If you only do a movie every odd year, you might as well do it right.
This modern great is a deceptively simple tale of a good man whose quest for power ultimately leads him down a murderous path. Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) is an oil man pure and simple, but his battle with the church and its headstrong young preacher Eli Sunday (Paul Dano) are what form the dark heart of the stark masterpiece.
What Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia) has created is unlike anything else you will have ever seen, a gripping, intelligent epic anchored by one of celluloids most remarkable performances by Day-Lewis who illicits both sympathy and revulsion in equal measure.
The Blu ray itself is not quite as impressive. Featuring only a modicom of featurettes and trailers, a Dolby Digital rather than TrueHD soundtrack (though the French and Spanish get DTS) and no commentaries. At least the picture quality is sharp with every scene rendered perfectly bringing to life Robert Elswits beautiful cinematography.
At the end of the day though this film does not need special features or a THX approved soundtrack to warrant purchase, the milkshake monologue at the films climax is worth the admission price all on its own. Highly recommended.
| Blu-Ray Disc Ratings:
Movie: Sound: Picture: Overall (Not an Average): |
