One
of the things that can make a movie great is having a fantastic
villain. Here are a list of what I believe ten best of 2012 were. At the
very least this should provide an opportunity for more mainstream,
blockbuster movies to make a top ten list.
If you haven’t
seen the movies on this list, you might be a little lost. Also, there
are spoilers. In fact, some of the names on this list are spoilers.
10. Stephen
The primary antagonist of
Django Unchained is considered to be the sadistic rancher
Calvin Candie (
Leonardo diCaprio),
but just as important to the plot--and far more interesting--is his
right-hand man: Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson, almost unrecognizable under
fantastic make-up work). Stephen is a slave, and he works for a man who
treats slaves like animals and makes them battle to the death (by the
way, there is little historical evidence suggesting “mandingo fighting”
was a real thing). Stephen is very smart, intensely charming, and a good
leader, but he remains intensely loyal to his master, revealing the
protagonists’ plan to trick Candy into selling a slave at a low(ish)
price.
This idea--that the biggest foe to liberation was that many
slaves didn’t view themselves as people--has sparked incredible debate;
it was even used in a lecture by one of my professors as a (very
flawed) portrayal of modern day race relations. Writer/director
Quentin Tarantino
doesn’t do as much as he could have with this character, but it is
definitely a fascinating idea. Furthermore, Stephen is the most
interesting thing in every scene he was in, which is saying alot, since
Tarantino has never created a boring character.
Like all the characters in
Gotham City, Selina Kyle is defined by her past. She was put in a hopeless situation beyond her control (just like
Bruce Wayne/Batman
was when his parents were murdered) and she is trying to build a new
life. Batman has always said that crime did not control Gotham and
people were not doomed to the situation they were born into, but since
he himself can’t let go of an event that happened thirty years ago, it
seems impossible that his goal was realistic. Kyle is trying to steal
and manipulate her way to happiness just like Batman is trying to by
punching gangsters. It is obvious they are made for each other.
Kyle
also highlights the film’s underlying political message of social
mobility and integrity. Is it Kyle’s fault she was born into squalor in
America’s worst city? No. But there is no magic way to erase her record,
as she so desperately hopes: The only way she finds a new life is
through hard work.
The protagonist of
Looper, Joe (named after the actor who plays him,
Joseph Gordon-Levitt),
is a truly despicable person. He is a hitman: When people in the year
2074 are sentenced by gangs to be executed, they are tied up,
blindfolded and sent back in time to the year 2044, where Joe executes
him. This in and of itself would make Joe a pretty unlikable person, but
in addition he betrays his best friend to a truly horrible fate for
money.
It would seem logical, then, that in order to have the
audience still care about Joe, the villain--his futuristic self--would
be even more terrible. However, Director
Rian Johnson
boldly makes Old Joe (Bruce Willis) a seemingly better person than
Young Joe. Old Joe retired from crime, married a nice lady, and settled
down; he has gone back in time to save his wife. Yeah, he starts offing
small children, but it is all because he wants to keep them from growing
up to be the mass murdering terrorist responsible for hurting the woman
he loves.
Old Joe is a fascinating character: He has all the
charm, smarts, and fighting prowess of his younger self, but he also has
a moral compass. He hates the younger version of himself, but must
protect Young Joe in order to keep himself alive. He also is struggling
to retain his memories that define his identity, which are changing each
minute he interacts with his younger self.
For all his good,
though, Old Joe is still unable to do the one thing that can break the
time loop the film’s characters are stuck in: Self-sacrifice. Old Joe
could always tell his younger self not to marry his future wife (thus
keeping her safe), but he doesn’t because he can’t give her up. In the
end it is his younger self who is able to (maybe) break the loop by
giving his life for someone he loves.
The
reason these two aren’t higher up on the list is that there is
something inherently stupid about their master plan. Why does the League
of Shadows care so much about
Gotham City?
If they are anti-west terrorists, like Al Quadea, why do they wait five
months to blow it up? If they are anarchists, why do they want to blow
it up at all? I get this is all symbolism for current events, but come
on!
Still, these villains really do make
The Dark Knight Rises come together. Bane may always live in the
Joker’s
shadow, but he is just as much of a compelling, intimidating foe. That
calm, intellectual voice coming from a giant, brutal terrorist is
instantly capturing, the
Darth Vader
breathing is still just as badass as it was in ‘77, and there is such a
commanding presence Tom Hardy’s super-villain emits. When a corrupt
businessmen who has been using Bane to take down
Bruce Wayne
tells the hulking giant to “remember who is in charge” Bane’s calm
answer--”Do you feel like you’re in control”--is just as captivating as
anything the villains said in the last movie.
Lots of criticism
has been leveled against Christopher Nolan for the final act twist,
where it is revealed Bane is merely the boy toy of Talia Al Ghul, Bruce
Wayne’s businesswoman lover (a great performance by Marion Cotillard). I
think this makes everything make more sense. Bane views a world
powerless and despicable. He confidently announces that Gotham City
doesn’t have to feel afraid and bound to the laws of Batman, but he
himself feels himself a slave to the will of someone else. He was never
able to climb out of that prison, and he worships the one person he
believes could. And Talia is just aspiring to the impossible goals of
her father (
Ra’s Al Ghul,
Liam Neeson’s
villain from the first Nolanverse movie). It is a perfect contrast to
Batman’s belief that anyone could be a super-hero, no matter what their
origins are. When Batman proves that Talia wasn’t the only one who could
escape the underground prison, he is really proving the message Bane
has been preaching but never really believed.
When the theatrical trailer for
Skyfall
came out, everything looked incredible cool: Except for the villain.
Out of context, watching Javier Bardem in garish clothes and an absurd
wig stroking the chest of
Daniel Craig’s
James Bond seemed ridiculous.
And it is. But it is also so terrifying. Bardem and the team behind
Skyfall create a villain that has all the elements of the campy villains from the
Connery and Moore Bond years, but still perfectly fits into the gritty Bond universe of the 21st century.
Silvia, who was once the best secret agent working for MI6, was given up to the Chinese by
M,
who was both his boss and maternal figure, in exchange for a bunch of
other captured agents. After months of torture, he snapped and decided
to blame M for his pain--and, using exceptional hacking skills, does
just that. He is both a perfect parallel to James Bond, who will follow
M’s command to the dot, and a perfect symbol of the terrorists that
threaten the world in this day and age.
5. Ma-ma
It is hard not to find Ma-ma--the primary adversary of the criminally-underrated, futuristic, sci-fi, action drama
Dredd--rivetting.
One a lowly prostitute named Madeline Madrigal who’s face was brutally
slashed by her pimp, Ma-ma founded a vicious new street gang that took
over a skyscraper with the population of a medium-sized city.
It would be so easy for Director
Pete Travis
and actress Lena Headey (in a nomination-worthy performance) to make
her over-the-top or campy (after all, this lady did bite off someone’s
testicles!). Instead, Ma-ma (who both uses and sells the drug slo-mo,
which causes people to perceive time 100 times slower than normal) is
deeply menacing by her quiet, unenthusiastic, and depressed attitude. We
seriously believe this lady could command the small army of street
thugs she has at her disposal.
Ma-ma is the perfect symbolism of the decay and lifelessness that crime has brought to the dystopian future shown in
Dredd. And her both metaphoric and literal slow-motion fall is truly epic.
Flight’s protagonist, Captain Whip Whitaker (
Denzel Washington,
amazing as always), is the pilot of a commercial airline that suffers a
horrible accident (through no fault of his own). Whitaker’s incredible
skill and courage manages to save most of the lives on board, but things
turn worse when it comes out he was drunk and on cocaine while flying.
The story of
Flight
centers around Whitaker’s denial of his personal issues (such as
alcoholism). And Hugh Lang is actively encouraging him to hide it.
Hugh
Lang is the excellent lawyer who is hired by the union to keep the
crash from becoming a legal nightmare. Lang and Whitaker instantly
dislike each other, but Lang decides to make it his mission to keep
Whitaker out of jail because he is one of the few people to accurately
recognize that if it had been any other pilot, everyone would be dead.
However, Lang is actively encouraging Whitaker to perjure himself and
deny his illness and wrong-doing. Any idea that Lang is a good thing for
Whitaker is dispelled when, near the film’s climax, he actually buys
Whip cocaine in the hopes that it will counteract the effects of the
alcohol and keep the pilot from seeming drunk. When Whitaker decides to
finally do the right thing and tell the truth, Lang is disgusted and
appalled.
What better personification of the outside pressure for
people to hide their problems and deny it (even to themselves) than this
smarmy lawyer?
Possibly
even more so than action movies, horror movies live or die by their
villains. In horror films, the villains are the real stars, and the
protagonists are the supporting characters. For the movie to work, the
villain must be unique (
Nightmare on Elm Street’s
idea of being killed in your dreams was a stroke of genius), genuinely
scary (it might have been by the books and campy, but all the same it is
impossible to sleep after watching
Poltergeist), and symbolize something that the audience can actually care about, be it the fear of death (
Final Destination), the risks of adulthood (
Friday the 13th), the dangers of technology (
The Ring), or the sinister of the unknown (
Paranormal Activity).
The Woman in Black
(both the film and character) have all three. The movie opens with
three small children methodically committing suicide. It really is a
shock (it definitely fits into the “unique” category), which is exactly
what a horror picture needs to be. And the tension just builds from
there, every second is frightening. And, best--and most importantly of
all--the movie is able to tell a story.
Jennet Humphrye was an
1800s mother who’s child was taken away from her by her sister after the
state (probably accurately) ruled she was an unsuitable parent due to
being a complete lunatic. Unfortunately, her sister’s carriage got stuck
in a swamp and the sister abandoned the child in order to save her own
life. Humphrye’s killed herself in grief, but not before vowing to exact
her revenge on the town that had allowed her son to die. She does so by
returning as the ghost known as the Woman in Black, possessing the
bodies (though not the minds) of the town’s children, causing them to
kill themselves.
What is best about the Woman in Black’s character
is that she is able to give the movie a real story and theme. When the
film’s protagonist--
Daniel Radcliffe’s
Arthur Kipps--dies
(unsuccessfully) trying to save his son, he is able to take his child
to the afterlife where he can be reunited with his deceased wife. The
Woman in Black can only look on in sorrow, unable to stop him, but also
unable to go as well, for she is tied to the mortal world by her
attachment to vengeance.
Much of what makes the
Men in Black series so great is the charm and wit of its heroes--
Agent J and
Agent K
always have a fantastic one liner to punctuate each action scene.
However, the series has always struggled with mildly dull villains. They
are other-worldly, uptight, and never as interesting as their
adversaries.
Now that we are on the third of these movies, it was
time to introduce a villain who matches our heroes in both wit and
physical combat. Meet Boris. The sole surviving member of the
Bogladeshian race, Boris is the super-humanly strong biker out to
conquer Earth, but he takes the time to master Earthlings unique brand
of humor. Every line this guy says is instantly quotable (when a hippie
tells Boris to “make love, not war” he replies “I prefer to do both”).
Boris is also a far more intimidating villain: When this guy is able to
take out a prison full of highly trained soldiers single-handedly, you
know the Men in Black might not be able to defeat this foe so easily.
Of
course, a great villain also has to contribute to a great overall
story, and Boris does so in every way possible. His somewhat tragic
inability to be able to redo his past (this is a time travel movie, by
the way) despite all his efforts perfectly parallel Agent J’s sense of
wonder and acceptance of the fantastic world around him. Watch the scene
where an older Boris confronts his younger self and the two growl at
each other like animals and try to not be blown away.
Goon
is probably the least-watched of the movies on this list, which is a
pity, because it is fantastic. This is a comedy is about Doug Glatt, a
Massachusetts man who moves to Canada and becomes a hockey enforcer, a
man who’s job is to start fights in the ice arena.
Ross Rhea is a rival team’s veteran enforcer (played perfectly by
Liev Schreiber)
who frequently causes career-ruining injuries. Ross has left the majors
and is about to retire, but plans to go out with a bang. Doug plays on
another team from Ross, but spends nights analyzing Ross’s best
performances in order to emulate them (and, yes, all of his “best
performances” were fights). Ross is a barbarian who has ended countless
careers--his first scene, in a crowded press conference, is a laughably
phony apology for an illegal move that broke a player’s back--but he
isn’t all that bad a person. The movie is building up to the inevitable
battle between Ross and Doug, but from the get-go Ross sees the
puppy-dog sweet Doug and is instantly concerned that his opponent
doesn’t get that an enforcer’s career is brutal and short. In the
movie’s best moment, Ross tells Doug that it is likely that when they
finally play each other Ross will hurt Doug so badly that he will
sustain permanent injuries, and is touched when he realizes that Doug
does understand this, but is so passionate about the team that gave him
glory that he is willing to literally risk his life in order to take
them to the championships.
The friendship and animosity between Doug and Ross is fascinating, and it is what makes this movie so great.
'Nuff said.
