Once in a blue moon, a film comes along that is so intense and powerful, so well thought through and well-enacted that it just boggles the mind. “There Will Be Blood” is that film. Featuring two of the most intense creators in Hollywood, director Paul Thomas Anderson and actor Daniel Day Lewis, the film brings to life an epic story of greed and determination in an study of one of the most interesting characters to appear on screen.

Roughly based on Upton Sinclair’s novel “Oil!,” Blood follows the life of Daniel Plainview, an oil speculator in early 1900′s California. Both Anderson and Day Lewis are notorious for taking on few projects and putting everything they have into the ones they do. Together, the two bring Plainview and his quest to mine the Earth for wealth to such epic grandeur that it will leave you stunned in your seats until the final chord of the Brahms Violin Concerto that fills the credits.

The simple plot centers around Plainview’s mining of a Californian town named Little Boston and his battle for supremacy with a local faith healer Eli Sunday (Paul Dano). The depth of the film derives from watching Plainview’s character and trying to plumb his motivations and depth. From the opening wordless scene, in which Plainview drags himself out of a mineshaft with a broken leg, his steely resolve is something to be reckoned with. This singular determination drives him throughout the whole film and drags us along with him.

Paired with brilliant production design by Jack Fisk (it is hard to believe that you have actually not stumbled into a real turn of the century town) and a searing, wild score by Radiohead bassist Jonny Greenwood, the film crescendos to a work of staggering force.

I have nothing else to offer other than for you to go and watch the film and let it speak for itself. As the saying goes “a picture is worth a thousand words” and far be it from me to try attempt in a mere couple hundred to match the artistry and emotive punch that has been distilled into “There Will Be Blood.”