What a movie

Rating: 10/10 (30 December 2007)

This movie is a masterpiece. The way people view it entirely depends on whether or not they can stick with it through to the end. The end is crazy, and Daniel Day-Lewis does maybe the best acting I've ever seen during this portion. People put too much weight on the confrontation at the end, because they're trying to find some greater meaning to all of it. But there is great truth in what takes place. At the end of the day, guys like Daniel Plainview (greedy bastards) always suck the life out of people weaker and less aggressive than them, just because they can. And DDL has already given us plenty of buildup to see how this guy got to be so insane and sociopathic. I never thought Eli Sunday was some kind of mirror image of Plainview. When I read that in other reviews I grimace at the screen. Eli is (or should I say was) as Daniel said, "a sniveling ass", and Daniel is "the Third Revelation". This Eli kid acted like he had everything under control the entire time. He thought he was a step ahead or smart or something. And Daniel Plainview just wanted so badly to completely eviscerate this kid. Plainview is too cocky to let any dumb kid try and appear cocky within a 100 mile radius of him and not throw down. He hates any competition (although it is what ultimately drives him, he is never an amiable participant), most of all having to compete with someone so frustratingly below his level. So for this kid to pop up again in his life at the point where he really has hit his hard-drinking, psychotic rock bottom, what could have possibly happened that doesn't at the end of this movie?
All in all, Daniel Day-Lewis is the greatest actor on screen today, hands down. The kid who plays H.W. is a real find, and Paul Dano does a great job of playing a pussy trying to be a man. And the score, cinematography, art direction, and direction in general are flawless. Best movie of the 00's.