10 Movies That Ought to Have a Villain But Don't
Things look sinister, they feel evil, but these movies are lacking a big bad to pin it all on.
If there's one thing that makes the plot of most movies chug along, it's the villain, the bad guy, the antagonist, the arch-nemesis - and every narrative feature has one. Or does it?
Even typically low-stakes romance, comedy and children's movies normally have a baddie to pin all the protagonist's misfortunes on, acting as the final obstacle to be overcome in order to get the girl, have the last laugh, and get home safe to one's family. And yet, some pretty major movies manage to get by without the maniacal laughter, schemes and subversion a bad guy can bring.
These films certainly feel like they ought to have a villain, and we darned well remember there being someone behind all the hurdles our heroes have to jump, but if we take another look, things aren't as good versus evil as they seem. Often the real villain in these movies is no villain at all, but a concept, theme, abstraction or narrative trick: AI? No villain. Beau is Afraid? No villain. Bodies Bodies Bodies? Well, you get the idea...
While there's a heck of a lot of strife and struggle foisted upon our protagonists in the following 10 films, there isn't any one person to blame.
10. Funny Pages (2022)
Young man versus society is given a grimy twist in Funny Pages, where teenager and aspiring comic artist Robert Bleichner (Daniel Zolghadri) finds himself rebelling against the small world of New Jersey.
A twisted coming of age story, the film doesn't feature a single likeable or forgivable character, except for Robert's art teacher Mr Katano (Stephen Adly Guirgis), who dies suddenly in the opening scene. Perhaps, then, this is the cypher for the entire movie, as good characters don't have a place in a world that is unfriendly, unforgiving and surprisingly real at the same time.
Robert abandons his family home and finds himself a dank basement apartment in one of NJ's roughest areas, sharing with two older men who live in filth and know no boundaries in terms of normality or sexuality, while he simultaneously enters the orbit of a whole cavalcade of weirdos, no-hopers and casually sinister characters.
But despite the fact that so many of these characters have the makings of an antagonist, nobody commits to the bit. Robert comes out the other side of the film as much the brat as he went in, and though he is a product of his society, the only person to blame for his behaviour is himself.