An excellent villain makes for an excellent film; it is of course a rule with exceptions, but it's a nice and simple one to stick with. It's true that we love to hate the bad guys, nearly as much as the good guys do: it fuels the divide between good and evil, and giving our heroes a psychopathic mastermind to contend with is the ultimate test of their nerve. As another rule, then, villains should keep things nice and simple themselves: it is the most straightforward plans that are the most devastating, and you can't always get away with the hero declaring the villain's insanity: we do sometimes need some clear motivation behind evil schemes. And yet, all too often, villains overcomplicate their ideas, and it makes for some extremely poor decisions. We love a nemesis, but he has to be the hero's equal somehow; gifting the protagonist a second or third chance thanks to dumb screw-ups suggests that maybe this isn't the baddie we first thought we had. Here are 10 of the worst decisions that movie villains have ever made when they could have won quite easily, should they have gone down another, less convoluted route. Got any more to add? Comment below!
