There Will Be Blood (2007)

There Will Be Blood builds so carefully to its conclusion that when it arrives you feel genuinely moved. The the American hunger thread pays off in a way that's earned rather than manipulative. Couldn't sleep afterward.

There Will Be Blood ended and I sat with it for weeks. The capitalism and greed theme kept circling back. I'd be doing something mundane and the I drink your milkshake scene would pop into my head. That kind of resonance is rare.

We watched There Will Be Blood together and spent an hour talking about religion as power afterward. That kind of conversation doesn't happen often. The film gives you something real to think about together.

There Will Be Blood has been praised so heavily that no film could live up to the hype completely. It's an excellent film — Jonny Greenwood's discordant score is genuinely remarkable — but it's not the untouchable masterpiece some claim.

Every actor brings something to There Will Be Blood, but the lead performance is genuinely extraordinary. The subtlety involved, the way the character changes without announcing it — it's a masterclass.

There are scenes in cinema you never forget. For me, the oil derrick fire in There Will Be Blood is one of them. Paul Thomas Anderson constructs it with total precision and it lands exactly as intended. Pure craft.

There Will Be Blood is not background viewing. Every scene requires you. Put your phone down, dim the lights. Paul Thomas Anderson is doing too much to be half-watched. Give it the attention it deserves.

Everyone focuses on the lead in There Will Be Blood but the supporting cast is extraordinary. Every scene partner brings something real. It makes the world feel fully inhabited rather than staged.

I went into There Will Be Blood knowing nothing — no trailer, no plot summary. I strongly recommend that approach. The capitalism and greed hits much harder when you haven't been primed for it. Go in cold.

Some elements of There Will Be Blood show their age, but the core of it — capitalism and greed, the epic sweep — hasn't diminished at all. Films this good age better than almost anything else.