A mighty classic. Day-Lewis please have my babies.

Rating: 10/10 (29 February 2008)

You hear stories of how directors (e.g. Scorses for Gangs Of New York) run elaborate plots to try to pin-down Daniel Day-Lewis, get him to read their script, and sign up to their current project. So craved is his talent.
You imagine that from his first reading Day-Lewis put pen to paper with excitement in anticipation of what he knew he could do with the character. As in every moment of his presence in this film you can see that he gives his all. He takes hold of this film and the character takes hold of him. Day-Lewis is Daniel Plainview, a man on his own, an almost penniless oil prospector scratching holes in the ground. You watch him change over a 30 year period of his life.
The film begins with a sequence of scenes with an absence of dialogue. However, there is a mighty score reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Oddessy. This is a glorious decision by the filmmakers as the film now belongs less to the early 1900s of its setting and more to today (thankfully no twanging banjos here.)
You and Plainview develop an understanding. You admire his hard-working regime and his negotiation skills with the locals that he come across. You would trust him with your offspring. But, over time Plainview adds demons into his character. I will refrain from giving any more description on this. I feel that Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now was trying to achieve what Day-Lewis pulls off in this film.
I love films. There Will Be Blood is what makes me love films. This now means that I can optimistically go forth into the future and watch a whole heap of mediocre/poor films all the time knowing that one day there will be another mighty classic such as this.