by his stunning performance in THERE WILL BE BLOOD. During the film I found myself comparing him with some of our classic masters, from Barrymore to Brando. There are also excellent performances by many others in the cast, including Paul Dano as the primitive country minister and Kevin J. O'Connor as the (fraudulent?) half-brother. The story, based on an Upton Sinclair novel, is raw, rivetting, and unusual, and gradually becomes recognizable as driven and ruthless capitalist Americana. I hope to get to the library (or a favorite used bookstore) one of these days to see if I can find this 20th century gem sitting unread on a dusty shelf. Incidentally, the score and soundtrack by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead is innovative, captivating, and, at times, seems to be suggesting the loose cannon we are following; unfortunately, there were moments when I thought the audio was attempting to upstage the visual.

Watermelanjello P. gave it an8:
I really enjoyed this movie, and I am not "going with the critics" as some may accuse. Sure, there it was drawn out at times and it could be dry, but this is still a great film. The cinematography was beautiful, the acting top notch, and it was ambitious to say the least.

Joshua B. gave it a0:
I honestly believe this was one of the worst movies i have ever seen! Thought it was a joke when I saw it actually on the list.

Grant C. gave it a9:
Fantastic movie. I was worried about whether I liked it or not, but it enthralled me, and I actually saw past what some call a bad ending and saw a great moral lesson. Greed and selfihness lead to misery and despair in the end. The musical scores were fantastic, done by none other than the genius Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead (my favorite musician ever is Greenwood, favorite band is Radiohead). People like Jeff B. obviously don't know what the intentins of the scores were. It wasn't supposed to be music, but more a backing to support the escalation of the film's suspense.

Mark W gave it a5:
I consider films to be an art form and not just mindless entertainment. Like most forms of art the satisfaction in born out of seeing/hearing something new and refreshing, something that challenges the way you think. However, originality doesn't guarantee a masterpiece. That's where "There Will Be Blood" fits in, original but far from the masterpiece that the film critics would have you believe. The score was hideous and totally out of place at times and the acting or perhaps the characters were totally overdone. I don't think the central story of greed was very convincing and rather looked more focused on a mans degrading sanity. To top it all off the ending was awfully contrived, it just didn't fit and was poorly done. Eli Sunday could have easily escape and that was painfully obvious. I get the sense that this is one of those cases where as soon as Hollywood produces a film that is brave the critics rave, but compare this film to some of the better lesser known independent films and it pales in comparison. You can intellectualise this film as much as you like but when it comes down to it simply it isn't that good.

There Will Be Blood Paramount Vantage

There Will Be Blood
Paramount Vantage