Daniel Day-Lewis has reached the highest echelon that the art of film has to offer. He is up in rarefied atmosphere that has only been inhabited by a handful of actors throughout the last century, including Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando.

Battered, beaten and physically broken, Daniel Plainview crawls out of the dark depths of a gaping hole in the Earth. As he inches his way up a rocky hillside, the audience views a man who is covered in blood, yet somehow has an unmistakable smile upon his face.

There’s no harm in shedding blood, as long as some financial gain will come of it. This is pretty much the motto of Mr. Plainview, our guide in Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic tour de force, “There Will Be Blood.”

Loosely based on a portion of the 1927 novel “Oil!” by Upton Sinclair, Paul Thomas Anderson wrote and directed the film that revolves around the greed of man during the early years of the 20th century.

Chronicling the rise and fall of a silver prospector-turned oil baron, the story is a subtle blend of the lives of Charles Foster Kane and Doctor Faustus. Plainview, played with rare perfection by Daniel Day-Lewis, travels around the California countryside with his son and partner, H.W. The two of them make their fortune by dipping their hands further and further into the black gold that bleeds from the Earth.

Daniel Day-Lewis has reached the highest echelon that the art of film has to offer. He is up in rarefied atmosphere that has only been inhabited by a handful of actors throughout the last century, including Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando.

When Plainview asks his estranged half-brother if he is an angry man, it’s as if Day-Lewis is staring out of the screen and posing the question to the viewer. He is so wholly captivating in all of his nuanced rage and glory, to the point where the actor no longer exists and we are left watching a fictional character that appears as real as anyone we have ever met.

As Plainview snarls the words, “I have a competition in me,” audiences immediately perceive this as an admission of his greed and constant lust to best his fellow man. However, as the film progresses, it becomes clear that this competition can also refer to the battle raging inside of him between good and evil.

Day-Lewis is complimented by his spiritual antonym Eli Sunday, a snake-oil salesman who uses his supposed connection with God to gain notoriety and wealth. Played perfectly by Paul Dano, Sunday shares many motivations with Plainview, but the two go about achieving their selfish goals in different ways.

One of the many highlights of the film come near the end of the second act, when Plainview has allowed himself to be “cleansed” by Eli in order to complete a business venture. During this moment, the power struggle between the two reaches a new level of intensity. It’s as if two titans are locked in an eternal struggle that leaves a path of destruction in their wake.

Johnny Greenwood, lead guitarist for Radiohead, provides an unorthodox score that draws themes from cinema history while creating a sound rarely found in film. With hints of Hitchcock composer Bernard Herrmann and subtle homage to numerous Kubrick scores, Greenwood enhances the desolation and unadulterated hate that is found throughout every frame of the film.

Visually, “There Will Be Blood” is the rare film that simply must be seen on the big screen. It solidifies Paul Thomas Anderson as one of the finest directors working in film today.

Every shot is meticulously framed and thoughtfully paced. The opening 15 minutes, which are entirely devoid of dialogue, are visually entrancing. Anderson is a true embodiment of the word storyteller.

“There Will Be Blood” is, quite simply, the reason why film-lovers go to the movies.

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