One of the greatest performances of all time

Rating: 9/10 (28 January 2008)

Daniel Day Lewis cannot be denied. He goes beyond what most actors are even capable of doing. This truly is his masterstroke, and to give the academy award to another actor would be an insult to the institution of acting. What Day Lewis achieves with this performance embodies the very definition of acting, and it will be remembered as one of the most powerful and most influential performances in history.
The film itself is terrifying, and intensified only by Johnny Greenwood’s amazing musical score. It is a history piece, and in a very sadistic way it is a comedy. But above all it is a horror film about the atrocities of a quintessential anti-hero, and one that the audience is forced to reconcile with. But there is a much deeper message, and at its core is the confrontation between Plainview and Eli Sunday. Sunday, pious and very naive, is the exact opposite of Plainview, and by pitting these characters together we see manifested before our eyes one of the most fundamental dilemmas of human nature. The great mistake would be to assume this film is anti-religion, or anti-capitalist for that matter. Anderson simply picked the worst parts from either side and set them loose on each other. The result is a brutal and universal battle that you cannot turn away from.
Perhaps the only element of the film which is less than perfect is the span of time that it attempts to cover. There is a scene that requires a massive leap in time in which Plainview's son, now grown up and married, confronts his father. Up until that point, the film has risen to a climax so expertly only to be suddenly jarred by a very large leap ahead (10 years or so) in order to fit in this subplot. The scene has no cathartic element for Plainview, who remains as unwavering as ever, and seems superfluous in the grand scheme of things, which is unfortunate because it is a powerful scene and very well acted. It is clear from start to finish that the plot of the film is not about Plainview verses himself as much as it is Plainview verses Sunday, and this scene only serves to draw attention away from the major conflict, hardly worth interrupting the atmosphere that the film has already built up.
But then again, there would have been no bowling for priests...