9. The... Um... Someone? - Inception
While compiling this list, I necessarily turned to a few of my fellow movie-loving friends for input. One person in particular suggested I include the bad guys from Inception. I thought about this for a moment, running through the plot of the film. There was a dream, and some corporate takeovers. I remember a lot of fighting and explosions. There was the elderly Asian gentleman, but he seemed pretty cool. He was working with Leo and Friends and ultimately they saved his life and we learned a valuable lesson. I don't think he was the bad guy. So, was it the guy they were incepting (or whatever)? What did he do wrong? He seemed alright to me, too. After a solid minute of pondering, I turn to my friend and say, "I'm not sure who the villain of Inception was." "Exactly." While the movie is exciting, presents some cool ideas and has a ton of fun with the whole "dream within a dream" thing, when you zoom out for just a moment, you realize there's no bad guy at all. The entire premise is corporate politics. One guy wants another guy's company to not do a thing. The most struggle we have is Cobb trying to get his family back. It's a good plot line, to be sure, and it drives the story well enough, but when you pause for even a second to wonder why the characters are fighting this hard, you come up blank. In a movie with this much action, this many explosions, and this much chance for actual death, one might expect the heroes' ambition be a bit higher than simply getting paid. Then again, maybe the villain is the top at the end of the film. Pretty sure more blood has been spilled over that thing than any of the other characters.