A good, dirty villain should never be overlooked, but alas, they sometimes fall prey to the movie itself and are unable to create a cult following in the likes of Hannibal Lector and Darth Vader. However, there are some villains just barely holding on in movies that deserve attention, and so this list compiles a thoughtful six who have been somewhat forgotten, but for all intensive purposes, deserve adequate contemplation.
Some stoic, some flippant, some silly, and some just downright scary, cinema has given us a multitude of villainous faces, and I think it is only appropriate we start with a man who’s brought villainy to many a screen in Hollywood…
6. Harry (In Bruges)
With portrayals like Amon Goeth in Schindler’s List and Voldemort in the Harry Potter series, it’s easy to lose a good Ralph Fiennes villain in the scuffle. His, albeit too brief, appearance as dedicated hit man Harry in In Bruges is no exception when he gets to shout lines like “You’re an inanimate *ucking object!” at his wife after beating a telephone senseless and receiving distressing news.
What makes Harry so interesting is his loose morality to the job at hand, but his strict guidelines as to what is firmly stepping over the line. “Ken, if I had killed a little kid, accidentally or otherwise, I wouldn’t have thought twice. I’d killed myself on the *ucking spot. On the *ucking spot. I would’ve stuck the gun in me mouth. On the *ucking spot!” And given that he gets to play opposite to Colin Farrell’s neurotic Ray and Brendan Gleeson’s homely and caring Ken, watching Harry villainously truck around and try to finish a job of the two is just more fun than the average hit-flick.
An Uzi? I’m not from South Central Los *ucking Angeles. I didn’t come here to shoot twenty black ten year-olds in a drive-by. I want a normal gun for a normal person.
We are currently seeking Film contributors on WhatCulture. To find out more about the perks of being a Film contributor, click here.
2 Comments
Great list! You nailed it right on the head with Scarecrow!
Gee, why aren’t Commodus and Benedict remembered, hmm… Maybe it’s because they suck? Benedict is impossible to take seriously; he’s as close to being a cartoon character without being Christopher Lloyd in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? as you can get, and yet Judge Doom still manager to be terrifying.
Commodus is one of the worst, absolute worst, villains ever written. He is about as complex as a white sheet of paper. He’s written to manipulate you into siding with Maximius with no thought as to what’s going on. He’s not intimidating, he’s not charismatic, he’s not funny, he’s not dangerous, and the audience just despises him on every level. He’s a disgusting, pathetic man that just plain sucks. And so, we feel nothing when he dies. I don’t care, because I was never afraid that he would win, and feel no sense of loss when he’s gone. And if he won, I wouldn’t care, because I’m not invested in his character.