8. Presidential Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser 2012
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and measures become particularly desperate when youre faced with the end of the world. As the world tears itself apart in spectacular scenes only Roland Emmerich can muster, were constantly shown throughout 2012 that the worlds governments have a ridiculous amount of hard decisions to make after all, theyre effectively deciding who lives and who dies so they can rebuild the human race. Yet Hollywood logic dictates there must always be a bad guy, and it tends to be the most obviously pragmatic person in the room. In 2012, this role is ably covered by Carl Anheuser. Hes the one who enunciates the cold logic behind every decision when the heroes, being heroes, decide to get all wont-somebody-think-of-the-children about everything. What makes the whole thing strange though is that Anheuser is nearly always right. The bloke is literally in charge of the giant operation to save the world, and all he does is get stick from the heroes about it. They tell him off for saving only the richest people and putting them on the mega-arks, when he offers the legitimate reasoning that they actually helped pay for the boat so they deserve their precious spaces, goddamnit. Hes told off for not letting everyone know about the impending apocalypse, despite the fact it would cause nothing but panicking, violence and the slowing down of the rescue efforts. Finally, and most memorably, he doesnt want to risk the safety of the ark to save one insignificant family, which is surely only logical. Everything this man does, he does to save others, yet all he gets is stick for it. If anyone ever got a raw deal in a film, its surely Carl Anheuser.