There Will Be Blood 

Blu-ray Review

Paramount

Release: June 3, 2008

There Will Be Blood was one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year, telling the story of a man’s need for two things, money and power. He yearns to control absolutely everything and anyone around him at all times. The star, Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) lives off of the need for power. This is a true classic Hollywood epic in every sense of the word.

There Will Be Blood starts out with an event, where Daniel, while mining for silver, falls when a ladder breaks. He manages to get himself back up though to claim his find, blasting where the silver is located. Upon doing this, he discovers the ground with tons and tons of oil, and suddenly, his eyes light up.

Daniel Day-Lewis is truly the star here, playing an incredible role as Plainview. You see this character evolve right before your eyes with his disabled "son", his ego growing bigger and bigger with the more power he gains, and internal demons he continues to fight.

He goes toe to toe with another man with a great lust for power, Paul Sunday (Paul Dano). He also clashes with the twin brother of Paul, Eli, also played by Paul Dano. With all of it focused on one thing for Plainview, power through oil.

The film presented in a striking 1080p/VC-1 transfer on the Blu-ray format, completely over-shadowing the DVD release back in April.

The colors are top notch with very realistic and natural flesh-tones, along with great black levels. The true highlight of the video transfer on Blu-ray here are some of the outdoor scenes as the scenery is truly awe-inspiring. The level of detail and texture that went into the film shines true and bright on the Blu-ray format.

The only minor complaint is that the video quality is not always consistent, as the quality does drop out in a few little scenes.

The audio on Blu-ray is presented in a great Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround track that is extremely clear and

immersive.

The way in which the dialogue was handled in the front channels gets complimented nicely with great spatial work of the rear channels.

The film stays in a soft-tone when necessary to present the audio properly, and then picks up at the right moments.

As close to the theater-experience you are going to get to say the least.

The extras in the Blu-ray release are not as plentiful as you may have hoped, as they include everything from the standard DVD release, only in HD.

The first feature is called 15 Minutes, which is a slide show of photos from the late 1800s and early 1900s. You will see images of people whom Plainview emulated, such as miners, those in search for oil, etc. These images are them shown next to clips from the film, showing how true-to-life the film is.

Beyond that you get a 6-minute deleted scene of sorts called Fishing, as well as a 3-minute scene called Haircut/Interrupted Hymm. Rounding out the deleted scenes is Dailies Gone Wild, also running for 3-minutes.

A silent documentary produced in 1923 is also featured called The Story of Petroleum. It explains the story of how people went to California in hunt of oil. You see many very old photos from the 1800s, as well as explanations as to how drilling was done for oil, and more. This gives a great background story for the film, with a lot of facts and educational tidbits being thrown in.

The trailer and teaser trailer are also included.

A making of feature or audio commentary could have helped add more value to the release for sure, but perhaps a special edition will release somewhere down the line.

There Will Be Blood is a tremendous film with a great story. The film is presented on the Blu-ray format with a fantastic video and audio transfer, but special features that are a bit lacking. The film is good enough though to still warrant a spot in your Blu-ray collection.

Film: 9.5   

A great film with Daniel Day-Lewis absolutely stealing the show, this one will be talked about for a long time.

Video: 8.8   

A tremendous video transfer on Blu-ray, much improved over the DVD release.

Audio: 9.0 

As close to the theater-experience as you will get.

Extras: 6.5   

With no audio commentary or making of feature, there is not much here beyond the silent documentary included.

Final Score: 8.2