The best things about Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood are not elements that will build large audiences. This is a film about character development/disintegration and a comprehensive look at the early days of the oil industry. The more the film focuses on the mechanics of finding oil, the process of getting it out of the ground, and the politics of persuading landowners to sell the rights to their property, There Will Be Blood has the capacity to engage, if not enthrall. Unfortunately, the film's final third is poorly focused and, while there is a clear conclusion, it feels strangely hollow.

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