Excellent casting raise the bar of this film

Rating: 6/10 (27 April 2019)

I watched this film expecting some masterpiece by what I had read however I was left distinctly underwhelmed.
It is basically set in the early twentieth century as the vast land of the United States is mined for oil.
Daniel Day Lewis plays Daniel Plainview, a Cliff Barnes (Dallas, RIP) like character who is the big positive of this film.
He is a ruthless character. A capitalist who senses a quick few bucks and will do anything to achieve his aims it seems.
Day Lewis characterisation of Plainview reminded me of his performance as Bill The Butcher in Gangs of New York.
His ruthless streak is shown when he abandons his young son, HW.
He displays all the business skills of Donald Trump in promising ranch owners a future of paradise if they sell their oil fertile land to him to plunder for oil.
One such landowner is Abel Sunday who has two identical twin sons Paul and Eli Sunday both played by Paul Dano who I saw in the excellent 2014 biopic of Brian Wilson, Love & Mercy.
Eli is a self-proclaimed preacher/faith healer. The tension between Eli and Plainview explodes in several scenes throughout the film. Scenes that are tense and at times violent.
The performance of the cast are what raises the bar of this film. Director Paul Thomas Anderson can be praised for delivering excellent scenes between them.
However be warned. The film is quite lengthy and bleak.