#53: What is the best movie portrayal of a complicated villain?
Last time we fought about fighting, with Jack Sparrow narrowly edging out John Wayne. Not sure that’s very realistic, but Iree called it nontheless and in doing so earned the right to ask:
What is the best movie portrayal of a complicated villain?
The Rules:
Post your answer as a comment. Make it clear that this is your official answer, one per member.
No profanity. No pornography.
Defend your answer in the comments and fight it out against other MFC members’ answers for the rest of the week.
Whoever gets the most likes on their official answer comment (and only that comment) by Friday night wins the fight. You may like (heart, whatever) as many answers as you want.
The winner gets the honor of posting the next question the following Saturday.
In the case of a tie, the member who posted the question will decide the winner.
Notes:
Only movies will qualify (no TV shows, or documentaries); however, films that air on television or streaming (BBC films, a stand-alone mini-series) will qualify.
Your answer can be as off-the-wall or controversial as you’d like. It will be up to you to defend it and win people to your side.
Fight it out.
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This might be recency bias but I'm going with Arthur Fleck from Joker. I've never much cared about the backstory for the Batman villain known as The Joker, and wouldn't have bothered watching Joker had they not cast Joaquin Phoenix in the lead. But oh man, did he nail it. The creative writing and Phoenix's performance manages to bring together the character so forcefully that you're equally terrified of him and feel sorry for him at the same time. They even came up with a creative way to make us sympathize with his maniacal laugh. It shows his gradual progression from pathetic social misfit into a demented counter-culture idol that people are willing to kill in order to emulate. It's got some disturbing moments, but it will change the way you view The Joker forever.
There is only one villain that I can think of that is so complex that he causes me to simultaneously route for and against him all at the same time... only one that breaks my heart and causes me to cry in sympathy when he fails to carry out his villainous plans...and that’s the Phantom in Phantom of the Opera.