There Will Be Blood (2007) *****

There Will Be Blood follows the exploits of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis), an early 20th century oil man going through California communities and exploiting not only the land but the people above it. After meeting a mysterious young man that directs him toward his families land that rests above a large amount of oil. Plainview travels there with his adoptive son and encounters the young man's twin brother Eli (Paul Dano), who is considered a local prophet and figure head of his own local church. The film basically follows the trials and tribulations on both sides and how these things tear apart and break down people and families.

Paul Thomas Anderson shoots There Will Be Blood with a majesty that is reminiscent of John Ford, using nature as a magnificent back drop for the conflicts being laid out before the audience. There is such an eye for detail that many shots appear as if taken from a turn of the century newspaper or scrap book. It's the dirty details that real make this film stand out as something special.

Of course you can't talk about There Will Be Blood without mentioning Daniel Day Lewis. He is one of the best actors of this generation and also ranks among some of the all time greatest players. Just as he did with Bill The Butcher in Gangs of New York, Lewis has totally become the role of Daniel Plainview. He is a realistic portrayal of evil. Not the kind of evil that shoots lightning bolts or something that was born with him. The evil that is Daniel Plainview comes from what he has faced- the trials of being a miner and oil man and the greed that he not only holds in his heart but the greed contained in everyone around him. You can see him change throughout the film as he becomes older, crankier, and bitter. Daniel Day Lewis fills the role with a soul that you can't find on paper. Anyone can write a character, but it takes an actor to breath life into it. He gives Plainview a pulse. It was a formality to give him the Oscar.

The funny thing is that in any other year this would have been Best Picture. It is a true masterpiece in a decade filled with drivel and harkens back to earlier times and epic pictures. There Will Be Blood is the heir apparent to those epics. Some films try to be epic, but this one is built as one. A classic morality tale where everyone loses in one way or another.