Detail levels in the 1080p/2.40:1 VC1 transfer, for instance, are really very high, with every frond of every dying weed visible, and signs of obvious texture in the dirt and dust.

This sort of HD sharpness and clarity is abundantly evident throughout the disc, with a level of consistency that's rarely seen on the Blu-rays we've tested to date. Making this all the more impressive is the fact that There Will Be Blood runs to the best part of 2hours and 40 minutes, and so could have tempted the disc encoders to compress the film more than they apparently have.

As well as looking detailed, though, the film's opening shot also looks a bit grainy, with noise over some of the dust and the sky. This sort of noise persists throughout pretty much the entire film, but it must be said that it's really quite low-level, and the amount of it is generally consistent, meaning you seldom find yourself distracted by it. In fact, apart from the rare occasions when it becomes a little too full on with shots of blue skies, the generally gentle noise levels lend the film a sense of grittiness and celluloid authenticity that if anything works in its favour.

Also generally impressive is the transfer's colour palette. The beautifully shot film skips around locations and different lighting conditions with gay abandon, but the colours always look totally convincing.

Very occasionally the disc falls prey to the temptation to over-stress edges, but really our only serious complaint concerns some inconsistency when showing dark scenes. And so while some dark shots possess a really superb degree of black level and contrast, others look a little greyed over and slightly noisy.

Sure, it won't push your speakers to breaking point. But what it lacks in explosiveness it makes up for with its surprisingly rich atmosphere and soft-spoken drama.

Take the opening scenes, for instance. Scarcely a word is spoken for the best part of 15 minutes, yet the soundtrack is full of subtle effects that bring home the isolation and harshness of the environment Daniel Plainview is working in.

It also establishes Plainview as a man far more about actions than words, which makes the contrast with his sudden verbosity when trying to persuade a township to let him have their lease all the more startling.

The point we're clumsily trying to make here is that There Will Be Blood's soundtrack isn't just there to keep the pictures company, but rather it's expertly used to add everything from an extra dimension of characterisation to an underlying sense of menace. In fact, at the risk of sounding pretentious, I'd even go so far as to say there are occasional moments of deliberate soundtrack incongruity that seem designed to make sure we retain a healthy level of intellectual detachment from the film, and Daniel Plainview in particular. This is a film that wants you to think at least as much as it wants you to emote.

The complexity of the soundtrack probably means it's hardly the sort of thing the Saturday night blockbuster crowd will be very keen on. But whether you like it or not, you can't argue that it achieves its high-falutin' aims superbly, and is very well represented by the clarity and punch of the Blu-ray's umcompressed PCM 5.1 mix, with its 48kHz, 4.6Mbps coding.

For those of you who don't have a receiver able to deal with such an uncompressed mix, the disc also carries English, French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes as well as French and Spanish DTS 5.1 mixes. It's odd there's no UK DTS mix, but there you go.

To be honest, I have to say that this oblique approach to extras slightly annoyed me, and a greater number of features would have been hugely appreciated - especially if they could have included a dream-team commentary from Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Day-Lewis!

But there is one redeeming point about the features, which is that overall the bits and bobs on offer evoke a pretty potent sense of the time the film is recalling.

The full list of features looks like this:
1. 15 minutes - a (very) vague sort of making of... documentary
2. Teaser trailer
3. Trailer
4. 'Fishing' sequence deleted scene.
5. Haircut/Interrupted Hymn deleted scenes.
6. Dailies Gone Wild - single extended out-take
7. The Story Of Petroleum documentary about the oil industry from the 1920s.

For a review of every feature on the disc, click here.

However, it's a shame this image has to be completely static and unaccompanied by even a short burst of the film's memorable score.

At least if you call up the menu as a 'pop-up' while watching the film a small box appears in the top right corner in which the film continues to play on. But otherwise There Will Be Blood's front end is the antithesis of the film itself: ie, basic.