A Modern Classic

Rating: 10/10 (15 March 2012)

This is a movie that transcends stereotypes. Most reviewers vilify Daniel Plainview without looking at the hard evidence provided by the film. He is a driven, conflicted, even ruthless, person but His love for "his son" is undeniable as he rushes headlong into the dangerous blowout to rescue him. This is not to imply that he doesn't use him when it suites his needs But to paint him as a heartless villain is to oversimplify a complex portrait.
The film is a fabulous cinematographic art piece of one of those technologically transformative eras of American history. A portrait of a Steve Jobs like persona during of the birth of the oil industry.