Jeff, I'm often with the readers who get harsh with you. I suspect I will be with all your readers who love you for this review.

You deserve all the kudos you get for this (spoiler free!) review-- just perfect, whets my appetite even more for what looks like an amazing, challenging film.

Thank you VERY much.

Sounds like a fascinating character study. I'm going to drag my girlfriend to this and tell her she is going to hate it, then she may actually end up liking it to a certain degree. She actually liked The Assassination of Jesse James.

Jeff, awesome review. Thanks for keeping the details and spoilers to a minimum and yet still be able to convey the tone and mood of the film.

But do you really think it will make only $2 to $3 million at the box office? Surely, any nominations or rewards it receives (DDL is certain to be nominated for GG and Oscar, and will probably do well in the critics circles) will boost its potential. Without having seen the movie, obviously, $15 to $20 million seems realistic, and that's taking your word for it that it's as hateful as you say.

Sounds like the "Feel Good Hit of the Fall!"

Nicely written review, but it sounds like such a miserable and depressing picture. I'll pass.

Thanks, Wells. Good review. I'm just looking forward to what bigfan0808 thinks about the film. Is Daniel Plainview single?

I don't get it... Bloggers always say that they don't read early reviews because it taints their own opinion of a picture. And then they go ahead and publish their own earlies right after a screening. Are their untouched opinions more important than their readers?

Sounds great, and thank oyu for the great review, Jeff. No spoilers too!!
But don't underestimate the timing, even if this is black and dark material. The anti holiday programming might kick in well. Perhaps with the WGA strike people will not be getting their TV fix in December, and the spill over into There Will Be Blood will be even greater...
Who know?

Great review, Jeff, but you've made two crucial mistakes:

1) There's a difference between a misanthropic film and a misanthropic character. People always make the same mistake when talking about Kubrick. Of course, he was far more detached (literally) and misanthropic than Anderson.

2) Anderson didn't have a troubled or hateful relationship with his father, he had a troubled and hateful relationship with his mother. Draw your own conclusions, but from every interview I've ever read, as well as his commentaries on his first two films, he genuinely worshipped his father. They lived together as bachelors into Anderson's 20s. Seriously, he didn't hate him.

DIGG This. Great review Jeff!

http://digg.com/movies/There_Will_Be_Blood_Legendary_Go_for_broke_Fiercely_Psychological

In the absence of the promised moviegoer reaction, I'll provide a soundbite, "Three and a half hours after posting it, Jeffrey Wells announces what his girlfriend thinks."

PS - I love how conflicted your enthusiasm for the film is -- genuine ambivalence is rare in film criticism these days -- but it seems that you are second-guessing your enthuisasm because you fear that others won't agree. Why not just give us your reaction, rather than anticipate the reactions of others?

I haven't seen the film or heard the soundtrack, but I'm doubtful of a Greenwood nomination for Best Score. That group is notoriously insular, and it's tough for a new person to break in, especially one with a rock background. It took years for Danny Elfman to break through, and he writes fairly conventional scores for a guy who was once in Oingo Boingo. Gustavo Santaollala breaking through may signify a change, but a guy from Radiohead, with a group that nominates John Williams and James Horner at every chance? Not so sure.

My grandfather spent the 1920s working oil fields in Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, and West Texas. He was one hardened old SOB when I got to know him in the 1960s. A man full of contradictions. I'll see it just to see what he lived through as a young guy.

'Most women viewers will probably despise it, and yet it's easily one of the year's best made films.'

From the sounds of it, most viewers--regardless of gender--will probably despise it. The majority of movie-goers (again, regardless of gender), I think, are not looking for something quite as dark as this sounds. Personally, this woman is looking forward to it; I think it sounds fantastic. The darker, the better, sez me.

Is the message in this film really saying "don't turn to religion to help cure your ills"? I would hope it is saying no to the hypocrisy that exists in religion, not that religion itself is the problem.

I count myself as a person using Christianity as an idea of how I would like to live my life but not as a place to turn when there is something wrong. The hypocrisy in hiding oneself behind your religious beliefs is what I find sickening in the world today. If you turn to God and ask for help, sorry to say so buddy but you ain't gonna get it. It's better to try and do the right thing before you go crawling to your God and try to get out of you mistakes.

Regardless, that's a great review and all it did was make me want to see this film even more. Also, my girlfriend loved "Jesse James".

Great, Jeff! I look forward to reading this AFTER I see There Will Be Blood.

Wells has a girlfriend?

Iamjoe is right, Anderson loved his father and was/is estranged from his mother.

Wait I mean JD is right. Durr.

Wait, i mean JD is right.

Gotta agree with Jackrabbit (though I haven't heard Greenwood's score yet). Jon Brion fell victim to this anti-rock prejudice with his terrific scores for Magnolia/Punch-Drunk Love/Eternal Sunshine... and Cliff Martinez's brilliant work with Steven Soderbergh has been overlooked for years (though that may have more to do with the guild's aversion to electronic music).

VoiceOfReason, as of Sharon Waxman's 2005 book Rebels on the Backlot, PTA said he was back in touch with his mother and things were okay between them.

Great Review Jeff!!

Without giving anything away, as a character, how does Plainview compare to, say, the also diseased Hearst in "Deadwood?"

Hearst is a teddy bear.

well done Jeff

Nice comparison, Vitesse98.

It's funny, when I originally saw the teaser for this film I thought of Swearingen from Deadwood. But, as I read more about Plainview, it's obvious that the comparison breaks down because (and I can't believe I'm saying this) Swearingen is too good-natured a guy!

Now Kris is saying that Hearst is a teddy bear compared to Plainview. My goodness.

And while we're on the subject, why is HBO spinning its wheels on the Deadwood epilogue films. I heard they took down the set.

Oh, well. Still a less-maddening ending than Carinvale had.

Is it kosher to post a comment in a thread about a post you haven't read? Ok, I read the first paragraph and that's all I need to know until I see the thing for myself.

I'm still a little worried about No Country For Old Men (oh, the weight of expectation), but I'm more excited than ever for There Will Be Blood.

Can't wait.

Nicely written Jeff, although I'll be disappointed if religious hypocrisy is a key theme...it's only been covered ad nauseum since, what, Tartuffe??? Does PTA have something to add that Moliere missed?

Religious people are hypocrites because people are hypocrites. Republicans are hypocrites because people are hypocrites. Democrats are hypocrites because...well, you get the idea. Hypocrisy is a human condition not ascribable to any one group, is there any great revelation in singling out one versus another?

I think Delbomber when the hypocrisy comes from those in power, whether it's religious or political, it's fair to say something about it.

What I don't get is people that can't watch dark themed movies. Real life is just that. Not everything and everyone are happy or don't deal with demons. I can still find interest in someone who is happy as the same with someone who is not. Is the charcater interesting? Not every movie character can be Andy from Shawshank or Forrest Gump. I'm sure there are people just like Plainview. There may have been in the theatre last night. It doesn't make me not like the movie because I don't like the character or it's not a happy ending. Not everybody's lives are a happy ending.

I really liked Boogy Nights, never "got" Magnolia and thought Punch Drunk Love was overrated (especially the fact that everyone raved about Sandler and I didn't see him doing anything new)...

But I'll be buggared if Jeff's weeks of hype (and this review) haven't made me excited for this.

I hope I don't have to wait to long to see it (and No Country for Old Men) in Australia.

I can't believe I have to wait until late December for this. Please Gods of the Heavens allow us in L.A. to see this sooner. No Country and Gangster are going to help with the wait. But.....fuck.

I haven't seen Jeff this effusive since 'Touching the Void'. I'm hoping this time he's a little closer to the mark.

"I can't keep doing this on my own. With these...people."

I love how seriously you took this review, Jeffrey. Great work, and watching a movie about a truly dark, tragic figure played out on an epic scale from PTA sounds like heaven to me.

Word of warning. If Wells loves it it means it has no heart at all and is as cold as a film can get.