History YMMV / ThereWillBeBlood

*** Just about every heinous act that Daniel did 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.

*** "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.

* AwardSnub: Paul Dano went surprisingly unlauded. Pitting Dano against [[Film/NoCountryForOldMen Javier Bardem]] is pretty unfair to both of them, though.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: 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 is a smug, cowardly, hypocritical religious zealot, and the background characters being no saints themselves, it can be difficult to find someone to root for.

*** "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.

* AllThereIsToKnowAboutTheCryingGame: [[spoiler: 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.

* DracoInLeatherPants: [[Downplayed.]] [[VillainProtagonist 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. See AlternateCharacterInterpretation above.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: 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.

* MoralEventHorizon: [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation There are a number of possible justifications]] for Daniel's behavior, right up until he starts yelling [[spoiler: "Bastard from a basket!" at his freshly disowned, adopted son]]. Then it all goes downhill.

** [[{{Podcast/Rifftrax}} Mike Nelson]] seems determined to single-handedly keep the line "I'VE ABANDONED MY SON! I'VE ABANDONED MY BOY!" in people's collective memory.

* MoralEventHorizon: [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation There are a number of possible justifications]] for Daniel's behavior, right up until he starts yelling [[spoiler: "Bastard from a basket!" at his freshly disowned, adopted son]]. Then it all goes downhill.

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome:
** The whole '''"I drink your milkshake!"''' lines. Depending on how you saw it, it could either be this or a {{Narm}}. ''Or [[NarmCharm both]]''.
** And, to a lesser extent, "'''Draaaaaaaiiinage!'''"

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome:
** The whole '''"I drink your milkshake!"''' lines. Depending on how you saw it, it could either be this or a {{Narm}}. ''Or [[NarmCharm both]]''.
** And, to a lesser extent, "'''Draaaaaaaiiinage!'''"

* MagnificentBastard: Daniel Plainview, ESPECIALLY near the end of the movie.

* NightmareFuel: It's a pretty disturbing film.
** [[spoiler: Henry not dying straight away despite a bullet in the brain is pretty damn disturbing.]]
** It's [[FridgeBrilliance intriguing]] that most of the nightmare fuel comes from [[SoundtrackDissonance the soundtrack]] playing over what are mostly pastoral landscapes in West Texas. On multiple viewings, though, the nightmare fuel shifts to being Daniel Plainview himself.
** As mentioned above under NarmCharm, Eli's exorcism ceremony would be laughable except for the fact that his parishioners are fanatically hanging on to his every word, making the scene really creepy.
** The entire last scene. [[spoiler: No matter how much you dislike Eli, it's still very unnerving to watch him first be reduced to groveling and tears, then to be chased around by the obviously furious and likely insane Daniel, unable to escape the room, then being bludgeoned to death as he begs for mercy. Yikes.]]

** 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 [[spoiler: 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.
** That's ''if'' you think the purpose of the fire was to [[spoiler: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.

*** How sincere was Daniel's relationship with H.W.? H.W. was his MoralityPet early on in the film, and Daniel shows remorse about abandoning him, even having a tearful reunion with him. Though this was after [[spoiler: 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; [[spoiler: Daniel briefly playing with H.W. but then leaving him to work on his oil rig.]]

** The use of Arvo Pärt's ''Fratres'' is good, but it's all about [[{{Radiohead}} Jonny Greenwood's]] ''Convergence'', a cacophonous, arrhythmic dirge that plays over the oilwell fire sequence.

** The entire ending scene in the bowling alley. It's as if the ''entire film'' was building up to [[spoiler:Daniel murdering Eli by beating the shit out of him]]. It's incredibly cathartic.
*** And literally so, considering the movie ends [[spoiler: with Daniel falling exhausted to the ground after killing Eli and simply says, "I'm finished."]] And so are we.

** Granted, it's easy to root for Plainview when he's put up against someone as unlikable as [[SmugSnake 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 [[spoiler: Daniel's brutal murder of Eli]] is a good thing, and is meant to represent the ultimate triumph of Plainview, despite his last line of "I'm finished!" is blatantly meant to represent that the opposite has just transpired, and [[spoiler: that he'll be headed for jail or a mental ward now.]]

*** "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPpvboR7FTs Well you're a meanie from jerktown]]."

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: 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 [[spoiler: 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.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: The whole '''"I drink your milkshake!"''' lines. Depending on how you saw it, it could either be this or a {{Narm}}. ''Or [[NarmCharm both]]''.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The use of Arvo Pärt's ''Fratres'' is good, but it's all about [[{{Radiohead}} Jonny Greenwood's]] ''Convergence'', a cacophonous, arrhythmic dirge that plays over the oilwell fire sequence.
** The third movement of Brahm's "Violin Concerto in D" 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 SoundtrackDissonance alone makes it excellent.

* MemeticMutation: The milkshake line again.

* MisaimedFandom: 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.

* {{Narm}} / NarmCharm: Splits the opinions of the milkshake lines even further.

* [[AwardSnub Oscar Snub]]: Paul Dano went surprisingly unlauded.
** Pitting Dano against [[Film/NoCountryForOldMen Javier Bardem]] is pretty unfair to both of them, though.

* WatchItForTheMeme: [[RunningGag Once again]], the milkshake scene.