Movie Review: There Will Be Blood

There are several ways to scoop an acting Oscar: playing a disabled character, making yourself look ugly or shouting a lot. In There Will Be Blood, Daniel Day-Lewis manages to do all three, making him a sure-fire winner when the Oscars arrive in a few weeks.

To be fair, his disability doesn't amount to much more than a limp, and he's not so much ugly than sporting a ridiculous moustache. But there's little denying that his portrayal of early 20th-century oil tycoon Daniel Plainview is one the greatest screen performances of the last decade.

The film is directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, who previously brought us the likes of Boogie Nights and Magnolia, and it charts both the birth of the oil industry and the moral breakdown of the magnetic central character.

This is serious cinema – two-and-a-half hours of weighty drama, moral complexity and epic storytelling. Anderson makes his intentions clear from the very start, opening with an entirely dialogue-free 15-minute prologue that will really sort the men from the boys among audiences.

The movie places a lot of emphasis on the business of drilling for oil, from complicated land negotiation to the actual business of getting it out of the ground, but despite the film's grand historical canvas, it's the story of Daniel Plainview that remains central to the plot. Day-Lewis grasps this complex character and breathes fearsome life into it – Plainview is, by turns, charming, devious, caring and utterly monstrous, increasingly consumed by his greed. There's also an impressive supporting role for upcoming star Paul Dano, playing a young preacher who enters into a battle of wits with the terrifying oil baron.

There Will Be Blood is an incredibly powerful film, beautifully shot and featuring a typically discordant score from Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood. The film's intensity may turn some viewers off, but Anderson is to be commended for turning in such an uncompromising piece of cinema.

Make no mistake, this is masterclass stuff, and when we're totting up the votes for movie of the decade in a couple of years time, expect There Will Be Blood to feature right near the top. And, of course, if nothing else, it'll whet the appetite for next year's even more important film about the oil industry – yep, I'm talking about the Dallas movie.

If oil, greed and moustaches aren't your idea of a great night out then check out our other reviews on this Oscar-nomination heavy week: Best Picture and Best Actress nominee Juno and Best Director nominee The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.