Occam's Razor, I know, but the thought eluded me for some reason. Nothing beats a good villain. You almost want them to win. Allow me to explain though, there is a difference between antagonist and villain. An antagonist can be anyone against the protagonist, but is not necessarily evil or bad. They could simply be a nice guy with differing views. So, to me, a villain must be evil. Someone who does not care if he lives or dies, just as long as his "idea" is achieved. Someone who will lie, steal, cheat, or kill to get what he wants without moral objection. While, in my list I might repeat these values, those are the ones that really define the villain motif. And, I might also add these are the one's I feel are the best. If you want a more of a compilation brought out by film critics and executives, AFI (American Film Institute) has plenty of lists you can look at.
But, I did have to include some rules. I could not have any beasts and no historical figures. I feel that those rules are self-explanatory, but if you must ask, you can reach me through Twitter.
This list CONTAINS SPOILERS! So, if have not seen the films and do not wish to know their outcomes, please do not read any further! Without delay, and without any particular order, I present to you my Top 15 Villains:
1) Gordon Gekko (Wall Street, 1987)
This is about as close to real life I am going to get. This is a man whose ideology was "greed, for lack of a better word, is good". The man would stop at nothing to earn money. His scheme to buy out BlueStar Airlines is almost exacting when it comes to some real life traders. He would have sold off the assets of the airline, which would have made Charlie Sheen's character, Bud, extremely rich, but it would have left everyone at the airline unemployed, including Bud's father. His greed gets the better of him in the end, though, as he tells Bud (who is wearing a wire) all other their illegal transactions. I can't wait to see how they play the character out in the sequel, which is said to be in development.
2) HAL 9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968)
There is good reason to fear advancing technologies where it is the goal of these technologies to be sentient or self-aware. And HAL 9000 is the realization of those fears. After Dave and Frank decide if HAL is wrong he would have to disconnected, HAL decides to destroy the crew in order to protect and perform his programmed directives. HAL kills Frank while he is repairing the ship. He also kills the astronauts in suspended animation by disabling the life support. Dave is outside the spaceship when this occurs. As Dave attempts to get back inside, HAL utters the chillingly soft spoken protest, "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that." While Dave, does succeed in getting back inside and disabling HAL, the sequels have him reinstated.
3) Jigsaw (Saw, 2004)
Nothing like a suspenseful, gory, and psychotic movie to make you want to cherish life. John Kramer, dying from a tumor that resulted from his cancer, sets out to make certain "flawed" individuals learn to cherish life through demented and twisted games. The games are quite simple, but it is one's own personal sacrifice that the "contestants" must get through. Some have to kill the other in order for them to survive, some need to saw off their leg for freedom. A truly sadistic way to convey the message of cherish your life like it is your last.
4) The Joker (Batman, 1989 & The Dark Knight, 2008)
In my book, this is the quintessential comic book villain. And for good reason. While his origins are shrouded in mystery, The Killing Joke, has become almost fan accepted canon to his origins. However, this man is the very definition of psychotic. He does things not for money or power, but for his own enjoyment. Whether it is killing people or corrupting them, he stops at nothing to accomplish his missions. While, it is not mentioned in movies, in the comics, he is even a dick to his "girlfriend" Harley Quinn. Yet, for some reason she always comes back. And who ever you find to be a better Joker, it can be safe to say both are great representations of the character.
5) Khan (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, 1982)
In my opinion, the greatest Star Trek villain. What is interesting about this man is that revenge is his fuel. He cares not for money or power. No, all he wants is Kirk dead. And he does it without (for the most part) ever raising his voice. Look how calm and collected he was when he put the Ceti eels into Chekov's and Terrell's ears! He wastes no time commandeering the Reliant and sets his plot into action. As stated previously, revenge is his guiding principle. A fellow crew member tells him that they have the weapon, they have the ship, why not leave and go somewhere to start anew. A valid option, but Khan wants to serve his revenge cold onto Kirk. His instance on exacting revenge would ultimately be his downfall when he self destructs the Genesis weapon in hopes of killing Kirk, but the Enterprise escapes.
6) Mr. Potter (It's A Wonderful Life, 1946)
This man is the definition of crotchety, old asshole. Here is a man who is wealthy and powerful and he knows it. He uses both his wealth and power to buy up all the town's businesses just to make more money for himself. With the Bailey Building being pretty much the only property he has not got his greedy fingers on yet. He tempts George with a nice offer for buying out the bank, but George can see through his ruse of just using the Building & Loan to line his own pockets. Later in the film, Uncle Billy, in an act of bragging, throws a newspaper on Potter's lap that incidentally has $8000 for deposit in it. Potter, knowing the money needs to be deposited, decides to hold on to it and not inform Uncle Billy he has it. With the Bank Examiner visiting the Building & Loan, George visits Potter to plea for a loan. Potter refuses and states that George is worth more dead than alive. Of Course, it is a happy ending, but it is odd that Mr. Potter does not pay for his crimes or injustices.
7) Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs, 1991)
I know he was in more than one film, but I did not feel the need to list them all. Now, this is an incredible specimen in the world of villains. The man kills and eats people who he thinks make society or parts of society, in a way, flawed. He also has a revenge side to the ones that have wronged him. He kills a flutist in the Baltimore Orchestra due to playing some wrong notes. He then serves parts of his body to the symphony board. His high intelligence seems to keep him one step ahead of the authorities regardless if he is incarcerated or not. Also, he lacks some morality because of the fact that he serves unknowing guests parts of humans. Also, at the end of Hannibal, he lets a kid try Ray Liotta's brain! Disturbing to say the least.
8) The Borg (Star Trek: First Contact, 1996)
What can be said about the Borg to make them seem nice? Unless you are telling the story from their point of view, nothing at all. The Borg are human and robotic hybrids, in another word, cyborgs. Aside from the Queen, there is no individuality within each member of the Borg. Their minds are interlinked to the collective. They are in an essence programmed to perform their tasks. Their mission is to assimilate everyone to their collective because they, or should I say, the Queen, believes that being a Borg is perfection. The right amount of robotics to organic. Also, they adapt very quickly to weapons, which means very few losses to any conflicts. There is no reasoning with them. They simply do as they are programmed to. They are a formidable foe that does give credit to their creed, "Resistance is Futile."
9) Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias (Watchmen, 2009)
This is one of a few villains you actually see win. He is behind the murder of The Comedian, Dr. Manhattan's Exile, and Rorschach being framed. This is all done to unite the US and Russia to fight the common enemy of Dr. Manhattan. Veidt also destroys the world's main cities by destroying the reactors he helped Dr. Manhattan make under the guise of providing free energy to the world. The signatures of the explosions would be of Dr. Manhattan. Veidt tells them they can go public and risk the peace that will soon take place. Obviously, the heroes decide that the benefit from all this catastrophe is too great and they decide to keep their mouths shut. Dr. Manhattan exiles himself to another galaxy, but no before killing Rorschach because Rorschach did not want to remain silent and urged Dr. Manhattan to kill him. There is more to the ending, but since it is up to the viewer to decide what happens, I can not safely assume anything past the aforementioned events.
10) Darth Vader (Star Wars, 1977)
A man filled with hate. While it was General Tarkin who destroyed Alderaan, it was Vader who mercilessly stopped at nothing to squash the Rebel Alliance. His evil did not stop with rebels though. Any officer who disappointed him would find themselves choking to death from his Force Choke. And while his evil exploits are known far and wide, he redeemed himself in the end by killing the Emperor. And speaking of the Emperor...
11) Emperor Palpatine (Return of the Jedi, 1983)
Now, I am going to use from both the prequels and the originals. This is a man whose passion and drive for power created one of the most evil creations. Using his influence and political wit, Palpatine erupts the entire Republic in war. He deals with the Separatists as Darth Sidious, and with the Republic as Chancellor Palpatine. He sets everything in motion, so he can exercise emergency powers. He is the man to corrupt Anakin Skywalker into being Darth Vader. He uses the Republic Army to kill all the Jedi, including the younglings. He calls and emergency session of the senate, where he weaves a tale of conspiracy on how the Jedi attempted to overthrow him and them to have the power. He proclaims that the Republic must unite to form one solid entity to fight off the remaining Jedi and separatists. The entire senate applauds and the new Galactic Empire is created with Palpatine seating himself as Emperor. In true Sith form, his apprentice kills him the end, which brings peace back to the Empire.
12) Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare of Elm Street, 1984)
I remember being a child and being completely freaked out by Freddy. It took me a long time to finally watch the films. But, Freddy, is evil incarnate. In his former life, he killed at least 20 children in a decade. The parents furious over his release from prison on a technicality, decide to burn him alive in his boiler room hideout. Now, he haunts the dreams of children. Except when he kills you in the dream, he kills you in real life. And in your dream, he can become any manifestation that you can dream of. He is pulled from the dream world into the real world where he is "defeated". As the subsequent sequels tell you, there is no real "defeat". Also, a nice thought on the perceptions of what is a dream and what is reality.
13) Sweeney Todd (Sweeney Todd, 2007)
Now, while the story kind of makes you see him as a protagonist set on revenge for his wife and child against Judge Turpin, he is actually a villain. A tragic villain, in terms of how the story played out. He is fueled and consumed by the vengeance he must place upon Turpin for murdering his wife and kidnapping his child. After missing his chance to kill him when he is interrupted by Anthony, Sweeney decides to "practice" his revenge on his customers until Turpin arrives again. With each unsuspecting customer being murdered ruthlessly, he dumps their bodies down to the cellar, where Mrs. Lovett makes the corpses into meat pies. Which, in turn, are fed to the patrons of the establishment. A truly grisly tale of revenge. Todd does get his revenge, but in doing so, learns Todd has killed his wife. Toby, the young boy they took in, angered by Todd killing Mrs. Lovett, kills Todd as he is weeping over his wife.
14) John Doe (Seven, 1995)
An independently wealthy, yet delusional man decides to kill people who violate any one of the seven deadly sins. A lawyer is killed for greed, a fatty for gluttony, you get the picture. It is also unnerving in his process of the murders. He tells the lawyer he must have a pound of flesh and he will be set free. The lawyer pretty much kills himself as he unknowingly commits Hari Kari. The sloth victim being confined to a bed for a year, where out of necissity ate his own tongue for sustenance. Or how about the lust victim who was murdered by a man wearing a strap-on blade? Let us not forget the killer's own sin though. He envied Brad Pitt's life, so he beheaded his wife and mailed the box to him. While Morgan Freeman protests that that is what the killer wants him to do, Pitt shoots him anyway.
15) Tyler Durden (Fight Club, 1999)
I remember watching this for the first time at Chris' house. At first we were wondering what was up with the little blips on the screen that happened every now and again. And the climax, we were like "What the fuck?" The man's whole point was an enlightenment trip. He gains followers through is fight clubs, which later on become a huge organism known as Project Mayhem. The whole point is to create an atmosphere of mayhem. They blow up buildings, pick fights with priests, Meatloaf gets killed. He liberates everyone's mind by showing they are the one's in control of their lives. As stated in the film, "The stuff you own one day begins to one you." To lead, what is essentially a terror cell, without anyone really knowing about it, says something to his charisma and character. His plan does come to fruition when all the buildings detonate around him. And for the enlightenment claim, it is stated that in order for him to be free, one must "kill" his parents, kill his god, and kill his teacher. Doing things that were wronged, killed his god, and killing Tyler Durden was killing his teacher. Here is something explaining interpretations of the film here.
This is about as close to real life I am going to get. This is a man whose ideology was "greed, for lack of a better word, is good". The man would stop at nothing to earn money. His scheme to buy out BlueStar Airlines is almost exacting when it comes to some real life traders. He would have sold off the assets of the airline, which would have made Charlie Sheen's character, Bud, extremely rich, but it would have left everyone at the airline unemployed, including Bud's father. His greed gets the better of him in the end, though, as he tells Bud (who is wearing a wire) all other their illegal transactions. I can't wait to see how they play the character out in the sequel, which is said to be in development.
2) HAL 9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968)
There is good reason to fear advancing technologies where it is the goal of these technologies to be sentient or self-aware. And HAL 9000 is the realization of those fears. After Dave and Frank decide if HAL is wrong he would have to disconnected, HAL decides to destroy the crew in order to protect and perform his programmed directives. HAL kills Frank while he is repairing the ship. He also kills the astronauts in suspended animation by disabling the life support. Dave is outside the spaceship when this occurs. As Dave attempts to get back inside, HAL utters the chillingly soft spoken protest, "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that." While Dave, does succeed in getting back inside and disabling HAL, the sequels have him reinstated.
3) Jigsaw (Saw, 2004)
Nothing like a suspenseful, gory, and psychotic movie to make you want to cherish life. John Kramer, dying from a tumor that resulted from his cancer, sets out to make certain "flawed" individuals learn to cherish life through demented and twisted games. The games are quite simple, but it is one's own personal sacrifice that the "contestants" must get through. Some have to kill the other in order for them to survive, some need to saw off their leg for freedom. A truly sadistic way to convey the message of cherish your life like it is your last.
4) The Joker (Batman, 1989 & The Dark Knight, 2008)
In my book, this is the quintessential comic book villain. And for good reason. While his origins are shrouded in mystery, The Killing Joke, has become almost fan accepted canon to his origins. However, this man is the very definition of psychotic. He does things not for money or power, but for his own enjoyment. Whether it is killing people or corrupting them, he stops at nothing to accomplish his missions. While, it is not mentioned in movies, in the comics, he is even a dick to his "girlfriend" Harley Quinn. Yet, for some reason she always comes back. And who ever you find to be a better Joker, it can be safe to say both are great representations of the character.
5) Khan (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, 1982)
In my opinion, the greatest Star Trek villain. What is interesting about this man is that revenge is his fuel. He cares not for money or power. No, all he wants is Kirk dead. And he does it without (for the most part) ever raising his voice. Look how calm and collected he was when he put the Ceti eels into Chekov's and Terrell's ears! He wastes no time commandeering the Reliant and sets his plot into action. As stated previously, revenge is his guiding principle. A fellow crew member tells him that they have the weapon, they have the ship, why not leave and go somewhere to start anew. A valid option, but Khan wants to serve his revenge cold onto Kirk. His instance on exacting revenge would ultimately be his downfall when he self destructs the Genesis weapon in hopes of killing Kirk, but the Enterprise escapes.
6) Mr. Potter (It's A Wonderful Life, 1946)
This man is the definition of crotchety, old asshole. Here is a man who is wealthy and powerful and he knows it. He uses both his wealth and power to buy up all the town's businesses just to make more money for himself. With the Bailey Building being pretty much the only property he has not got his greedy fingers on yet. He tempts George with a nice offer for buying out the bank, but George can see through his ruse of just using the Building & Loan to line his own pockets. Later in the film, Uncle Billy, in an act of bragging, throws a newspaper on Potter's lap that incidentally has $8000 for deposit in it. Potter, knowing the money needs to be deposited, decides to hold on to it and not inform Uncle Billy he has it. With the Bank Examiner visiting the Building & Loan, George visits Potter to plea for a loan. Potter refuses and states that George is worth more dead than alive. Of Course, it is a happy ending, but it is odd that Mr. Potter does not pay for his crimes or injustices.
7) Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs, 1991)
I know he was in more than one film, but I did not feel the need to list them all. Now, this is an incredible specimen in the world of villains. The man kills and eats people who he thinks make society or parts of society, in a way, flawed. He also has a revenge side to the ones that have wronged him. He kills a flutist in the Baltimore Orchestra due to playing some wrong notes. He then serves parts of his body to the symphony board. His high intelligence seems to keep him one step ahead of the authorities regardless if he is incarcerated or not. Also, he lacks some morality because of the fact that he serves unknowing guests parts of humans. Also, at the end of Hannibal, he lets a kid try Ray Liotta's brain! Disturbing to say the least.
8) The Borg (Star Trek: First Contact, 1996)
What can be said about the Borg to make them seem nice? Unless you are telling the story from their point of view, nothing at all. The Borg are human and robotic hybrids, in another word, cyborgs. Aside from the Queen, there is no individuality within each member of the Borg. Their minds are interlinked to the collective. They are in an essence programmed to perform their tasks. Their mission is to assimilate everyone to their collective because they, or should I say, the Queen, believes that being a Borg is perfection. The right amount of robotics to organic. Also, they adapt very quickly to weapons, which means very few losses to any conflicts. There is no reasoning with them. They simply do as they are programmed to. They are a formidable foe that does give credit to their creed, "Resistance is Futile."
9) Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias (Watchmen, 2009)
This is one of a few villains you actually see win. He is behind the murder of The Comedian, Dr. Manhattan's Exile, and Rorschach being framed. This is all done to unite the US and Russia to fight the common enemy of Dr. Manhattan. Veidt also destroys the world's main cities by destroying the reactors he helped Dr. Manhattan make under the guise of providing free energy to the world. The signatures of the explosions would be of Dr. Manhattan. Veidt tells them they can go public and risk the peace that will soon take place. Obviously, the heroes decide that the benefit from all this catastrophe is too great and they decide to keep their mouths shut. Dr. Manhattan exiles himself to another galaxy, but no before killing Rorschach because Rorschach did not want to remain silent and urged Dr. Manhattan to kill him. There is more to the ending, but since it is up to the viewer to decide what happens, I can not safely assume anything past the aforementioned events.
10) Darth Vader (Star Wars, 1977)
A man filled with hate. While it was General Tarkin who destroyed Alderaan, it was Vader who mercilessly stopped at nothing to squash the Rebel Alliance. His evil did not stop with rebels though. Any officer who disappointed him would find themselves choking to death from his Force Choke. And while his evil exploits are known far and wide, he redeemed himself in the end by killing the Emperor. And speaking of the Emperor...
11) Emperor Palpatine (Return of the Jedi, 1983)
Now, I am going to use from both the prequels and the originals. This is a man whose passion and drive for power created one of the most evil creations. Using his influence and political wit, Palpatine erupts the entire Republic in war. He deals with the Separatists as Darth Sidious, and with the Republic as Chancellor Palpatine. He sets everything in motion, so he can exercise emergency powers. He is the man to corrupt Anakin Skywalker into being Darth Vader. He uses the Republic Army to kill all the Jedi, including the younglings. He calls and emergency session of the senate, where he weaves a tale of conspiracy on how the Jedi attempted to overthrow him and them to have the power. He proclaims that the Republic must unite to form one solid entity to fight off the remaining Jedi and separatists. The entire senate applauds and the new Galactic Empire is created with Palpatine seating himself as Emperor. In true Sith form, his apprentice kills him the end, which brings peace back to the Empire.
12) Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare of Elm Street, 1984)
I remember being a child and being completely freaked out by Freddy. It took me a long time to finally watch the films. But, Freddy, is evil incarnate. In his former life, he killed at least 20 children in a decade. The parents furious over his release from prison on a technicality, decide to burn him alive in his boiler room hideout. Now, he haunts the dreams of children. Except when he kills you in the dream, he kills you in real life. And in your dream, he can become any manifestation that you can dream of. He is pulled from the dream world into the real world where he is "defeated". As the subsequent sequels tell you, there is no real "defeat". Also, a nice thought on the perceptions of what is a dream and what is reality.
13) Sweeney Todd (Sweeney Todd, 2007)
Now, while the story kind of makes you see him as a protagonist set on revenge for his wife and child against Judge Turpin, he is actually a villain. A tragic villain, in terms of how the story played out. He is fueled and consumed by the vengeance he must place upon Turpin for murdering his wife and kidnapping his child. After missing his chance to kill him when he is interrupted by Anthony, Sweeney decides to "practice" his revenge on his customers until Turpin arrives again. With each unsuspecting customer being murdered ruthlessly, he dumps their bodies down to the cellar, where Mrs. Lovett makes the corpses into meat pies. Which, in turn, are fed to the patrons of the establishment. A truly grisly tale of revenge. Todd does get his revenge, but in doing so, learns Todd has killed his wife. Toby, the young boy they took in, angered by Todd killing Mrs. Lovett, kills Todd as he is weeping over his wife.
14) John Doe (Seven, 1995)
An independently wealthy, yet delusional man decides to kill people who violate any one of the seven deadly sins. A lawyer is killed for greed, a fatty for gluttony, you get the picture. It is also unnerving in his process of the murders. He tells the lawyer he must have a pound of flesh and he will be set free. The lawyer pretty much kills himself as he unknowingly commits Hari Kari. The sloth victim being confined to a bed for a year, where out of necissity ate his own tongue for sustenance. Or how about the lust victim who was murdered by a man wearing a strap-on blade? Let us not forget the killer's own sin though. He envied Brad Pitt's life, so he beheaded his wife and mailed the box to him. While Morgan Freeman protests that that is what the killer wants him to do, Pitt shoots him anyway.
15) Tyler Durden (Fight Club, 1999)
I remember watching this for the first time at Chris' house. At first we were wondering what was up with the little blips on the screen that happened every now and again. And the climax, we were like "What the fuck?" The man's whole point was an enlightenment trip. He gains followers through is fight clubs, which later on become a huge organism known as Project Mayhem. The whole point is to create an atmosphere of mayhem. They blow up buildings, pick fights with priests, Meatloaf gets killed. He liberates everyone's mind by showing they are the one's in control of their lives. As stated in the film, "The stuff you own one day begins to one you." To lead, what is essentially a terror cell, without anyone really knowing about it, says something to his charisma and character. His plan does come to fruition when all the buildings detonate around him. And for the enlightenment claim, it is stated that in order for him to be free, one must "kill" his parents, kill his god, and kill his teacher. Doing things that were wronged, killed his god, and killing Tyler Durden was killing his teacher. Here is something explaining interpretations of the film here.
Well, I hope you enjoyed my list. Feel free to list any you like. And if I missed any you think deserve to be on the list, leave a comment.
3 comments:
I'm sorry, but, being a fan of Arthur C. Clarke and the 2001 series, I just cannot consider HAL a villain. He was given conflicting orders and he malfunctioned because of his programming. He carried out the mission the best way he could interpret it under the circumstances.
I also can't agree with Tyler Durden. To many (including me), he's a hero. In fact, were I to make a Heroes list, he'd be on it.
Ozymandias is iffy. What he did was villainous, but he did it for the good of humanity, and it worked. The only other thing he did was kill The Comedian, who wasn't that great of a person.
If I were to make this list, Heath Ledger's Joker would be number one, followed extremely (actually, probably tied with) Khan. Nice, different call on Gekko, though.
I'll give you the HAL argument.
With Ozymandias, was that the best solution to peace? I agree with killing The Comedian, he was a douche.
Tyler Durden, from the standpoint of regular, law-abiding Joe, is a villain. He is seen as a sociopath hellbent on seeing his mayhem come to light. But, that is where interpretation and point of view come into play. Like the old adage, One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.
Not sure if you saw, but the list was in no particular order, and I too, would have put the Joker as #1.
Yeah, I saw that the list was arbitrary. Mine usually always are (I'm a moody bitch) lol
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