Films where you actually route for the villain

ziedth

So I saw the somewhat watchable Law abiding Citizen the other night and I found myself during it that I actually WANTED Gerrard Butlers evil plan to work(maybe because Jamie Foxx's Character was such a twat). Anyway, This got me thinking are there many films that this happens? where your not really supposed to want the villain to win.

Thinking about it and ignoring the anti-hero movies or films where the main character is a villain eg american physco I quickly thought of these as films where I routed for the "badguy":

Russell Crowe in 3:10 to Yuma.
Tome Cruise in Collateral.
Denzel Washigton in Training Day.

So do you have any?

Otacon

Ozymandias

in Watchmen.

Though whether he really is the villain is debatable.

Kess73

Once Upon A Time In The West. I always rooted for Frank.

Karl Hungus

I can't remember a time when I didn't want Hans Gruber to win.

Funglegunk

Roy Batty, the true hero of Blade Runner.

I want more life....****er!

rednik

Neil McCauley (De Niro) in Heat.

MelissaLahive

Mr Brooks in Mr Brooks

Karl Hungus

There's a lot of films I could think of where I'd be on the side of the villain, but can anyone think of films where the villain is someone far too evil for them to root for? Perhaps...

MelissaLahive wrote: »

Mr Brooks in Mr Brooks

More of an anti-hero than a villain though, wouldn't you say?

ziedth

Karl Hungus wrote: »

There's a lot of films I could think of where I'd be on the side of the villain, but can anyone think of films where the villain is someone far too evil for them to root for? Perhaps...





More of an anti-hero than a villain though, wouldn't you say?

I dunno could I think of a lot of films, In the cases I mentioned (maybe not Ben Wade in 3:10) and def with Hans gruber I would imagine the films aren't designed at all for you to route for them. In my case anywas I felt it was more of a personal thing.

I can think of a few films where the villain is given a sympathetic backstory/cause maybe Ed Harris on the rock off the top of my head. but films where you truly SHOULDN'T be wanting them to win is interesting to me a little bit.

MooseJam

For a recent one, law abiding citizen

InKonspikuou2

Cobra Kai to win in the Karate Kid.
Godzilla.
Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York.
Hannibal Lecter
Decepticons in Transformers.
Jack Torrence in The Shining.
Jaws.
The Terminator in the first one.

ziedth

InKonspikuou2 wrote: »

Cobra Kai to win in the Karate Kid.
Godzilla.
Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York.
Hannibal Lecter
Decepticons in Transformers.
Jack Torrence in The Shining.
Jaws.
The Terminator in the first one.

Jesus thats a great one. Seriously charasmatic character.

Driver 8

Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood

mostly because Eli's such a weasal, and Day Lewis' performance is so volcanic.

rednik

Karl Hungus wrote: »

There's a lot of films I could think of where I'd be on the side of the villain, but can anyone think of films where the villain is someone far too evil for them to root for? Perhaps...





More of an anti-hero than a villain though, wouldn't you say?

From the same film I mentioned earlier Waingro from Heat

I couldnt wait for De Niro to get him. Remember sitting in the cinema the first time I saw and wondering as McCauley and his girlfriend were driving to the airport and Nate (Jon Voight) called him and told him where he was holed up would he go back. After what he did on the truck job and then the prostitute rape/murder
he had it coming. Just a horrible character.

Stagger Lee

By half way through Grizzly Man I was hoping the bears would ehem, end the movie. Very sad for the guy's girlfriend though...

Duggy747

+1 on Hans Gruber, man thats how you play a villian.

Would've been nice to see The Joker blow up those boats in The Dark Knight.

The asteroid wins in Armageddon.

JIZZLORD

Ernie mc cracken (Bill murray) in kingpin

And he did win in the end

Richard Dower

Obvious one is Silence Of The Lambs, i always wish the good guys would win!

Penn

Duggy747 wrote: »

Would've been nice to see The Joker blow up those boats in The Dark Knight

It actually would have. Jokers face when neither of the boats blow up is brilliant. For a man who spent the whole film thriving on his own unpredictability (not sure if thats an actual word but I'll continue regardless), he really believed that one of the boats would blow up. Even though he had a backup plan, you actually felt for him when he realised he was wrong

DazMarz

Speed: I always wanted Dennis Hopper to smear Keanu Reeves all over the highway!

Star Wars Original Trilogy: always wanted the Galactic Empire to win! They were so much cooler, with Stormtroopers, Star Destroyers, Darth Vader... How did they NOT win?!

The Matrix: Agent Smith was so cool! ''Mr. Aaaaaaand-er-son''. Gotta love it.

Penn

I agree with Hans Gruber in Die Hard and I'll even throw in Simon Gruber in Die Hard 3. I thought he was brilliant.

Atreyu

Gotta be Daryl Van Horne (Jack Nicholson) in the Witches of Eastwick

Legend!!!

faceman

Id have loved to have seen the dark lord in LOTR win.

I mean, imagine watching 12 hours of movie to have a bad guy who does nothing for those 12 hours, win in the end! Now that would be worth winning as oscar for!

I was also routing for Christopher Walken's Gabriel in The Prophecy aswell!

actuallylike

While we're on the Alan Rickman buzz, his sherrif of Nottingham part was unreal. Definitely wanted him to beat that Americanised douche bag Robin Hood.

"You. My room. 10:30 tonight.
You. 10:45... And bring a friend. "

What a legend!

Penn

faceman wrote: »

Id have loved to have seen the dark lord in LOTR win.

I mean, imagine watching 12 hours of movie to have a bad guy who does nothing for those 12 hours, win in the end! Now that would be worth winning as oscar for!

Haha.... Sam and Frodo walking up the path to the volcano, then a laser shoots out of Sauron's eye and melts them. That would have been the bravest thing in the history of film

foxyboxer

One of the reasons why Troy was such a poor movie is that we didn't know who to root for.

Achilles was supposed to be the hero but his arrogance prevented us from rooting for him.

Was delighted when wimpy Paris kills him in the end

Honorable mention to Otto Octavius in Spiderman 2

foxyboxer

You were great in your day, Superman. But it just stands to reason, when it came time to cash in your chips, this old... diseased... maniac would be your banker.

podgemonster

Dwight Goodman in Dodgeball, the Purple Cobras should have won and taken the gym. (I heard that was the original ending but the producers wouldn't allow it!)

I was rooting for Butler in Law Abiding Citizen also.

krudler

Simon Gruber in Die Hard With A Vengeance, for a minute i thought theyd actually done it when the boat blows up and Willis and Jackson are on the pier,then theres that horrible tacked on ending

ScumLord

The Japanese in Pearl Harbour. Not that I wanted the course of WW2 to go any differently I just wanted everyone in that film and involved in that film to die, in real life preferably.

Galvasean

Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds. Never before have I liked a Nazi so much.

monkeypants

Tom Cruise in Collateral
Sauron in Lord of the Rings. He was so badass.
Magneto in any X-Men movie. Evil oul fellas are just great.
Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men. Also in Batman.

oxygen_old

Death, in any of the Final Destinations. I dont know how they manage to write those characters so annoyingly, but I actually felt like they all deserved to die.

Also, I wanted the apocalypse in 2012 to kill John Cusack and his family. Again, it’s just a personal dislike thing, they were so self important, considering the incomprehensible loss of life in that film. Also It would be a shame to see the main character of any film not win out. (The main character being special effects, go Roland Emmerich!)

Killinator

Had some sympathy for Commadus(Joaquin Phoenix) in Gladiator, its not that I wanted Maximus to lose, its just you couldnt help but feel sorry for him at times,
All he wanted was to be emperor and it was snatched away from him by(in his eyes) an imposter at the last moment, what else could he do?:)

Otacon

Killinator wrote: »

All he wanted was to be emperor and it was snatched away from him by(in his eyes) an imposter at the last moment, what else could he do?:)

He also wanted to bone his mighty fine sister... so... yeah...

monkeypants

Otacon wrote: »

He also wanted to bone his mighty fine sister... so... yeah...

Zippitydoo

Can ye blame him though?:D

trustno1

T-1000 in Terminator 2.. he was sooo much cooler than Arnie and totally deserved to kick his arse..

Galvasean

This thread took a weird turn....

Moving swiftly on!

So yeah, as per the Final Destination comment, I find myself rooting for the killer/monster in many horror films. It just so happens that the main characters are so annoying you want to see them die. Alien Versus Predator 2, not one of the humans was worth saving.

Morlar

Platoon - Barnes wasn't so bad and would have won that war

ET - if ever a movie needed an alien autopsy it was that one.

Gremlins - they ruled and should have won.

A Clockwork Orange - Alex.

Lethal Weapon 2 - the Afrikaaners could have ended the briggs murtaugh partnership 2 movies back.

Also ..

District 9 - fook that. The govt/corporation.

SOD's Lovechild

Ed Norton's character in 25th Hour or Bob in Bob le flambeur are the two that spring to mind for me.

Reganio 2

Can't believe he lost. The real karate kid.. not some little punk in the white.

Lamper.sffc

Always wanted Tom to smash that cocky little b*astard of a mouse.:mad::D

Im sure there has been feature length Tom and jerry, just in case anybody argues the point.

PS: the Same goes for the Coyote in the Road Runner and Elmer Fudd with the Wabbit:mad::D

monkeypants

If Wile E. had just bought shares in ACME, he could retire and forget about that roadrunner. Or become an artist. His paintings of tunnel entrances were so realistic.