3. Extremist Villains
I hope you're as excited for Skyfall as I am, because with Craig's return, Sam Mendes directing, and Ralph Fiennes jumping on board, I couldn't be more excited. Until I found out that Javier Bardem was portraying the villain. Some of the best Bond features have delivered some of the best villains, and Skyfall seems to be taking note. And of course, how could you look any further than The Dark Knight trilogy for great, extremist villains? If you read my
other article, then you know how crazy I think it is that The League of Shadows is not only responsible for Gotham City's imminent demise, but for the sacking of Rome and the downfalls of other major societies in history. Their obsession with their own brand of justice has literally turned history over, time and time again, and needless to say, that's pretty extreme.
"In our defense, we were going to destroy Detroit, but we ran into the problem of actually having to convince ourselves to go to Detroit."
And then, of course, you have The Joker in The Dark Knight who, as audiences wouldn't let passer-bys forget, is a man who "just likes to watch the world burn." He's devious and inventive, and the worst part of it all is that he has fun while he does it. He's a character that thrives on improvisation, improbability, and chaos, which makes for a great foil to a character like Batman. And then there's the continuation of The League of Shadows with Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, who manages to capture Gotham City with his bare hands and try to detonate it.
"I'm sincerely as surprised as you are that I was able to pull this shit off."
A return to form for Bond villains is desperately needed, and hopefully, Bardem's Raoul Silva will be the first step in the right direction.