10 Movies Where The Good Guy & Bad Guy BOTH Win
Sometimes the hero and villain both come out on top.
Most movies follow a pretty conventional narrative formula because, unless a filmmaker really knows what they're doing, deviating from the typicality of "hero defeats villain" can end up backfiring spectacularly.
Yet every so often, they might do something a little different and find a way for both the hero and villain of their story to end up coming out on top.
Naturally, this is an incredibly tricky balance to pull off, because after all, how is it possible for two diametrically opposed forces to both come away getting what they want? And yet, it totally is.
And so, inspired by this recent Reddit thread on the very subject, these 10 movies all managed to give serious victories to both the protagonist and antagonist of the piece.
The hero accomplished their overarching mission, but so too did the villain, or at the very least, they ended up with something even better than they initially planned.
Sure, some of the heroes and villains had to die in order to pull off their goals, but glorious deaths they were - the sort that absolutely count as a win overall...
10. The Silence Of The Lambs - Clarice Starling & Hannibal Lecter
The Silence of the Lambs is a bit of a tricky one, but it still counts. First and foremost, FBI trainee Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) tracks down and kills serial killer Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine), while ensuring that the captive Catherine Martin (Brooke Smith) is rescued from his clutches.
Though Bill might be the major force Clarice has to go up against throughout Jonathan Demme's film, he's hardly the overarching villain.
That is, of course, Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), who brutally flees incarceration and disappears to parts unknown, only to resurface at the end to make a teasing phone call to Clarice from the Bahamas.
Because escaping imprisonment apparently isn't enough of a W for Lecter, it's then also implied that he's about to kill and devour his prior jailor, Dr. Frederick Chilton (Anthony Heald), ensuring he gets to enjoy revenge as a dish served, well, however the hell he likes.
You can argue that Lecter escaping taints Clarice's victory somewhat, but let's be honest, her operating goal was to take down Buffalo Bill, and that she most certainly accomplished.