12 Despicable Movie Villains Who Stole Every Scene

It is said that knowledge is power, however in the case of Hans Landa, it's much more than that. The terrifying angle of Christoph Waltz's now infamous villain is that he unquestionable power comes from his position in the Nazi's, but also that anytime he has knowledge of something, it endangers those around him, with gruesome outcomes.

Tarantino himself described it best when he stated that "every interaction with Landa is like an interrogation. He's attempting to decipher and learn as much as he can, without unveiling any aspect of what he's thinking, and without showing his hand". He's spot on.

From his introductory sequence - one which sees him leisurely orchestrate the catastrophic murder of a family hidden under a frenchman's floorboards no less - it is obvious that each appearance in the film hinges on one idea; "does Landa know?". In every conversation or confrontation the stakes are made abundantly clear, and that is that if Landa has knowledge of whats happening around him, it's already too late and that spells danger (and death, the majority of the time) for those he encounters.

Waltz is terrific here. His cadence and cartoon like delivery is counterbalanced perfectly with moments of genuine terror and wields of power. Every scene is like an interrogation, and this overshadows every other person in the movie - and Brad Pitt of course - because he is naturally the measuring stick for power and how a situation will play out. Frightening, genius, tactful.

Landa is a truly horrifying, gripping character.