Based on Upton Sinclair's Oil!, Paul Thomas Anderson's already massively acclaimed epic There Will Be Blood centers around the forces that have driven civilization since its formation, most notably greed and faith. But it's far from that simple. Featuring some of the most complex characters, motivations, and plotting of the year, There Will Be Blood will be incredibly rewarding for many movie-goers, giving them ample fodder to discuss and deconstruct for years to come. For me, the experience was akin to watching a masterful technician at work, but from a distance. There Will Be Blood is easily one of the best-made films of 2007, a perfect bookend to Zodiac in terms of design, cinematography, and the other technical elements that have made both films so highly regarded. But, like Zodiac, there's something missing from There Will Be Blood. Can a film be too perfect? When watching There Will Be Blood, I found myself longing for the more manic, dangerous energy of Anderson's earlier work. At times, though, film is not always the sum of its parts. While I have extreme admiration for P.T. Anderson's direction, Robert Elswit's cinematography, Jonny Greenwood's score, and what's unquestionably the best performance of the year in film from Daniel Day-Lewis, I found myself regarding all of those elements separately instead of feeling something else by how they were brought together.

Daniel Day-Lewis stars as Daniel Plainview, one of the most fascinating cinematic anti-heroes in years. To call Plainview "driven" would be a massive understatement. Anderson opens his film with nearly twenty dialogue-free minutes with Plainview as he searches for oil, nearly loses his life in doing so, witnesses a colleague die, takes the deceased's child as his own, and becomes very, very rich. The act of filming these early scenes with no dialogue makes it clear what kind of man Plainview is. He's the kind who can go days, maybe even months, without words. Action is what matters to Plainview. Daniel Day-Lewis brings this mesmerizing creation to incredible physical life, playing him as a tightly coiled, borderline insane man who takes satisfaction in nothing. He's like a shark in that if he can't keep moving up in his deranged worldview, he thinks he'll die. And nothing, not even his own son, will stand in his way.

The main obstacle for Plainview - and his thematic counterpart - is Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), the local religious leader in a town that's making the oil baron incredibly wealthy. What drives There Will Be Blood is the idea that what Plainview and Sunday are selling, despite their disdain for each other, isn't all that different. Plainview sells hope in the almighty dollar through the faith that what's under the ground will change your life. Sunday sells hope in the almighty God through the faith that what's under your soul will change your life. And both men have what you really needed at the turn of the century to make your name in the world - the power of persuasion. People flock to follow Plainview and Sunday's respective religions, and their worldviews collide in one of the most riveting scenes in years as Sunday forces Plainview on his knees to repent. It's an amazing sequence. What lies beneath the action - Plainview is repenting only for money and Sunday is less concerned about Plainview's soul than forcing him into an embarrassing position - is far more important than what the eye can see.

The theme of that scene - that our true actions bubble underneath like oil, faith, or blood - is the reason that There Will Be Blood works as well as it does. It's the kind of film that you will roll over in your mind for weeks, mulling Anderson's pastiche of themes, patterns, and ideas. It marks a step forward for Paul Thomas Anderson on a filmmaking level because it offers no easy answers (although I would argue that neither did Punch-Drunk Love, his first major step forward after the more shallow-but-still-great Boogie Nights and Magnolia) and, in some cases, no answers at all. It's a challenging, cold, daring work that will drive some people crazy, while others will fall madly in love. The only thing missing from There Will Be Blood is something almost intangible, a roughness around the edges that's often hard to find in a film this technically accomplished. It's a film that my head truly respects but my heart doesn't love. Even with that, it's a must-see as we head into 2008.

For more on There Will Be Blood, be sure to check out our interview with actor Daniel Day-Lewis and The Deadbolt's picks for The Best Performances of 2007.