2012 was a pretty great year for movies, especially blockbusters – in fact, it’s scary how many of the year’s biggest films met or even far exceeded expectations – and therefore it’s natural to assume that the year also brought us some pretty great characters, both heroes and villains. Heroes are great n’ all, but a film cannot succeed without a strong villain to generate tension within the piece and actually make the hero’s struggle mean something; plus, aren’t the baddies usually just a lot more interesting and fun to watch on-screen? Whether it’s creepy lawmen, wicked Queens, alien creatures, time travellers or homo-erotic spies, 2012 really had it all as far as effective villains go; they were all sufficiently full of menace, and in some cases, also had motivations that were surprisingly relatable or ambiguous, which makes it all that more interesting.
Here are the 10 best movie villains of 2012.
10. Charlie Rakes – Lawless
Lawless may not have quite lived up to our lofty expectations that it was going to be one of the best films of the year, but it did present one deliciously demented villain by way of Guy Pearce’s corrupt Special Deputy Charlie Rakes, who not only seeks to take a cut of all bootlegging going on in the county, but gets violent when the film’s gang of brothers don’t play ball. Essentially defining the phrase “reptilian”, Pearce imbues Rakes with a creepy snarl that makes him seem all the more sleazy, and what’s more, decided to shave his eyebrows just to give the character a more unsettling, somewhat off-kilter look. It’s all the more satisfying as a result, then, when during the film’s excellent climactic shootout that he ends up not only getting shot, but stabbed by the brothers as well.
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11 Comments
Totally disagree with Future Joe being a villain- an you totally missed out Matthew McConaughey as Dallas/ Killer Joe, both arguably more villainous. But apart from that, great list. Totally agree with The Trilobite- gorgeous design!
I think you forgot the $751 million blockbuster superhero movie named the amazing spider man and since he’s spider man he had villain and that villian would be called THE LIZARD which you forgot on this list
totally agree…future joe wasn’t a villain even though i can see why people MIGHT think so
killer joe was a despicable character
Even if you don’t like The Amazing Spider-Man (I did though, entirely) You would have to admit the lizard was a great bad guy, especially the effects, they were really amazing. I always wanted to see more of him.
Bane FTW!
No, you guys are wrong. The Lizard was crap, and his design was completely unspectacular. But I do wish you would’ve made room for Joe Cooper from Killer Joe, for my money the best performance of the whole year.
Really enjoyed Donald Sutherland and Tom Hiddleston off this list, they both gave great performances to very interesting characters. And Javier Bardem wasn’t bad either!
What about Tama and his henchman, Mad Dog, from The Raid?
“Pulling the trigger is like ordering takeout.”
What the hell ? Bane ? The same villain that went from bruiser to soppy bodyguard in seconds. And Loki ? The guy who was made to look stupid by the Hulk. Even the Bond villain was a typecast performance.
I actually really liked Lawless. One of the best films I saw this year. Good list.
You could have left the alien from Prometheus or a couple of other entries, and added MaMa from Dredd.
Also, this is up to personal taste, but for what little time he had, JCVD did great as nasty villain in The Expendables 2 and I would put him on here.