History Film / ThereWillBeBlood

* CapitalismisBad: Daniel acts as a living embodiment of capitalist excesses via his characterization as a CorruptCorporateExecutive who prioritizes profits over human lives. As soon as he gets his oil-drilling business running, he dismisses the death of a worker in an industrial accident and instead claims his orphaned son as a marketing opportunity, he is willing to sacrifice anything and everything to ensure that his company succeeds, and ultimately [[spoiler:pettily sabotages and even murders people with way less power than him just to spite them]]. Tellingly, the story starts in the 19th century, when capitalism reached the extent where working conditions were at their most destructive and exploitative, and ends just after the onset of TheGreatDepression.

* InsultBackfire: [[spoiler: When Daniel tells H. W. he's "a bastard in a basket", H. W. thanks God that he has nothing of Daniel in him.]]

%%* {{Jerkass}}: Daniel, though Eli isn't much better.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler:While this was a sure sign that Daniel had gone off the deep end, its hard to feel bad for the murder of Eli.]]

* LaughingMad: Daniel laughs for a few seconds after [[spoiler: the burning wooden oil rig collapses.]]

Taking place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries during the Southern California oil boom, the film focuses on Daniel Plainview (Day-Lewis), an oilman who travels the state buying people's land to drill. He is accompanied by his young adopted son and "business partner", H.W.

* Tragedy: The tragic story of a silver miner turned oilman who embarks on a ruthless quest for wealth and power during the early 20th century oil boom.

The film was and is regarded as a landmark of not only the year, and the decade, but the century, with similar magnitudes of praise going to Day-Lewis' performance, for which he won most every honor that the 2007 award circuit had available for Best Actor, including his second UsefulNotes/AcademyAward. It further won an Oscar for Best Cinematography (Robert Elswit), but lost its six other nominations (including Best Picture), half of them going to another universally lauded Paramount Vantage/Miramax co-production with a winter 2007 release: ''Literature/NoCountryForOldMen''. Miramax, owned by Creator/{{Disney}} from 1993-2010, now has a minority stake owned by Paramount, giving it the worldwide rights to ''No Country for Old Men'' and ''There Will Be Blood'' as the new distributor of the Miramax library.

* SmallRoleBigImpact: [[spoiler:Paul Sunday]] shows up only briefly, gets paid $500 upfront for information [[spoiler:that turns out to be absolutely correct]] and is never seen again afterwards. [[spoiler:Yet if not for him, much of the movie, and Daniel’s ultimate fate, would never have happened.]]

* StupidStatementDanceMix: Type "There Will Be Blood" in the Website/YouTube search box, it is ''guaranteed'' at least half of the results are "I drink your milkshake!" videos.

* TheHero: The true protagonist is H.W. Plainview.

* {{Jerkass}}: Daniel, though Eli isn't much better.

* AssholeVictim: As their conflict is a clear cut case of EvilVersusEvil, it's hard to feel sorry for [[spoiler: Eli Sunday when Daniel kills him.]]

* AssholeVictim: As their conflict is a clear cut case of EvilVersusEvil, it's hard to feel sorry for [[spoiler: Eli Sunday]] when Daniel kills him.

*** Eli Sunday is named after Eli, which is both the Hebrew name of God as well as a Biblical Israeli judge. There is irony in the divine interpretation of the name, because although Eli Sunday starts his own church to preach his own gospel (as if he were God) he is shown to be instead incredibly immoral and powerless, unable to heal H.W. and easily physically subdued. The Biblical judge Eli dies suddenly after learning that his power has suddenly been stripped from him, a close parallel to Eli Sunday's powerless desperation in the face of the oncoming Clutch Plague.

The film was and is regarded as a landmark of not only the year but the century, with similar magnitudes of praise going to Day-Lewis' performance, for which he won most every honor that the 2007 award circuit had available for Best Actor, including his second UsefulNotes/AcademyAward. It further won an Oscar for Best Cinematography (Robert Elswit), but lost its six other nominations (including Best Picture), half of them going to another universally lauded Paramount Vantage/Miramax co-production with a winter 2007 release: ''Literature/NoCountryForOldMen''. Miramax, owned by Creator/{{Disney}} from 1993-2010, now has a minority stake owned by Paramount, giving it the worldwide rights to ''No Country for Old Men'' and ''There Will Be Blood'' as the new distributor of the Miramax library.

The film was and still is regarded as a landmark of not only the year but the century, with similar magnitudes of praise going to Day-Lewis' performance, for which he won most every honor that the 2007 award circuit had available for Best Actor, including his second UsefulNotes/AcademyAward. It further won an Oscar for Best Cinematography (Robert Elswit), but lost its six other nominations (including Best Picture), half of them going to another universally lauded Paramount Vantage/Miramax co-production with a winter 2007 release: ''Literature/NoCountryForOldMen''. Miramax, owned by Creator/{{Disney}} from 1993-2010, now has a minority stake owned by Paramount, giving it the worldwide rights to ''No Country for Old Men'' and ''There Will Be Blood'' as the new distributor of the Miramax library.

* AmbiguouslyGay: The effeminate Eli Sunday, who at the end praises Bandy's grandson's physical beauty, then breaks down crying about having sinned in ways he'd never thought existed. [[spoiler:He may just have been crying about having lost all his money in bad investments.]]

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Milkshakes aren't a random, unexpected example of AnachronismStew: Milkshakes (at least whiskey and whiskey cream-based ones) have been around by that name since [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milkshake#History the early-to-mid 1880s]], and are appropriate for a metaphor by an alcoholic oil baron.

* SignatureLine: The widely quoted line "I drink your milkshake!" , with a signature delivery as a garnish.

* PyrrhicVillainy: Daniel states that his goal is to make enough money to build a giant house and live away from everybody. This is exactly what he does, but he doesn't enjoy his isolation, having become alienated (at best) from everyone we've seen him care about.

* NiceHat: Daniel's got one.

* {{Greed}}: Daniel's defining trait. He will stop at absolutely nothing if it means getting more oil and more money.

''There Will Be Blood'' is a 2007 {{period drama}} film written, directed, and co-produced by Creator/PaulThomasAnderson, starring Creator/DanielDayLewis and Creator/PaulDano, and loosely based on the first half of the novel ''Oil!'' by Upton Sinclair.

The film takes place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries during the Southern California oil boom. It focuses on Daniel Plainview (Day-Lewis), an oilman who travels the state buying people's land to drill. He is accompanied by his young adopted son and "business partner", H.W.

** A shot of the Sunday table shows Abel and the daughters eating dinner. Cut to the next shot, which shows Paul sitting at the other end, still covered in oil and filth from the previous scene in which Daniel dunked him in a sludge pond. Cue an enraged Paul attacking his father for selling the land cheap.

The film was and still is regarded as a landmark of not only the year but the century, with similar magnitudes of praise going to Day-Lewis' performance, for which he won most every honor that the 2007 award circuit had available for Best Actor, including his second UsefulNotes/AcademyAward. It further won an Oscar for Best Cinematography (Robert Elswit), but lost its six other nominations (including Best Picture), half of them going to another universally lauded Paramount Vantage/Miramax co-production with a winter 2007 release: ''Literature/NoCountryForOldMen''.

* MindRape: Daniel lays a truly savage one on Eli in the climax, reducing the man to tears. For bonus points, we only have Daniel's word on [[spoiler: Paul's success and the drainage of Eli's land]], but his delivery is strong enough that the victim doesn't question it. [[spoiler: and then he bashes Eli's brains out with a wood bowling pin.]]

* OscarBait