10 Best Meet The Real Villain Moments In Movie History
5. Leonard's Self-Deception - Memento
Christopher Nolan's Memento is centered around Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce), an amnesiac man attempting to solve his wife Catherine's (Jorja Fox) murder and bring the killer to bloody justice.
But in an all-timer final plot twist, it's revealed that Leonard was himself responsible for Catherine's death. The home invasion which left Catherine dead and Leonard riddled with amnesia didn't quite unfold how he thinks.
As it turns out, Leonard and Catherine both survived the assault, but Leonard accidentally killed his wife later by administering her an insulin overdose due to his resulting amnesia.
Leonard has in turn repressed the knowledge of his own guilt, concocting an elaborate, revenge-fuelled narrative that she was killed by an outside party.
Though Leonard killed the real attacker a year prior, he ends up framing the shady Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) for the crime, setting him on a course to kill him in the future.
While Leonard is a sympathetic character to a point, his decision to kill someone who didn't cause his wife's death rather than face up to what he did makes him a most brilliantly unconventional villain.