A masterful exploration of the dark sides of human nature.

Rating: 10/10 (22 February 2011)

There will be blood is one of my favorite films. It conveys grandeur and imagery spectacularly in it's cinematography and direction, it's acting is spectacular and larger than life, the soundtrack is haunting and shocking and the story is universal and surprisingly relatable.
Daniel-Day Lewis portrays Daniel Plainview, a great actor portraying a great character. Daniel succumbs to greed and human indulgence. He addmitedly "hates most people", and wants to be alone. He uses his son for a sales tactic. He's a drunk. So why do we like him so much? Because he is us. He is what we are if we truly succumb to human nature. He descends lower and lower into this personal hell until the name of the movie comes into play.
His adversary is Eli, a evangelical preacher. The characters contrast well and gives Daniel chances to show his personality. Eli is played by Paul Dano. I honestly don't understand the criticism of his acting in this movie. I thought he was a fantastic actor worthy of standing next to Day-Lewis.
I really can't describe this movie. It is so deep, so profound that I can't see how any intelligent adult would not be able to acknowledge it's greatness.