10 Movie Villains Who Were Clearly Just Misunderstood

3. The Government €“ The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008)

Day The Earth We€™re not really supposed to like the government in The Day The Earth Stood Still. After all, they€™re not nice to Klaatu, who they imprison and torture while demanding to know precisely what he€™s doing on Earth. This in turn makes Klaatu judge humans and command the giant robot he brought with him (GORT) to go murder-crazy, demolishing all humans and non-organic matter with a swarm of locusts. But picture all this from the humans€™ side €“they firstly realise that there€™s an asteroid of some sort heading toward them, only to see it slow down and land in Central Park, at which point a giant freaking robot and an unknown life-form step out. Of course you€™re going to surround whatever that thing is with an army, and you might even feel vindicated when a bloody great robot steps out. Then when said alien €“ now Keanu Reeves-ified €“ says he represents a large group of aliens, you€™re guaranteed to be scared. You€™ve not only had the bombshell of we€™re not alone in the universe dropped on you, you then learn there€™s a load of aliens out there in some sort of conglomerate. It€™s a lot to take in is what I€™m saying, and you could probably excuse the hair-trigger save-the-species reactions with the very real trauma you€™ve suffered. Your reaction didn€™t even matter anyway, because Klaatu had a sleeper agent who was going to tell him to kill everyone regardless. The fact Klaatu turns out to be just as threatening as everyone fears, killing countless millions, demolishing huge swathes of America and depriving Planet Earth of electricity just serves to vindicate why we were all so scared of him in the first place. I€™d say it€™s a good call on the government€™s part.
Contributor
Contributor

Durham University graduate and qualified sports journalist. Very good at sitting down and watching things. Can multi-task this with playing computer games. Football Manager addict who has taken Shrewsbury Town to the summit of the Premier League. You can follow me at @Ed_OwenUK, if you like ramblings about Newcastle United and A Place in the Sun. If you don't, I don't know what I can do for you.