Daniel Day Lewis made my year

Rating: Null/10 (27 May 2008)

I recently saw a "pay-per-view" of "There Will Be Blood" and I was stunned. Not blown away, not taken aback, not shocked, not horrified, but stunned. Going into the film I knew that Daniel Day Lewis' character Daniel Plainview would be (or end up being for that matter) a man with no empathy, but only his lust for wealth. I saw Lewis in Gangs of New York, but failed to recognize his supremacy as an actor, for I was young. In this film he may have given the best performance I have ever seen. Throughout the film Plainview is, in one aspect, simple (or "plain"). Never does he give the appearance of deception, which is I'm sure is his goal as an entrepreneur. He knows what he wants and he knows what he doesn't want (an example would be when he walks away from a prospective oil project in the early moments of the film due to the chaos among the townspeople). Plainview works patiently and smoothly until he gets what he wants. This is obvious in his actions of building the oil rigs and even in the way that he speaks. But when needed to achieve his ultimate goal, he takes violent and even deadly measures. Daniel Day Lewis acts the Plainview character to perfection, even down to his display of impatience for people when he bites his cheeks and moves his mouth about in frustration when in a conversation. I can not even really begin to describe why Daniel Day Lewis was the most believable as I have seen an actor unless you have seen the film, which I suggest any readers who haven't already do right away. As a film, there was no cohesive plot, there was no ongoing score (a trend, along with "No Country For Old Men," that I am thrilled to see, as it accentuates the performances), there was no twist or surprise ending. There was only the deterioration of the humanity of a man and its effects on his family and others. That is why I was stunned as the credits rolled; I knew what was going to happen, but was still captivated nonetheless. In the last scene, all of Plainviews choices made throughout the film are shown to truly make him the man he becomes- evil and unremorseful.