These 2 Words Gave Us the Greatest Ending in Modern Cinema
This piece argues that the true climactic line of Paul Thomas Anderson's 2007 film *There Will Be Blood* isn't the famous "I drink your milkshake" speech, but the two words Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) utters afterwards: "I'm finished." The author contends this simpler declaration better captures the film's tragedy, marking the definitive end of Plainview's decades-long moral collapse as he pursues wealth at the cost of his humanity, relationships and son.
The article traces how Plainview's rivalry with preacher Eli Sunday (Paul Dano) frames the story from their first land deal through to the final confrontation, in which Plainview kills Eli in his private bowling alley after humiliating him. While the scene plays as a moment of triumph for Plainview, the writer frames it as a tragic conclusion for the audience, who have watched greed strip him of everything meaningful, presenting the film as a broader critique of how capitalism corrupts.
- Writer says "I'm finished" tops "milkshake" as the film's key line
- It marks Daniel Plainview's final moral and emotional collapse
- Piece reads *There Will Be Blood* as a critique of capitalism's cost
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Daniel Plainview is the ruthless oil prospector at the centre of There Will Be Blood, a 2007 film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and based loosely on Upton Sinclair's novel Oil!. Played by Daniel Day-Lewis in an Oscar-winning role, Plainview builds an oil fortune in early 20th-century California, but the film follows how his single-minded pursuit of wealth gradually destroys his relationships, including with his adopted son.
Running alongside Plainview's story is his long feud with Eli Sunday, a young preacher played by Paul Dano, whose family sells Plainview the land where he strikes oil. Their uneasy business dealings curdle into open hostility over the years, building towards a final, infamous confrontation between the two men late in the film.
The film is widely regarded as one of the most acclaimed American films of its era, and its closing scene, including Plainview's much-quoted "I drink your milkshake" line, is often discussed as one of modern cinema's most memorable endings. Discussion around the film tends to focus on how its final moments crystallise its themes of greed and moral ruin, which is the background needed to follow debates about which line actually delivers that ending.