There Will Be Blood
2-Disc Collector's Edition

As rich, daring, detailed, emotional, complex, and original as any film released in 2007, There Will Be Blood is that rare film that actually earns the label "instant classic." Unlike its gloriously cinematic (but inferior) awards season rival, No Country For Old Men -- which is marred by one-too-many goofy supporting characters, several structural mishaps, and an overall sensibility that feels slight by comparison -- There Will Be Blood is a film that proudly depicts real, flawed, contradictory, and mysterious people living in the real world with none of the Coens' winking detachment or genre shortcuts. While most filmmakers are content to play around with the same old tricks, Paul Thomas Anderson is quietly inventing a new cinematic language.

But enough about the movie. The real issue at hand is this 2-disc DVD released on the heels of the film's surprisingly lucrative theatrical run. The first thing that needs to be noted is the packaging. The last time I remember Paramount issuing a package comparable to this was the 2002 edition of Saturday Night Fever. In a relatively thin slip case, we get a fold-out paper/cardboard case with a variation on the film's attractive teaser poster and the text of Daniel's "Ladies and gentleman..." speech. Unfortunately, the discs are simply tucked into the paper/cardboard -- much like Milestone's recent The Charles Burnett Collection -- which is not ideal.

As for the content of the discs, all the features (roughly an hour in total) are included on disc 2, which should bring back memories of the similarly scattershot -- but occasionally transcendent -- second disc for Anderson's previous film, Punch-Drunk Love. The most substantial extra is The Story of Petroleum, a 26-minute silent promotional film made by the U.S. Bureau of Mines and the Sinclair Oil Company in the mid-1920s. Clearly a key reference in the making of Anderson's film -- the building blocks of several key shots and sequences are evident here -- this is to There Will Be Blood what the John Holmes documentary Exhausted was to Boogie Nights.

In an inspired editorial choice, the DVD's producer (or maybe Anderson himself) elected to use Johnny Greenwood's score as musical accompaniment for this short. Not only does this give the film a much darker quality than its original filmmakers intended, it also makes the parallels to There Will Be Blood more palpable. As an added bonus, a few brief cues appear to be unique to this release (or at least I didn't recognize them from the film).

Additional features include "15 Minutes" (a visual comparison of research imagery -- including some clips from The Story of Petroleum -- and clips from the movie, as well as a few outtakes), the amazing teaser trailer that Anderson and editor Dylan Tischenor leaked on YouTube without permission from their bosses at Paramount (who have now pulled the teaser from YouTube), one of the film's other theatrical trailers (the one that was released closer to the film's theatrical release; see below), and three intriguing compilations of deleted material.

The first is "Fishing," a peculiar, 6-minute montage that almost plays like a stand-alone short film. The highlight is a moment when Daniel tells Eli's father Abel that he is "a weak little man" and his son is a "lunatic."

We also get something called "Dailies Gone Wild," which is really just an alternate take of the scene between a drunken Daniel and his son in a bar after H.W. returns from exile. Clearly, Anderson and Tischenor had an embarrassment of riches in the edition room, as there are enough amazing Daniel Day-Lewis moments here to earn most actors an Oscar nomination. It's especially nice to see Lewis and the actor playing his son (Dillon Freasier) break character and laugh at the end of the take, as this flies in the face of the myth that Day-Lewis never breaks character (though I guess he might be laughing in character).

There are two deleted scenes that were released online prior to the film's release -- one involving a camp fire (again, see below) and the other involving a hair cut -- but only the hair cut scene has made it on the DVD. Interestingly, this scene is followed by a few minutes of elliptical, non-linear editing (comprised primarily of alternate takes) that briefly recalls the Punch-Drunk Love extra, Blossoms & Blood.

To be honest, this hour of extras is more informative/educational than entertaining -- it's a bit like flipping through a library book, while watching a movie -- but that seems appropriate for such an aggressively uncompromising and confrontational work. Nobody involved with the film is shown or heard speaking about There Will Be Blood at any point on this DVD. Anderson doesn't even make a cameo (though his handwriting is featured prominently in "15 Minutes"), as absolutely no behind-the-scenes content is included, research material notwithstanding. Again, this is probably for the best, as the movie's greatest virtue is its refusal to pin itself down and offer (or accommodate) simple conclusions.

As for the first disc, it contains the film and nothing else. While I'd rather be reviewing a Blu-ray copy of the movie right now, Paramount certainly couldn't have done any better transferring the film's Oscar-winning cinematography to DVD.

Overall, this is a solid release that does this monumental film justice and leaves you thirsty for more. Now about that Blu-ray... -- Jonathan Doyle