Movie Villainy In 2011

I'm nominating Gus Fring, even though his villainy is restricted to television. Quite frankly, I'm reasonably sure he could take any other villain offered up and tear out their throat with a box cutter.

Plus:

But if we must stick with the movies? Cate Blanchett's Southern Belle Big Bad Wolf from HANNA deserves props, although Tom Hollander deserves even more for sporting the tackiest Eurotrash track suit imaginable and still being one sinister motherfucker.

And Red Skull must receive due honors, for the genius Werner Herzog accent if nothing else.

My favorite has to be Marissa Wiegler from Hanna. Besides being played Cate Blanchett, which grants her 15 awesome points outright, she had that perfect ice cold exterior/boiling interior thing going that makes for a great villain.

Honorable mention has to go to the one-two punch of The Accountant and Jonah King from Drive Angry. Fichtner's greatness is self explanatory but Billy Burke does some great stuff as well. His "It'd be pretty easy for me to shoot you in the throat, watch you gurgle while I eat my morning grapefruit." has to be my favorite line of the year.

Echo Cate Blanchet in Hanna.  Others for me:

Albert Brooks - Drive

Chris Cooper - Muppets (fun one)

Rose McGowan - Conan (Shut up - I thought she stood out in a so-so movie)

That'll do for now.

I know it's supposed to be a comedy, but Theron's character in "Young Adult" is a borderline psychotic stalker out to destroy a man's family at any cost. There's a scene where she looks around a bar where everyone's having a good time except her and she has a disturbing, dead look in her eyes. It's a fantastic performance, but you combine it with all the time she spends alone in her hotel rooms, and something about it unnerved me in a way that serial killer dramas didn't.

McGowan, aside from Perlman, is about the only thing that really works in Conan.  They both seem to be the only ones who get the material.

Maybe a bit obvious, but I would say the best villain this year has to be this guy:

One of the most effective cases of stunt-casting in years, Brooks merely shifts his usual persona a couple of degrees to create a ruthless bastard who will cut you (albeit reluctantly) if you get in his way. A really fun villainous turn.

Also, really happy to see Blanchett and Hollander mentions. Hanna was absolutely terrific.

Edit: Damn, Teitr Styrr beat me to the punch...

Slightly unusual pick, but the most unethical bastard of the year is this guy:

Without getting into spoilers, this seemingly sane doctor begins to demolish every ethical boundary he can in the name of vengeance. Winding down to the film's final moments, the man who I had been cheering for had become a creature of disdain.

Biggest missed villain opportunity:  Ian McShane as Blackbeard.  Should have been a no-brainer, but instead was a botch in every way possible.

And the hell with it, I'm giving a shout-out to Zeus from Real Steel.

CLU - TRON LEGACY

Though Caesar recently gave him a run for his money, the iconic black and orange clad CLU from last winter's TRON LEGACY nevertheless stands out as the not just the uncontested villain-king of this past calendar year, but I consider the character itself to be the single most important special effect since the  dinosaurs of JURASSIC PARK. I've written about this extensively on the boards before, but for Disney to put their faith in the digital double deaging tech to such a degree that they'd cast a deaged photo real Jeff Bridges as THE villain in their mega budget blockbuster Christmas tent pole, it signals the start of an entirely new era of film

Sean Bridgers as Chris Cleek in The Woman. Director/writer Lucky McKee manages to find new ways to make this character despicable over the course of the movie.

Kevin Bacon had a damn good year as a heavy. First as Sebastian Shaw in X-Men: FC &, second, as the uber-sleazy, wife stealing drug kingpin in Super (which was actually one of the best performances of his career).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gabe T 

Yeah, except she's SO AWESOME in this movie. Her character spends the whole time pathetically/awesomely going, "This place is AWFUL and filled with TACKY PEOPLE, I need to go back to the Hustle and Bustle of SWEEPING MINNEAPOLIS." She has such contempt for EVERYONE in this movie, and while none of them are genuinely bad people, she's TOTALLY RIGHT. She went and made a life for herself and writes, even if it's in finger quotations. Meanwhile, Patrick Wilson is a grown man who still calls himself "Buddy" and his wife is a half a loaf of rye and people talk when there's rumors of a new Chipotle.

 

At first I figured it was just more Hollywood shit-talking small towns, but through Theron's eyes, it became a true hell on Earth. LOVED HER in this.

I definitely loved her, too. But, from the trailers I figured her character was just kind of bitchy. She really pushed it into a level of being genuinely disturbed (even though she may be right a lot of the time).

I reckon a shout-out is due to Tom Hiddleston as Loki in Thor. He took a character that could've been utterly grating and balanced the villainy with a sadder, more vulnerable side that made him incredibly watchable. It's the kind of character that a lesser actor-director team could've made a screeching mess out of, but I thought Hiddleston and Branagh handled him just right.

Goro Inagaki in 13 ASSASSINS. Man what a jerk.

TV-wise I'll take the rogues gallery from Strike Back. Mainly Liam Cunningham, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and Jimi Mistry.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moltisanti 

Goro Inagaki in 13 ASSASSINS. Man what a jerk.

 

TV-wise I'll take the rogues gallery from Strike Back. Mainly Liam Cunningham, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and Jimi Mistry.

I'd second this. A great performance 

Margo Martindale as Mags Bennett in Justified.  The entire Bennet clan was a great addition to the series, but Martindale knocked it out of the park .

Tom Hiddleston did turn a performance that was positively shocking in its nuance and empathy for a Marvel villain.  The movie was only pretty good overall, but he and Branagh deserve all kinds of props for making that character more compelling than he had any right to be.

But one that can't be praised enough is John Hawkes in Martha Marcy May Marlene.  He doesn't chew the scenery, but his wiry intensity makes you believe he could build up a cult around him, and nothing I saw in 2011 made my blood run colder than the look he gives the guy after he says he just wants his family to be safe.

William Forsythe returns to the spotlight as the villain you can do business with...so along as you don't poke him with the stick of your stupidity.

We were just talking about this yesterday, but Ezra Miller in We Need To Talk About Kevin wins it for me. The ultimate in understood, fully embraced, everyday EVIL.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gabe T 

I loved Deadwood SO MUCH and McShane was easily the breakout of a top-notch cast. But has he not been absolutely awful in every post-Deadwood movie he's done thus far? Just mailing it in, at every chance he gets. It's so borderline depressing after a point, you know?

 

I call bullshit. His voicework in Kung Fu Panda and Coraline astounded me in showing off his range.\

And I actually dug him in Stranger Tides.

I thought Ian McSHane  was almost scary at a few points in POTCOST, but the direction and script ultimately robbed him of anything to do other than stand around limply and deliver exposition 

There were few moments for actual villainy in that role, but I'm of the opinion he did the best he could

PS I still would have prefered James Purefoy to have reprised his Blackbeard from the TV MOVIE he did

Quote:

Originally Posted by Art Decade 

Kevin Bacon had a damn good year as a heavy. First as Sebastian Shaw in X-Men: FC &, second, as the uber-sleazy, wife stealing drug kingpin in Super (which was actually one of the best performances of his career).

Seconded! for his performance in Super, that was a great villian...constantly amazed that these numbfucks around are inconvienceing him. Homicidal narcissism at its finest.

Bacon certainly rocked it out this year, both as a sleazeball (Super) and in broad Bond-esque fashion (X-Men).  Weaving and Hiddleston deserve high marks as well.  This was an all-around great year for Marvel villains.

The ONLY one I disagree with on this list is Rose McGowan.  The Conan movie was a bad film and she was BY FAR the worst aspect.  That has to be one of the worst performances I have seen in theaters in years................and I actually like Rose McGowan.  Oh well, agree to disagree, I guess.

Anyway, while I'm sure a few more will come to me later, I'd like to toss Noah Emmerich onto the list....

I was definitely cheering when he met his end in Super 8.

McShane also rocks it pretty hard in 44 INCH CHEST.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Princess Kate 

 

CLU - TRON LEGACY

 

 

 

 

 

Though Caesar recently gave him a run for his money, the iconic black and orange clad CLU from last winter's TRON LEGACY nevertheless stands out as the not just the uncontested villain-king of this past calendar year, but I consider the character itself to be the single most important special effect since the  dinosaurs of JURASSIC PARK. I've written about this extensively on the boards before, but for Disney to put their faith in the digital double deaging tech to such a degree that they'd cast a deaged photo real Jeff Bridges as THE villain in their mega budget blockbuster Christmas tent pole, it signals the start of an entirely new era of film

 

When Jeff bridges, wizened and worn down by 30 years of hard living, stood face to face with his cocky, confident self as he existed at the time of the original TRON, it was a jaw dropping moment for me on many levels. Emotionally, to have that moment realized on screen had a special power unlike anything I'd seen before in a movie. It was as if I were watching magic

 

I know that the effect wasn't perfect.... The orange lighting didn't help (check the blue light pic above - CLU looks at his best when in Flynn's apartment), but think about it.. Where do we go from here?

 

10 years from now, what stops us from a new Harrison Ford Indiana Jones movie.. Starring Indiana Jones circa 1935? Only the budget to pay for the effects. All the technology needed to achieve that reality on film exists now today

 

Cameron has said that now, for the first time in history, anything you can imagine can be put to film. With CLU there before my eyes in 3D, I knew this to at last be true 

 

PS I saw TRON LEGACY in 2011, hence it's inclusion in this post

Aside from being a shitty movie (That I tried really hard to like twice. Just too much stupidity and plot holes), I love the logic of including him.

"Agent Smith was my favorite villain of the year! He counts because I hadn't seen The Matrix until this year, 2011!"

Noah Emmerich was so toothless, boring, and forgettable... like pretty much everything about Super 8.

My favorite answer so far is Goro Inagaki.  Lord Naritsugu was a psychopath, and a sadist from the beginning.  But as the movie went on, as weird as this sounds, he came to truly appreciate, and even become philosophical about his love of violence.  Despite him never learning anything worth learning, he nevertheless went through a full-fledged character arc.  It's one of the best things about one of the best action movies in recent memory.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cameron Hughes 

Aside from being a shitty movie (That I tried really hard to like twice. Just too much stupidity and plot holes), I love the logic of including him.

 

"Agent Smith was my favorite villain of the year! He counts because I hadn't seen The Matrix until this year, 2011!"

Well at least you seem to agree with my statements about the importance of CLU's legacy

Daniel Craig as Sakharine in "Tintin" was a great villian surprise for me, but i'll be damned, his Red Rackham was memorable; hes just a few minutes in the film, but I couldnt help think how great the pirate bits were in the movie; also, fantastic entrance...damn, now i want a "Adventures of Sir Francis Haddock" film"

Craig would make a killer live action villain in a fun pulpy film.....................perhaps Indy 5?  Or better yet, since he's a big fan of the franchise, a future Star Trek sequel?