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5 Of The Best Villainous Performances In Film

Writer's picture: Sam WardSam Ward

The classic Protagonist vs Antagonist battle has been used throughout cinema history, and for good reason. The battle between right and wrong, good vs evil, dark vs light makes a film much more enjoyable and relatable to watch. Naturally you root for the ‘Goodie’, but sometimes the performance of the ‘Baddie’ can equally peak your interest and can often leave you coming out of a theatre revelling in an actor's malevolent performance of the ‘Bad Guy’. These are a few examples of the most impressive villainous performances in film.


 

1. Hans Landa - Inglourious Basterds.



Probably as evil and despicable as you get, the multilingual Christoph Waltz somehow managed to bring a certain charm and humour to a Nazi Colonel. Quentin Tarantino managed to give a breakout role to a then-53 year old, and it really paid off. The chilling opening scene, set in beautiful French cattle country seems, fairly ordinary as it begins, but soon the clever Col Landa carefully picks apart LaPadite’s secret, and the tension reaches an explosive crescendo. This increases 10 fold throughout the film


2. Norman Bates - Psycho.


To play a mentally unstable, cross dressing psychopath like Norman Bates is as tough a movie role as you could get, but Anthony Perkins gave a performance that was so ahead of its time, that if it was played in cinemas today, it wouldn't look out of place. The scene when Arbogast is enquiring about Marion was nail biting. The back and forth between them, with Bates nervously chewing his gum, gritting his teeth and growing increasingly more agitated elevated the movie entirely, as did his performance throughout.


3. Percy Wetmore - The Green Mile.

Sick. Sleazy. Sadistic. Evil. Despicable. All of these words don’t really do justice how horrible Doug Hutchinson’s character is in The Green Mile. When writing this film, they must have set out to create the nastiest guy in the world. He was probably the most captivating character in the film, and that’s ahead of Tom Hanks, that’s how good (bad) he was. A truly iconic film, with an iconic ‘goodie’ and an iconic ‘baddie’.


4. Calvin Candie, Django Unchained.

Leonardo Di Caprio has given us some incredible performances over the years, but this one, although only a supporting role, has to be considered to be one his most impressive. Created by one of the best people around at creating incredible characters, this one really impressed. A despicable, selfish slave trader, that would do anything to get in the way of romance and happiness for a former slave. Any scene with him involved takes the movie to another level.


5. Amy Dunne - Gone Girl.

Rosamund Pike brought to life one of the most deranged, messed up characters written in Amy Dunne. The character is definitely complex to say the least, but the way it was portrayed by PIke made it look a breeze to play. Her long stares, acting like daggers through Affleck’s chest, make just about every hair on your body stand up. Arguably more known for her romantic drama and comedy performances, the role of evil Amy Dunne brought her significant critical acclaim, and rightly so!



Of course there are 100's more villains that haven't made the cut, and you could argue the case for all of them being on this list, but these are some of the cream of the crop. These characters are iconic to say the least, Bates and Wetmore have longevity, and without doubt the other three will be classics in years to come.

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