15 Best Movie Villains Of The Decade

11. Bernie Rose - Drive (2011)

Albert Brooks Drive
Film District

Before Nicolas Winding Refn disappeared into a warm, compact hole of self-congratulation with Ryan Gosling (let's call that hole Only God Forgives for ease), they combined to make the glorious, gleefully provocative exploitation/indie mash-up Drive. Part romantic mumblecore and part underworld get-away driver crime caper, it was a triumph of messing with expectations, so it was fitting that the bad guy was so unexpected too.

Albert Brooks is a comedian, familiar to lots of people as the voice of Marlin in Findings Nemo & Dory, but in Drive, he's a crime lord, quick to violence, cunning and conniving and with a disarming warmth that really adds sauce to his pot. While you know exactly what to expect from Ron Perlman's muscle-bound, volatile Nino but Bernie has more dimensions and his evil is more complex and more interesting. Even his name sounds nothing like who he really is.

Brooks' performance is great and watching him almost apologetically - but expertly - killing Shannon and almost soothing him speaks volumes to his impact.

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