10 Movie Villains Who Would Have Won By Doing NOTHING
1. Castor Troy - Face/Off
Face/Off's villain Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) is far from a passive character, with his raging, ego-driven psychopathy ultimately preventing him from making the smartest use of his unique face-swapping predicament.
Once Troy has his face switched with that of FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta), he plays the role of the dutiful husband and father, even roughing up the handsy boyfriend of Archer's daughter Jamie (Dominique Swain) and giving her a butterfly knife for protection.
This ends up backfiring spectacularly in the third act, however, when Troy takes Jamie hostage and she uses the very same knife to stab him in the leg, even twisting the knife just as he advised her to prior.
Troy is then majorly hobbled for the final showdown with Archer, leading to his eventual death-by-speargun following an epic speedboat chase.
But really, Troy could've avoided all this fuss if he just did what most sane people in his position would, and got on the first plane to a far-flung country with no extradition to the U.S.
Between having the face of an unwanted man and leaving his adversary with his own very wanted face - while everyone who performed the initial surgery has been killed by Troy - escape would've been a piece of cake.
Even with DNA and blood testing able to eventually deduce Archer's identity, the sheer confusion of the scenario would've created enough of a smokescreen for Troy-as-Archer to get away unscathed.
But in his psychotic arrogance, Troy just couldn't do the smart thing: he had to set off on a convoluted scheme to quite literally assume Archer's life. By avoiding all that nonsense and just hopping on a plane, he would've been unstoppable.