Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood" is brilliant. The centerpiece is the great Daniel Day-Lewis, who is fearless. After all, oilman Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) is no sympathetic hero who finds God. There's no "character arc." He gets meaner as his life goes on.

Daniel is lean and weathered, not by the harsh conditions of his work but with his inner demons expressing themselves on his face and body. He is friendless, hates people, lies, and cheats. He is a bastard through and through. His only love is for his adopted young son and "partner", H.W. (Dillion Freasier).

Clearly, novelist Upton Sinclair (who wrote "Oil!" in 1929) understood that people never change. It's a myth. Unless, of course, and it's only a modification, if you accept Jesus as your personal Savior, or medicate yourself (I know firsthand).

"Blood" is an epic that begins with Daniel, freezing in stark solitude, prospecting for silver and gold. This work is dirty, lonely, and dangerous. Instead, when Daniel hits oil, he begins a cutthroat career as an oilman. It's his only pleasure. A sober young man, Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), comes to him with a proposition. He wants money for information where there is oil soaking up the fields. He needs money for his church. Daniel accesses the land and wants to buy up all the surrounding territory since monolithic Standard Oil is already closing in.

The squalor of the people is mitigated only by their deeply religious nature – something Daniel cannot abide with. The townspeople are enthralled with Eli, their self-anointed fire-and-brimstone young preacher. Eli's father and the other families put their trust in Daniel, who has cheated them out of not only their land, but profits.

Daniel's passion is just as strong as Eli's. He skillfully uses his study of people, and what they want, as manipulation. Eli seduces with promises of salvation; Daniel seduces with promises of wealth.

The dangerous drilling takes a toll on the workers and an accident causes H.W. to be badly injured. He loses his hearing and is cruelly rejected by Daniel – for burning down their tent.

To gain the only hold-out landowner – Daniel needs to build a pipeline on the man's property to bring the oil to the sea – he must confess his sins and accept Jesus in front of the entire community.

Daniel's humanity is awakened when a man, Henry (Kevin J. O'Connor), comes to Texas and claims he is his half-brother. He asks for a job and Daniel begins to bring him around as a replacement for H.W.

Yet, Daniel begins to feel uneasy about Henry.

To go any further would only disassemble a tale ripe with a mesmerizing study of a ruthless man set on transforming a landscape, purging the earth of its treasure, and freeing himself from all material needs. Only amassing money can liberate him from the stench of other people.

As Daniel's empire flourishes, he disintegrates. In the end, he is alone in his mansion. H.W. has returned to tell him he wants to start his own oil drilling company in Mexico. Daniel sees this as his son becoming a competitor and savagely tells him who he really is and why Daniel raised him. It's harrowing in its cruelty.

Daniel Day-Lewis is electrifying. He has embraced this role as if it was his last. He is consumed with Plainview. He revels in the role. Day-Lewis' protrayal ranks with the great performances of Robert De Niro in "Raging Bull" and Charlize Theron in "Monster."

We expect Day-Lewis to fully absorb his characters. Has he ever walked through a role? But it is Paul Dano who is a shock. He shook me. It is to Anderson's skill that Dano's performance is so shocking. His confidence in his character's truth is breathtaking.

The original music by Jonny Greenwood (much of the genius behind Radiohead) is fantastic. Luckily, I have the CD. This score is perfectly textured and such a distinctive companion to the tone of the film that it will stand alongside other great film scores.