Paramount has been late to the Blu party but more than makes up for it with the recent addition of There Will Be Blood on Blu-ray. The film is such a visually visceral experience that I can now no longer stand to see the recent standard DVD version of the film. Now, it’s important that I clarify that this is not to say that the transfer is anywhere near the best I’ve seen. In fact, I’m a bit disappointed. I’m commenting mostly on how much HD in general complements this film. This is now the second time I’ve watched this film in a relatively short span of time. I must say it has gotten better with the second viewing. There are so many nuances to this film that a single viewing just isn’t enough. Renting this film is not an option. You’ve simply got to own it. For the most part my previous notes on the film itself still stand. I’ve made slight modifications based on my more recent viewing, now in HD.

He might not have been “shootin’ at some food” but for Daniel Plainville it’s all about that “bubblin’ crude. Oil that is. Black Gold. Texas Tea”. Our story begins in 1898 before the world would really become so completely addicted to oil. Plainville is a miner looking for silver when an accident that nearly kills him leads to an even more valuable discovery. The film actually begins quite slowly, which doesn’t exactly bode well for a film over two and a half hours long. It will be 10 minutes and 4 years in film time before we witness the significance of Plainville’s chance discovery. It will be over 14 minutes before the first words of dialog are heard, a sales pitch by Plainville that serves as a near perfect prologue for the events to come.

Daniel Plainville, traveling the country with his adopted son, is a slick salesman. He enters towns where oil has been discovered and attempts to get the land leases to mine the oil. His presentation has the sound of a snake oil salesman, and about as much sincerity. Dennis DeYoung once said in a song that sincerity was the key. Once you learn to fake it, he explains, you’re going to be home free. He must have been talking about a man like Daniel Plainville. He talks a good game of family, God, and community, but in reality has time for none of those things. He readily admits in private that he doesn’t like people very much. Many of his arrogant choices come back to haunt him in a series of events that can only be characterized as poetic justice gone wild.

The film is based on work by Upton Sinclair. Sinclair was a social justice crusader who came to renown when he wrote a rather shocking expose of the meat industry. The Jungle led to many of the food standards that we take for granted today. There Will Be Blood is no exception to Sinclair’s body of work.. Daniel Plainville (Day Lewis) learns that the town of Little Boston might be sitting on what he describes as “an ocean of oil”. He investigates under the ruse of quail hunting. Before very long he has won over the town and their land. Plainville engages in a rivalry with the local evangelical preacher, Ely (Dano). It has been suggested to me that Plainville sees himself in Ely, which causes him such disdain for the man. Now that I’ve seen it again, I think I can see the point a little more clearly. He makes promises he doesn’t keep and appears to go out of his way to publicly slight him. Unfortunately it is his own arrogance that causes him to ignore one of the landowners that finds him in Ely’s clutches. Things do not go very smooth for Plainville, thus the extra long running time. From fatal accidents and fires to his own son’s injury, he marches through never daunted by these setbacks; Plainville is obviously a man obsessed. I must say the film ends rather awkwardly, and I appear to have missed some point. I think that the last 20 minutes could likely be cut and we might have a superior film. Somewhere along the way, and it certainly could be Sinclair’s original material, there was too strong a need to over-moralize. The film is steeped in symbolism that is sometimes a rather long stretch.

The film’s strongest link is the absolutely phenomenal performances given by every actor in the cast. Daniel Day-Lewis received a much deserved Academy Award for the role. I honestly wouldn’t have the room here to say enough about his performance. Without a lot of visible effort, he wears the part so completely and so comfortably that he is at once believable. I especially love it when an actor chooses the subtle style to bring out nuances in a character that, while they might not be readily noticeable, leave us thoroughly convinced that he is who he says he is. This is one of those performances. Paul Dano, to a lesser degree, accomplishes a lot as Ely the preacher. He sometimes reaches for effect, and it might not be apparent at all if not for the presence of Day-Lewis. A strong nod should go out to Dillon Freasier who plays H.W., Plainville’s son. The actor has almost no dialog but is able to use his silence to portray a remarkably complicated individual. If you like to see good acting, you really shouldn’t pass this film up.

Video

There Will Be Blood is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.40:1. This is a very average VC-1/1080p transfer. I suspect that the encoding was originally prepared for an HD-DVD release, which was Paramount’s format of choice until the end of the format war. The bit rate settles near an impressive30-35 mbps through most of the film. Still, the print doesn’t strike me as corresponding to such a respectable bit rate. The length of the film doesn’t help here, and likely the extras should have been included on another disc. It appears that some effort was made to remove some of the film’s heavy grain. That was a mistake. Grain is an essential part of the storytelling here, and its removal only served to make the film much softer in color and texture. Both sharpness and black levels suffer because of the choice. As I’ve already written, it is still a remarkable film when viewed in HD, but it could have been so much more.

Audio

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 presentation is still not a terribly dynamic one, nor should it be. Music plays a key role here, and it comes through with crystal clarity. Dialog is usually easy to catch, but there are moments, likely intentional, where soft-spoken dialog gets a little lost. Fortunately there are close captioned options if you feel you missed something important. With this presentation subs are the most noticeable improvement. I recall being terribly disappointed in the lack of low end fullness, and that flaw was corrected here to my satisfaction. Again, there could have been so much more done with this track. I was hoping to encounter a much more engaging surround mix, but there is still very little separation. The film sounds too claustrophobic, a shame for such an expansive visual.

Special Features

All of the extras are presented in HD but are pretty much the same as was found on the DVD.

15 Minutes: As the title suggests, this feature runs a tad over 15 minutes. It is a montage of clips and stills from the film and production stills. There is music but no narration of any kind.

Deleted Scenes: There are 2. Neither will add anything significant. One is more Plainville/HW while the second explores the religious conflict a bit.

Dailies Gone Wild: This is actually an extended scene of Daniel verbally accosting the oilmen at the restaurant. I’m not sure I understand the title.

The Story Of Petroleum: This is an old documentary made in the 1920’s by The Sinclair Oil as a promotional piece, likely shown in theatres. It shows the procedures of the time in extracting oil. Of course this is an old documentary, so the HD bit is pretty much meaningless here.

2 Trailers finish the extras list.

Final Thoughts

The film gets better with repeated viewings. The entire piece is dripping with atmosphere, anchored solidly by the stellar performance by Daniel Day-Lewis. It is my hope that as Paramount settles into the Blu-ray business we’ll see better transfers from the studio. With films like the Trek films and The Godfather on the horizon, let’s hope so. I’m just going to be grateful for the HD print and replace my standard DVD and its rather awkward packaging. I wish I’d seen this one in the theaters. So far I haven’t seen a truly magnificent copy of this film. “The Lord sometimes challenges us, doesn’t he?”