YMMV / There Will Be Blood

• Adaptation Displacement: Admit it, you only know of Upton Sinclair's Oil! because it was the basis for this movie.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Most people interpret young H.W. as a good little kid trying to be the best (adopted) son he can be to Daniel. However, in one profound way, one must wonder if a little of Daniel's psychotic nature has rubbed off on him. Remember how H.W. tries to kill the impostor posing as Henry Plainview by setting his bed on fire? Granted, he was right to be suspicious of the man, and he was likely trying to protect Daniel, but even so that is still a pretty awful and insane thing to do. And sure, H.W. is young, but he is definitely old enough to know that fire is dangerous and can kill people, especially considering his adopted father is an oil tycoon. Plus, based on how the event is shown, if the fire got out of hand, H.W. could have gotten the impostor, Daniel, AND himself killed. Thankfully, this issue seems to have been resolved by the time H.W. becomes an adult.
    Of course, that's if you think the purpose of the fire was to kill Henry. It's also possible that it was simply a cry for help from a young boy terrified of a future he can't understand and unable to communicate that fear or receive reassurance from his father.
  • Daniel Plainview: How evil is he? Is Eli better or worse than him?
    • Just about every heinous act that Daniel did is understandable, and could arguably be justified:
    • Sending H.W. to a school for the deaf? He'd just tried to burn down the house and kill the man Daniel thought was his brother. Just about any wealthy parent in the 1910s would have reacted like that. Besides...he probably needed the school.
    • Killing Henry? He'd just conned him into thinking he was his brother, and it was because of him that he sent H.W. away.
    • "Bastard in a basket"? His adopted son is walking out to be his competition. For all we know, it could have been said out of hurt. (And the scenes intercut with H.W. walking out are the two in better times, suggesting Daniel was simply angry and didn't mean it...but felt that his love of H.W. was a liability now that he was a competitor.)
    • Killing Eli? Eli was an evil bastard who humiliated him.
  • How sincere was Daniel's relationship with H.W.? H.W. was his Morality Pet early on in the film, and Daniel shows remorse about abandoning him, even having a tearful reunion with him. Though this was after Eli shamed Daniel in front of a church and Daniel felt his manhood was being challenged by business rival over his treatment of his son. So was the reunion legitimately heartfelt or was Daniel just trying to save face. This is made even more ambiguous with the final flashback; Daniel briefly playing with H.W. but then leaving him to work on his oil rig.
  • Renegade Cut suggest the film is an mediatation on the philosophy of Nietzsche whom Plainview strongly resembles.
• Aluminum Christmas Trees: Milkshakes aren't a random, unexpected example of Anachronism Stew: Milkshakes (at least whiskey and whiskey cream-based ones) have been around by that name since the early-to-mid 1880s, and are appropriate for a metaphor by an alcoholic oil baron.
• Award Snub:
  • Considered to be the best film of an already strong year for movies, yet it lost Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay to No Country for Old Men, which, while plenty acclaimed, did not receive as much reverence as this movie has.
  • Paul Dano went surprisingly unlauded. Despite his acclaimed turn, his only major nomination was at Bafta.
• Awesome Music:
  • The use of Arvo Pärt's Fratres is good, but it's all about Jonny Greenwood's Convergence, a cacophonous, arrhythmic dirge that plays over the oil-well fire sequence.
  • The third movement of Johannes Brahms' Violin Concerto in D major is used twice in the film. The second time it serves as the music for the credits, which obviously occur right after the ending. The Soundtrack Dissonance alone makes it excellent.
• Catharsis Factor: Eli is such a smug person, the audience can enjoy the times when Daniel humiliates, beats, and finally kills him.
• Cry for the Devil: Eli is a bastard, but his defeat and murder is so utterly pathetic that you can be forgiven for pitying him.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Daniel Plainview is generally regarded as a reprehensible human being. However, there are still a number of fans who claim he’s not nearly as bad as he seems.
• Evil Is Cool: Daniel is an evil businessman, but his sheer drive and ambition make him fun to watch.
• Heartwarming Moments: Mary and H.W.'s wedding, where she signs her vows to him.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Paul Dano plays a character who gets killed by being hit in the head repeatedly. He would kill somebody the same way in The Batman (2022).
• It Was His Sled: Daniel drains the oil from under the entire area without Eli's knowledge, then mockingly reveals it to him (years after the fact, when Eli finally caves and tries to sell him the properties he doesn't already own) by likening it to drinking a milkshake with a giant straw. Though that speech is the only thing about the film that many people know, it's actually a big revelation that comes out in the very last scene.
• Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: Daniel is a greedy, manipulative monster who abandons his own disabled son. But more people resented Eli for being a smug, hypocritical, cowardly, and utterly pathetic fundamentalist.
• Love to Hate:
  • Daniel Plainview is a rotten-to-the-core bastard, but Lewis' captivating and magnetic performance makes him a joy to watch.
  • Eli is a hypocritical, whiny, and cowardly wimp who whimpers over a single slap, making his suffering incredibly fun for the audience to watch.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "I drink your milkshake!"^ExplanationWhen Daniel reveals that he secretly drained all the oil from Eli's land, leaving the preacher destitute, he likens the act to stealing his milkshake using an absurdly long straw that reaches across the room. The bizarre nature of the metaphor combined with Daniel Day-Lewis' hammy delivery already made the dialogue notable enough, but the inherent silliness of this particular line when taken out of context resulted in it becoming a widespread subject for parody, inspiring photoshops and modifications of the line.
  • Mike Nelson seems determined to single-handedly keep the line "I'VE ABANDONED MY CHILD! I'VE ABANDONED MY BOY!" in people's collective memory.
• Misaimed Fandom:
  • Despite the fact that Plainview is most commonly seen as a monstrous psychopath, and that the dominant interpretation of the film is as a condemnation of people like him (or rather the politicial/societal climate that enables people like him to succeed), a decent portion of viewers related to (and supported) Plainview.
  • Granted, it's easy to root for Plainview when he's put up against someone as unlikable as Eli, however these viewers seem to ignore that the point of the film is to show the moral degradation of Daniel. This is especially glaring in regards to the ending of the film, a number of viewers seem to think that Daniel's brutal murder of Eli is a good thing, and is meant to represent the ultimate triumph of Plainview, despite the fact that his utterance of "I'm finished!" is meant to represent how empty his life has become, and that he'll be headed for jail or a mental ward now.
• Moment of Awesome:
  • The whole "I drink your milkshake!" lines. Depending on how you saw it, it could either be this or a Narm. Or both.
  • And, to a lesser extent, "Draaaaaaaiiinage!"
• Moral Event Horizon: There are a number of possible justifications for Daniel's behavior, right up until he starts yelling "Bastard from a basket!" at his freshly disowned adopted son. Then it all goes downhill.
• Narm Charm:
  • The moment where Daniel reveals that he stole Eli's oil and likens it to stealing his milkshake with a giant straw is memetically popular for how bizarre it is even in context, but Daniel Day-Lewis' delivery of the line and the chaos that unfolds afterwards drives home the idea that Daniel has gone completely nuts due to his greed spiraling out of control.
  • Eli's sermon where he "exorcises" the arthritis from one of his parishioners manages to be both ridiculous and disturbing at the same time. In particular, the bit where he says that if he loses his teeth he will "gum" the ghost would be laughable if he didn't have his group of fanatics believing every word he says.
• One-Scene Wonder: Real life deaf actor Russell Harvard delivers a short but impressive performance as adult HW.
• Ron the Death Eater: While Eli is indeed a slimy, hypocrite bastard, many people demonize him to the point of considering worse than Daniel, despite Daniel being equally as exploitative, on top of being an Abusive Parent and a double murderer by the end of the film, whose killing of Eli is a clear case of Disproportionate Retribution.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: The film can fall into this for some given its lack of sympathetic characters (HW being the exception). With the main character a vicious, amoral, stop-at-nothing sociopath, the main villain a smug, cowardly, hypocritical religious zealot, and the background characters being no saints themselves, it can be difficult to find someone to root for.
• Watch It for the Meme: Once again, the milkshake scene.

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