Great acting, disappointing movie.
Daniel Day-Lewis is a great actor and he turns in his usual powerful performance. Unfortunately, I wish he'd chosen a better vehicle for his talents. I very much enjoyed the detailed re-creation of a bygone era, but perhaps because it was based on a shallow novel of socialist agitprop, the story did nothing for me. There are no really major obstacles for the protagonist to overcome, just minor challenges. Why was Plainview such a heartless misanthrope? We have no idea. Why was the preacher boy such a raving lunatic? Beats me. Unfortunately, all this movie gives us are exaggerated stock characters from a socialist morality play.

Weird, unsettling and magnificent!
This is, hands down, without a doubt, one of the strangest damn movies I have ever seen. Unsettling and weird and wonderful and fantastic.

The plot is simple: a man, Daniel Plainview, steamrollers over everyone and everything in his path in order to get oil, and thereby, money and power. There's a great many comparisons that can be made between this character and Charles Foster Kane (and if you haven't seen Citizen Kane (Two-Disc Special Edition), do so), the primary difference being that Kane at least was somewhat likable. The best you can say for Plainview is that he is, at times, pitiable.

Mostly the movie is a character study, pitting Plainview against a young preacher, Eli Sunday. His church is called The Church of the Third Revelation, which if you're a smart-a$$ like me tells you everything you need to know about who he is and what he does. Suffice to say that in modern times he'd have big hair, a bad suit and the ability to cry/plead for money on cue whenever a TV camera is on him.

It's very hard to describe this movie beyond what I've said, at least as far as the plot goes. The cinematography is mind-blowing and the music is... well, effective. There's a weird sound that plays over the soundtrack from time to time. It sounds rather like an air-raide siren if you only played out the first note of it and then didn't stop.

It is one of the most memorable and effective films I've ever seen. It's very hard to watch at times, but entirely worth it, if for no other reason than Daniel Day-Lewis' performance.

One last note: whomever thought this was a good idea for DVD packaging needs to be smacked, cause it totally isn't. Green, yes, but very stupid. Some sort of plastic to at least hold the discs in place would've been nice, but, oh, well.

There Will Be Blood and time for a nap
"There Will Be Blood" Daniel Day Lewis performance is spectacular and captivating as a violent, selfish hell bent man with a death wish. Lewis's character desires to take all for himself regardless of the cost, making Scrooge look like a pansy by comparison. Lewis's performance is the only thing that will keep a couch potato watching this very slow movie to the very end. As a watched this film I thought surely acting this amazing is going to lead into a thick deep twisted move plot making my eyes open wide when all I could really think about while watching this movie was taking a nap. When the end of the movie came, my eyes finally open wide as I wondered what drug the writers of this script were on when this bad pointless going nowhere piece was written. The ending of this movie truly makes one feel "There Will Be Blood" was a complete waste of even a couch potatoes time. Daniel Day Lewis is a far better actor than the piece of junk screenplay given him. Seeing this boring movie in blu-ray did not help it much. For Lewis's outstanding acting alone, I give this movie 3 potato 4 potato. Couch Potato Michael

Attn Women: Bring a good book to this movie!
Great acting!! But wasted on a sluggish, slow moving, poorly edited story line. I thought it was because I'm a women. But my very male other half was more disappointed than me. And he's the one who wanted to see it!

Fantastic Character Development
This movie would have won a lot more Oscars this year if it were not for No Country For Old Men. Daniel Day-Lewis's performance was one of the best of this generation and his character, Daniel Plainview, is one of the most developed characters of all time. We are able to see his transformation that occurs due to the greed and hatred for all those around him. By the end of the film we are left with a character that confuses the viewer, which it should. The fact remains that if you did not enjoy this film, you did not engage it. If you did enjoy it, then it should be a memorable film, to say the least. The Blu-ray version is top notch and I suggest it for anyone who enjoyed this film or enjoys film in general.