2. John Hammond - Jurassic Park
Villain!? What in God's name are you talking about?! The guy's a bloody saint! Hold on for a second, faithful reader, and let me explain why I'm going out on a whim here to upset everyone in the world who treasures this fantastic movie and its iconic characters. John Hammond, of course, is a well-intentioned businessman, a loving grandfather, and an all-round fun guy. He also built
Jurassic Park, which makes him a villain by default. It was his idea, and everybody who died there died because he wanted to bring dinosaurs back. Sorry, it's true. That's why, in the novel, Hammond isn't portrayed like he is in the movie: he's deluded, kind of egocentric, and a bit insane, because - c'mon - anybody who attempts to build a dinosaur theme park has got to be a little bit crazy. So Spielberg (in true Spielberg style) makes this character more sympathetic than he should be, and although he's more likeable in his movie incarnation, all of his actions are the exactly
same. Sure, he loses everything in the movie, but I can't help but feel like he should have, uh, died or something instead. Considering he punched science square in the face and dared it to defy him, Hammond should have at least lost a grandchild in all the commotion - losing the park just seemed inevitable, given the situation, so who cares? Some real personal torment would have gone a long way, I think. Author Michael Crichton knew that Hammond had gone a step too far with all his bioengineering, anyway: that's why, in the novel, he's killed by Compys whilst trying to escape from his own personal dino-hell.