The rest of the time, Plainview and Anderson are champions contently working without a word, letting the score, the super ensemble cast, and the actions do the brunt of the talking, even as cinematographer Robert Elswit breathtakingly caresses the arid world of menfolk, masochism and muck.
Sure, Blood is a long and brooding movie spread over a huge scale, but there is an intimacy to the proceedings; an epic, as if shot in extreme close-up.
The plot is an overwhelming one, one of ambition and ruthlessness and the perils of taking both capitalism and religion to heart too seriously, to believe the lies you tell, to justify your priorities. To help you sleep at night. Or not.
Daniel Plainview finds a nemesis in the meekly fanatical evangelist Eli Sunday (an impeccably impressive Paul Dano), and both engage in a lifelong duel, fought through humiliation. Yet that is more than enough for you to know; discovering the rest on your own would be a fearful joy I dare not detract from.
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