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The one constant of cinema is that if the antagonist of the piece isn’t up to scratch, the whole film suffers. After all, if the hero isn’t facing a worthy adversary there’s no real point in watching – the audience would fall into a tedium-induced coma and countless £10 buckets of popcorn would fall from sleeping hands to the disgusting carpet below.
That’s why it’s so exciting when you come across a film where, despite spending more time with the hero, the villains are actually crafted with more care, their layered motivation conveyed through stand-out performances. It also helps that actors themselves seem to revel in being given a chance to dig into their latent inner evil which tends to make for more interesting viewing than a hero’s tiresome race against the clock, boring romantic subplot and inevitable happy ending.
Get your red lightsabers, facial scars and nuclear launch codes at the ready as we delve into a truly wretched hive of scum and villainy.
15. Owen Davian – Mission: Impossible III
Philip Seymour Hoffman brought a certain prestige to every role he took on and his portrayal of sadistic arms merchant Owen Davian in Mission: Impossible III was no exception. Many villainous characters tend to lean towards the theatrical, especially in the series where Tom Cruise plays an all-American superman, but Hoffman managed to provide an engaging antagonistic performance without becoming a pile of ham.
Davian’s strength is in his pragmatism, he essentially sends the heroes on a globe spanning mission to get him what he wants. The leverage he uses to do this is Ethan Hunt’s (Cruise) new wife, who Davian tracks down using nothing more than the protagonist’s first name. It’s also worth noting that he’s not above executing those that cross him, whether by firearm or via tiny explosives implanted into peoples’ brains (the latter which he describes as ‘fun’). Davian is the IMF’s worst nightmare a violent, egomaniacal despot with the means to back up his sadistic threats.
Of course, in the end, our hero has to swoop in and save his damsel in distress, sending Davian to the big evil lair in the sky by throwing him through a window and under a speeding truck. A flashy end for an understated villain to be sure, but even in death Davian has an advantage over Hunt: one of the aforementioned brain bombs is primed and ready to explode his pretty head. To claim victory over evil, Hunt has to be electrocuted to death and subsequently revived by his clearly traumatised wife. This is twisted stuff, but ultimately to be expected. As Davian himself says, “You can tell a lot about a person’s character by how they treat people they don’t have to treat well.”
14. Johnny Tapia – Bad Boys II
It takes a certain kind of lunatic to stand out in a film composed almost entirely of Martin Lawrence and Will Smith trying to out-crazy each other, but Jordi Mollà rose to the occasion and handily became one of the highlights of Bad Boy II. Serving as the primary antagonist to our boys in blue, Johnny Tapia is an eccentric drug lord trying to balance running a cocaine empire with keeping his elderly mother and cherubic daughter non-the-wiser. Basically, his life is what the Sopranos would have looked like if it was a single camera sitcom.
From his bizarrely ingenious (if grim) methods such as transporting his product in hollowed-out corpses to his skittish, wild-eyed presence and penchant for shooting rats, there isn’t a scene he features in that he doesn’t steal. However, a truly excellent villain is only as good as his untimely demise and as with everything else that he does, Tapia provides the audience with an unforgettable blood-soaked pièce de résistance.
Having destroyed the homes of what I’d estimate to be at least hundreds of favela dwelling poor folks under the wheels of Humvees, the cartel kingpin is shot between the eyes and onto a landmine, exploding like a glorious Cuban meat balloon.
What could easily have ended up as a cut-and-paste villainous performance was elevated by Mollà who clearly enjoyed every second on screen, up to and including turning into strawberry jam.
13. Shooter McGavin – Happy Gilmore
It’s hard to remember now but Adam Sandler’s output didn’t used to make people hiss like rabid cats. In fact it inspired a sound I imagine the man himself hasn’t heard in about a decade – laughter. Long before Jack & Jill proved Al Pacino is no longer worthy of adoration and The Cobbler somehow made a whimsical film about magic shoes into the most depressing thing ever put to film, Sandler had a good run of making goofball comedies that are still universally adored.
Happy Gilmore centered on a loveable loser on a quest to save his nana’s house and get the girl. It was never going to win any awards for originality, but the jokes landed and it had more heart than a blue whale. Easily the best part of the movie is the villain of the piece, Shooter McGavin. An arrogant, snide, privileged jock on his way to middle age, every aspect of McGavin’s character screamed pent up insecurity. His rivalry with protagonist Happy Gilmore is without doubt one of the funniest narratives Sandler has ever produced, a mixture of good vs. evil, immature wordplay and surreal grandmother make-out sessions almost make you forget that the movie is set within the offensively boring world of golf.
McGavin gets his comeuppance and then some, being chased and mercilessly beaten into the ground by Richard Kiel (who played Jaws in the James Bond franchise). It’s basically a violent lesson in humility. Here’s a real world application of this scenario: next time you’re considering being a smug douche to someone, consider that the most recent Bond henchman was played by Dave freaking Bautista and you never know who has him on speed dial.
12. Leroy – The Mexican
The Mexican is a charming action rom-com featuring what is possibly the safest casting choices of all time with Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts receiving top billing. While they had an undeniable chemistry and the plot’s twists and turns satisfied audiences looking for some light entertainment, ask anyone who has seen it what their most prevalent memory of film is and I guarantee you they’ll single out the late, great James Gandolfini’s performance as the soft-spoken and oh so endearing hitman, Leroy.
It’s pretty much a given that Gandolfini would dominate whatever scene he happened to be in but in The Mexican he played so completely against type that he elevated a popcorn road movie into something just that little bit more. Even after all the being nice wears thin and reveals the dark core he perfected during the Sopranos, Gandolfini owns the screen. Having spent to entire movie winning over both the protagonists and the audience, it turns out that good old Leroy isn’t who he says he is after all. His real name is Winston Baldry and he has been manipulating the giant sentient mouth credited as Julia Roberts the whole time, his real goal is to whack Pitt’s character Jerry.
Right as he’s about to complete his assignment he gets distracted by what looks like a Mad Max parade (understandable) allowing Jerry to turn the tables and shoot him while his back is turned. Despite being taken down by a rookie mistake, the depth of his deceit and skills as a hired killer made viewers the world over wish that there was a prequel called ‘Winston Baldry: Chameleon Badass’.
11. Terence Fletcher – Whiplash
The most recent entry in the list but certainly one of the most intensely antagonistic performances in the past few years, J. K. Simmons’ sadistic jazz conductor Terence Fletcher is a man you don’t want to disappoint. When Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller) is invited to fill in as the drummer for Fletcher’s studio band, he considers it an honour. That is until his tempo falters and he is subjected to slaps, thrown chairs and verbal abuse.
Instigating conflict between students and acting like a tyrannical lunatic, whenever Fletcher roars into shot it’s impossible to look away. Despite his thorough unpleasantness there’s something darkly compelling about this man who drives young musicians to greatness with the same malice and ferocity Russia employs to train its elite Spetsnaz units.
The central ethos to which Fletcher abides when making youngsters weep into their tubas is that, “There are no two words in the English language more harmful than ‘good job’.” It seems that his arch-nemesis is positive reinforcement and he battles against this concept so hard that he even drives one of his students to suicide. That’s some serious musical criticism right there.
Neiman’s ‘defeat’ of Fletcher at the very end of the film is one its most interesting moments in that it’s ridiculous. The protagonist ‘wins’ by gaining the begrudging respect of the person who has taught him to be better at drumming by… being super good at drumming. I’d call that a job well done by Fletcher. All things considered, he managed to nurture and unleash a young prodigy’s greatness through a healthy regimen of physical and psychological torture.
10. Harry Waters – In Bruges
Assassins have feelings too, at least that’s what In Bruges would have us believe. Following Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) as they are sent to the titular Belgian city after a botched job leaves a child dead, the movie examines guilt, boredom and a racist midget’s drug induced race-war fantasy. As the previous sentence probably implies, this is a film with a penchant for veering into heightened, bizarre situations and with this in mind the antagonist needed to be a certain kind of lunatic to make an impression.
What better to fill this void than the renowned thespian Ralph Fiennes’ portrayal of a gibbering madman who is always only a second away from screaming impressive tirades of obscenities or attacking a phone. Having sent Ken to Bruges with the aim of bumping off Ray, he imagines a beautiful last weekend for the doomed hitman, a fairytale of snow and pretty swans. These romantic notions may serve to heighten the absurd entertainment value of the situation, but it’s when he is forced to take matters into his own hands that things get really interesting.
When he arrives to hunt down our morally dubious protagonists, he wastes no time in dropping an impressive string of C-bombs outside a quaint café before forcing Gleeson’s character to take a long drop of his own from the roof of a very tall church tower. However, despite being a formidable ball of cockney rage, it’s established that Harry has a strict moral code and what’s impressive about it is how seriously he takes this stance. Upon shooting and subsequently mistaking the racist midget for a child, he wastes no time in swallowing the barrel of a gun himself. While the world is probably safer without people like Harry Waters running about, it would undoubtedly be less interesting.
9. Calvin Candie – Django Unchained
Django Unchained teaches audiences that as long as you’re good with a gun you can overcome all of your problems, even if those problems happen to include being a slave. After being rescued by German bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz, who is whimsically odd yet deadly efficient (so Cristoph Waltz basically), our plucky protagonist Django (Jamie Foxx) sets out to find his wife on a hero’s journey that sees him shoot a snowman’s face off, dress like an international man of mystery and perform a dressage exhibition in front of an explosion.
Rising to the challenge set by two genuinely magnetic leads, Leonardo DiCaprio put everything he had into the smarmy, racist plantation owner and primary antagonist Calvin Candie. Despite Oscars dodging him like he’s got some sort of contagious disease, when Leo commits to a role it’s a joy to watch. Whether he’s bragging about his Mandingos or offering up a tooth rotting beverage Candie is positively dripping with the wrong kind of charisma. Even before he rubs his actual blood across Kerry Washington’s face, DiCaprio had made us well and truly hate his character.
Not a man to be crossed, Candie thinks nothing of doling out punishments as brutal and sickening as dog maulings, naked hotbox time and *crosses legs* hot knife castration. So it’s no wonder when it comes down to it that Schultz refuses to shake his hand and instead opts to murder him. Candie’s eventual end comes with a whimper (admittedly followed by a lot of bangs but he’s not around to see them), a satisfyingly unceremonious death for a man whose whole privileged yet wretched life had been dedicated to theatrical shows of wealth and power.
8. Darth Maul – Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Easily the most interesting character in the Star Wars prequels, Darth Maul made us all believe that there was real potential in this shameful trilogy before being cruelly taken away, leaving us to instead suffer through an extended sequence where racist cartoons fight with comedy robots and as if that’s not enough, a space battle which is decisively won by a toddler.
Many would argue that Liam Neeson’s Qui-Gon Jinn was the biggest casualty of The Phantom Menace, but the truth of the matter is that the prequels would have benefited more from a constant villain whose master plan was even marginally more interesting than disguising himself as an ageing politician. Let’s be honest, nobody went to see Star Wars Episode I to hear aliens discuss trade regulations, they went to see the guy with the crazy red and black face do awesome flips.
With very minimal vocal input (which is dubbed by the hilarious Peter Serafinowicz for some reason) Maul shows that actions do indeed speak louder than words. Until this point Star Wars fans had only seen the standard of acrobatics you expect from a discount car park circus during lightsaber battles, the multi-level three way fight between two Jedi and a Sith Lord was a revelation.
This was not to last as at the apex of his awesomeness, having pretty much defeated two Jedi Knights single-handed, he stood and let himself be cut in half like an absolute tool. I’m aware that he’s alive somewhere in the Expanded Universe but it’s too little too late. Darth Maul’s villainy could have ironically been the saviour of the prequels but sadly it was not to be – he successfully stole the limelight but in return he was robbed of the narrative he deserved. Shame on you George Lucas.
7. Senator Roark – Sin City: A Dame To Kill For
Powers Booth has a lot going for him when auditioning for villainous roles, his insanely masculine name and a face that looks like a cross between an oil tycoon and a shark must make casting directors throw any other candidates out of the nearest window lest they anger ‘The Booth’, as I imagine he is known. The stylised cinematography in Sin City: A Dame To Kill For only serve to heighten his menacing presence and he owns every scene he features in as the despicable Senator Roark.
You’ve got to respect a man that’s so powerful that he has become a one man crime-noir; Roark’s only activities seem to be drinking, smoking cigars and gambling. It’s easy to see how he attained this influence as soon as you hear him speak, who said he was just a scary face? Silver-tongued one minute and viciously intimidating the next, everyone hangs on to each syllable which escapes from under his magnificent moustache.
Joseph Gordon Levitt’s phoned-in turn as Johnny (Roark’s bastard) may have been able to beat his father at poker games while performing swish card tricks, but the Senator proved that this was ill advised by first breaking all of his illegitimate son’s fingers and then shooting him in the face. Every time the Senator’s name is mentioned it is with the caveat that he is not to be messed with under any circumstances and characters relay this information with the same fear in their eyes as the doomed studio assistants tasked with getting Powers Booth’s lunch order correct.
6. Alec ‘Janus’ Trevelyan – Goldeneye
I could simply point out that Alec Trevelyan is played by Sean Bean and that would be sufficient call it a day. Simply put, Bean’s turn as Trevelyan managed to stand out in a film revolving around evil Russians, a bitchin’ stealth helicopter and Famke Jannsen crushing people between her thighs.
Goldeneye treated audiences to a brief glimpse of two suave MI6 agents working together in the field, eliciting screams of glee from men and women alike. It was not to last though as 006 is seemingly executed by General Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov a gaunt Russian skeleton in a uniform two sizes too big. Fans of Bean’s mortality were in for a treat though as this is only the first of what I’d calculate to be three on-screen deaths during Pierce Brosnan’s debut outing as 007.
After secretly causing Bond trouble under the assumed name ‘Janus’ throughout the film, Alec reappears in a freaking graveyard to tell 007 that he’s evil. That’s classy stuff right there. Their final showdown takes place high above a large satellite dish and ends with the former 006 falling from such a height that he would have disintegrated on impact if the scriptwriter didn’t hate his character so much. Instead he clings to enough life to scream as the entire satellite apparatus falls on his head. No matter how awesome Alec Trevelyan was or how needlessly elaborate his plans, Goldeneye proves that all it takes is an angry, drunk sex addict to bring it all tumbling down.
5. Commodus – Gladiator
One of the most frequently used measurements of villainy is how much you love to hate the character. It’s a surprisingly treacherous line to walk between being enjoyable to watch, yet making you want to punch them in right in their self-satisfied imaginary face. Fear not though, as there is a clear winner within this niche: Joaquin Phoenix’s turn as Commodus in Ridley Scott’s historical epic, Gladiator.
A modern classic about one man’s struggle to become popular by brutally killing so many people that he’ll never have to kill again, it’s no surprise that there’s some melodrama thrown into the mix. Such a lofty tale of heroism needs a fitting villain. Glad to step up as the relish to this delicious plate of bastardry, Commodus’ presence literally makes the audience’s skin try to crawl off their body. He manages to hit every last creepy box by being a patricidal, incestuous and worst of all, unsportsmanlike tyrant.
At one point Gladiator pretty much breaks the fourth wall in the most dramatic Q&A moment put to screen, “Are you not entertained?” asks the flamboyantly named protagonist Maximus Decimus Meridius after stabbing a man’s dick off with a trident, which is a fair question all things considered. My answer to that would be that even in the midst of all the ultra-violence, magical gas canister chariots and tiger wrestling the most entertaining aspect was easily Phoenix channelling all the snivelling, insufferable mannerisms that he probably learned from the people in his entourage.
4. The Caller – Phone Booth
Nobody wants to go into a phone booth any more as they’re basically toilets for drunks. Attitudes were apparently different in 2002 when sleazy publicist Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell) decided to use ‘the last phone booth in New York’ to call his mistress. After he hangs up from his philandering phone antics a call comes through which he decides to answer it for the hell of it. This was a mistake for reasons far more concerning than the inevitable smell of urine as he soon finds himself in the sights of a madman who instils morality in people by shooting them with a sniper rifle.
This trigger-happy defender of ethics and honesty forces Stu to play a sinister game of Simon Says with requests delivered in the dulcet tones of Kiefer Sutherland. While it’s fun to imagine that this is a world in which Jack Bauer has gone rogue and murders people for the unforgivable crime of being a total bastard, the basic idea proves entertaining enough.
Much has been made of Farrell’s performance as ‘frightened man in small space’ but the real star of the show is the unnamed caller. Equal parts mocking and menace, this calculating vigilante always follows through on all his threats. The fact that he knows everything about the protagonist and is able to get into his head so quickly makes him all the more terrifying and unpredictable.
Although in the end he is forced to flee from his shooting gallery, the caller is still able to walk unnoticed past the entire New York City police department to goad Stu as he lies drugged in an ambulance and the epilogue even shows him setting up his next scenario. By the time the credits roll, Phone Booth’s villain has made the protagonist a better man and potentially saved his marriage through the magic of fear. If it works, it works I guess.
3. Mr. Blonde – Reservoir Dogs
Quentin Tarantino’s directorial debut took the world by storm, showed his flair for writing snappy dialogue and gave us an undoubtedly interesting perspective on Madonna’s Like a Virgin. There are so many iconic moments from this film like Buscemi’s tipping diatribe, Roth’s fake drug bust story and Keitel’s anguished screams which stay with viewers long after the credits roll. One moment trumps all of this however and it involves a man being forced to relinquish one of his ears to a jaunty Stealer’s Wheel track.
While the majority of the characters are provided with some level of depth, Mr. Blonde is notably one dimensional. This would usually result in him being relegated to bit-player status while the others did all the heavy lifting. Not so here. Michael Madsen’s portrayal of a cool, calculating killer may well be one-note but it’s the sweetest sounding note in the whole score.
After watching Mr. Blonde gleefully boogie around a warehouse with a flick-knife, I believe most would agree that he’s the last person you’d want to be stuck anywhere with. A true psychopath and the reason for most of the gang’s trouble (namely by shooting wildly into a room full of innocent people), he manages to make the biggest impression in an ensemble of smooth, snarky wise guys while never once raising his own voice. Undeniably cool, unmistakably dangerous and utilised to perfection by Tarantino, Mr. Blonde is a necessary addition to any villain hall of fame.
2. Anton Chigurh – No Country For Old Men
Death incarnate with the hair of an Amish tradesman, Anton Chigurh is an unstoppable force of cattle gunning, coin flipping evil. When a character’s introduction consists of strangling a folksy policeman while pulling a face straight out of a nightmare, you tend to take notice. In a narrative full of moral ambiguity Chigurh’s motivation is never in doubt, he has a job to do and he will mercilessly take out anyone who stands between him and his goal.
He is a man who chooses his words carefully and is more prone to violence than dialogue which makes him unpredictable both for the audience and the police trying to solve the litany of crimes left in his wake. That leads me to what is really the scariest part about this dead-eyed murderbeast – he wins. He suffers no real consequences for what he has done. Even right at the end of the film which sees him caught up in a nasty car crash, he gets up and limps away as if it’s nothing but a twisted ankle.
The Coen Brothers are predominantly known for their portrayal of whimsical characters caught up in crazy situations but No Country For Old Men’s grittier tone demanded a villain to match. In fact, Javier Bardem’s portrayal of Chigurh is so chilling and distinct that it’s likely to be the only real memory you have of the movie.
1. John Doe – Se7en
Responsible for everybody you know shrieking “What’s in the BOX!?” whenever presented with a closed container, David Fincher’s Se7en is a critically acclaimed psychological thriller revolving around a string murders based on the Seven Deadly Sins. The plot follow detectives Somerset (Morgan Freeman) and Mills (Brad Pitt) as they attempt to track down a religiously motivated killer who revels in creating murderous tableaux and always seems to be two steps ahead of them.
It is a testament to Kevin Spacey’s acting ability that he completely owns the finale of Se7en with such a comparatively short time on-screen, instantly overshadowing the performances of Freeman and Pitt with a sinister malevolence usually only recorded in people who have found themselves stuck in a lift with Gwyneth Paltrow.
Se7en’s ending is suitably nihilistic in that, by coaxing Pitt’s character to empty a whole handgun magazine into him, the killer achieves his end goal and becomes his own seventh victim. It’s a brave conclusion in that nothing is really resolved, even Detective Somerset’s retirement plans are cancelled because of the film’s events. Sure there’s a folksy monologue about morality but viewers are left wondering if good men really can do anything in the face of such towering evil. Well played John Doe, even if just for giving struggling philosophy students something to talk about.
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