As with «The Crucible,» Day - Lewis» big explosion — this time into outright stark - raving, animalistic
rage, drooling and
towering over Eli while pushing at him to tease him — wouldn't count for much if not for the slow - burn of the rest of the performance, with the actor's gradual shift from at least somewhat human to All - Powerful American Businessman as a Monster shown by his body going from upright to crooked, his face from quietly hateful to anything but.