Strong, beautiful, moving

Rating: 8/10 (14 April 2008)

A very realistic set-up, a very good story, and an outstanding performance of Day-Lewis, which I will not easily forget. Captivating music, very good dialogs, a great depth in the analysis of characters and situations. The rudeness of far West life is back in the screen: again, the basic human instincts come out... survival instinct, competition, fear, love, generosity, egoism... The tenderness of the relationship Plainview - son is remarkable. The only real criticism comes in relation with the, in my view, totally superfluous last 25 minutes, which degrade the overall quality of the movie: unnecessary, slow, boring despite the good dialogs and performances, they make the film lose a bit of its spectacular consistency.