Blood, inspired by Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel "Oil!" is the story of Daniel Plainview (Lewis), a turn of the 20^th century prospector who finds oil in Texas, strikes it rich and begins to move his growing empire westward. During an early oil expedition, Plainview adopts a young orphan and molds the boy into a junior tycoon. But tragedy strikes as the young son, H.W., is injured in a drilling incident and left deaf by the incident. Unable to cope with his son’s disability, Plainview sends the boy away to a deaf school while his fortune grows. His paranoia starts to eat away at him, as bigger profits and even bigger obstacles come Plainview’s way. Plainview descends into a bitter and greed-driven older man, leaving himself lonely, drunk and shooting a shotgun at furniture at his home.

This movie is lead by Lewis’ stellar performance as a man whose downward spiral is evident, even before he leads himself into a drunken oblivion. It is his portrayal of Planview that is the single leading driving force in this movie. Much like his role in Gangs of New York (in which he was robbed of an Oscar, if you ask me), Lewis starts out as a seemingly devoted father figure, before letting his paranoia, past issues and greed affect the business and personal relationships around him. Maybe the Academy will get it right this year, and just give Lewis the damn Oscar already.

Little Miss Sunshine actor Paul Dano plays Eli Sunday, a wannabe preacher who is seemingly swindled by Plainview, only to later try to save him in the way only a preacher could. This scene may be the most memorable of the movie, as Plainview only repents his sins in order to make a business deal move forward. Dano’s creepy take on Eli may make churchgoers cringe, but he sells the role for all its worth.

Anderson’s pace of the movie is slow times and dialogue is non-existent for the first 15 minutes . Once the dialogue kicks in, the storytelling is very solid, albeit highly somber and nihilistic. Anderson’s style is a love-hate type of filmmaking, and if you loved his other movies, you will like the pace of this movie. (If you don’t like it, well…) Much like the main characters in his other films, Lewis’ Plainview shows his usual “rise, fall and fall even further into the abyss” motif that has been Anderson’s calling card throughout the years.

It may be a tough movie to watch at times, and you know that the ending his going to be far from uplifting, but Daniel Day-Lewis single-handedly saves There Will Be Blood, creating a movie that provides some closure and prevents it from being a Magnolia style head scratcher.