# Movies in which the Evil Guy is more interesting than the Good Guy **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 5, 2003, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-evil-guy-is-more-interesting-than-the-good-guy/199730 "2003-09-05T15:26:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sickboy51](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@sickboy51](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sickboy51)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-evil-guy-is-more-interesting-than-the-good-guy/199730/1 "2003-09-05T15:26:55Z")
Most of times I find the evil character in a movie to be more interesting than the good one. I don´t know if it´s that I´m evil myself 😉 or if it´s that being “good” is absolutely boring. Sometimes there are films in which is hard to tell the good one from the evil one. Most of times the “good” one is the last standing. Anyway, here I go with some films in which I think the evil one is cooler than the good one. Of course, the first **Star Wars** trilogy, Darth Vader is almost a pop culture icon by now. Being a Spaghetti Western fan myself, in **For a Few Dollars More** I preferred the “El Indio” character, starred by Gian Maria Volonté. In **Predator** and the first **Terminator** the evil ones are the hot stuff of the film. What to say about the **Nexus 6** in **Blade Runner**? More to come, now tell me yours. P.S. TV Shows are also wellcomed, i.e. **Buffy The Vampire Slayer** , Spike rules! ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-evil-guy-is-more-interesting-than-the-good-guy/199730/2 "2003-09-05T16:02:01Z")
How about Doctor Evil in **Austin Powers**? I believe its a sign of a well-written story where the bad guy is an interesting character and even, as you say, more interesting than the protagonist. However, just to contradict myself, I would point out that in one of my favorite stories of all time ( **The Lord of the Rings** ) the bad guy is totally uninteresting as a character – just a blanket wall of evil with no personality traits whatsoever. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-evil-guy-is-more-interesting-than-the-good-guy/199730/3 "2003-09-05T16:13:39Z")
“The Butcher” in **Gangs of New York** stole the show. I thought that Leonardo DiCaprio just wasn’t the right fellow for the good guy. ---
**Author:** ![curly\_chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@curly\_chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curly_chick)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-evil-guy-is-more-interesting-than-the-good-guy/199730/4 "2003-09-05T16:22:06Z")
I give you Alan Rickman as the Sherriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, compared to Kevin Costner as Robin. ---
**Author:** ![Malice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/278dde/32.png) [@Malice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malice)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-evil-guy-is-more-interesting-than-the-good-guy/199730/5 "2003-09-05T16:23:02Z")
**Silence of the lambs** – Hanibal Lector… doooood. **The Usual Suspects** – Keyser Soze **Training Day** – Det. Alonzo Harris I’d like to nominate **Unforgiven** too, but in the end I think the interest level in Bill Dagget and William Munney, which is phenomenal for each, is a draw. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-evil-guy-is-more-interesting-than-the-good-guy/199730/6 "2003-09-05T16:26:38Z")
Almost every drama by Shakespeare Paradise Lost by Milton Many of the stories in the Bible, particularly Pilate vs. Jesus It’s not new. ---
**Author:** ![sickboy51](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@sickboy51](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sickboy51)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-evil-guy-is-more-interesting-than-the-good-guy/199730/7 "2003-09-05T16:48:45Z")
Good examples so far. **Ponder Stibbons** , I agree. Maybe the fact that Sauron is more a presence than a true character makes him (it?) more fearfull, but has no intereste as a charecter. Any **Dracula** ´s movies. Specially that old one starred by Jack Palance, he really scared the hell out of me when I was a little kid. Who wants to be Van Helsing when you could be the Prince of Darkness itself? And what about **Batman** enemies? The Joker is my favourite, Jack Nicholson really did a good job, if you ask me. We could mention here almost any gore/terror teenager films, **A Nightmare on Elm Street** being the (IMO) most popular one. John Travolta in **Face to Face** Bruce Willis in **The Jackal** Again, more to come… ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-evil-guy-is-more-interesting-than-the-good-guy/199730/8 "2003-09-05T18:08:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Malice \* > **The Usual Suspects** – Keyser Soze I have to disagree. Verbal Kint (sp?) was a _much_ more interesting cha-- what? Oh yea. Never mind. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-evil-guy-is-more-interesting-than-the-good-guy/199730/9 "2003-09-05T19:10:36Z")
Alan Rickman in **Die Hard** outdid Bruce Willis as far as I’m concerned. I was disappointed in what they gave him to do in Robin Hood - victim of a poor script, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Godfrey\_Daniels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Godfrey\_Daniels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Godfrey_Daniels)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-evil-guy-is-more-interesting-than-the-good-guy/199730/10 "2003-09-05T19:27:12Z")
Some great ones already mentioned…Daniel Day Lewis as “the Butcher” in “Gangs of New York” is a perfect example, also Hannibal Lecter, Alan Rickman. Jim Carrey as “the Riddler” totally stole the show IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![LordVor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90ced4/32.png) [@LordVor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordVor)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-evil-guy-is-more-interesting-than-the-good-guy/199730/11 "2003-09-05T20:20:35Z")
when I made the mistake of seeing “Judgment Night”, by a third of the way through the movie I was actively cheering for Denis Leary to kill Emilio Estevez and Cuba Gooding Jr. -lv ---
**Author:** ![TheInterruptingCow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9c0ed/32.png) [@TheInterruptingCow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheInterruptingCow)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-evil-guy-is-more-interesting-than-the-good-guy/199730/12 "2003-09-05T21:39:18Z")
The bad guys are almost ALWAYS more interesting than the good guys, and I’ve heard veteran actors say that it’s much more fun to play the bad guy. I know it’s not a movie, but what springs to mind as an interesting character potrayal to ponder is Vic Mackey on 'The Shield"… ---
**Author:** ![Malice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/278dde/32.png) [@Malice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malice)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-evil-guy-is-more-interesting-than-the-good-guy/199730/13 "2003-09-05T22:03:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TheInterruptingCow \* > \*\*The bad guys are almost ALWAYS more interesting than the good guys, and I’ve heard veteran actors say that it’s much more fun to play the bad guy. > \*\* I’d quibble with this but only as a matter of degree and say that this is _frequently_ the case for the more interesting bad guy. In films like **The Fugitive** the antagonist (“bad guy” even though he’s not realy bad) Gerard is pretty equal to Kimball. After all, Kimball wins big interest points when he repeatedly jeopardizes his mission and his very life to save people’s lives at random and dives to his probable death to avoid capture. Besides, the actual “bad guy” is comparatively dull. Or **The Princess Bride** – Wesley, with his double life as the Dread Pirate Roberts, is much more interesting than Humperdink. **One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest** – Nurse ratched comes close but if anyone wins, it’s MacMurphy. **Aliens** – The Badass Momma Alien is cool and powerful, but certainly not as interesting as Ripley, whose own maternal instincts and willingness to repeatedly pur herself on the line when she’d rather be safe commanding acargo ship somewhere keep us riveted… Anyway, it’s not necessarily a foregone conclusion that the bad guy is the more fun to watch… ---
**Author:** ![Magickly\_Delicious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magickly\_Delicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magickly_Delicious)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-evil-guy-is-more-interesting-than-the-good-guy/199730/14 "2003-09-05T22:19:04Z")
**The Watcher** was done so badly that I cheered more for the murderer than the cop. And I probably would have felt that way, even if it hadn’t been Keanu Reeves playing the bad guy. 😉 Sigh. You don’t know what I’m talking about, right? [linky](http://www.thewatchermovie.com/) to jog your memory. ---
**Author:** ![fruitbat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@fruitbat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fruitbat)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-evil-guy-is-more-interesting-than-the-good-guy/199730/15 "2003-09-05T22:20:20Z")
To go a bit old school and mention two of my favorite films. **The Night of the Hunter** starred Robert Mitchum in one of the greatest roles in history. His deranged preacher _made_ the movie. Lillian Gish is actually very good as the matriarch, but she isn’t half as interesting as Mitchum. **Strangers on a Train** starred a fascinating villian and a milquetoast of a hero. Every time I see it I root for Robert Walker. **Touch of Evil** has Orson Welles as the corrupt lawman at his most grotesque. For the hero we have Charlton Heston playing a Mexican. In this one there is no contest. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-evil-guy-is-more-interesting-than-the-good-guy/199730/16 "2003-09-05T22:31:49Z")
**Oliver!** ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-evil-guy-is-more-interesting-than-the-good-guy/199730/17 "2003-09-05T23:02:29Z")
My favorite of the Batman villains was Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman, who stole the show not only from Batman, but from the ostensible “main” villain - the Penguin - of that particular film. And speaking of superhero flicks, what would the Superman movies have been without Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor? And I must admit to watching the “Wizard of Oz” as a kid, sometimes I wanted the Wicked Witch of the West to bitchslap that simpering adolescent drug-addict Judy/Dorothy, pitchfork that Scarecrow, recycle the Tin Woodsman into soup cans, and make a rug out of the lion. And I’m the first person to think of the (ahme) venerable C. Montgomery Burns?? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-evil-guy-is-more-interesting-than-the-good-guy/199730/18 "2003-09-05T23:35:17Z")
In the PBS mini-series _I, Claudius_, the best role, bar none, was Livia, played by Sian Phillips. I’d have loved to play that villianess! ---
**Author:** ![poiema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@poiema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/poiema)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-evil-guy-is-more-interesting-than-the-good-guy/199730/19 "2003-09-05T23:41:52Z")
the bad guy in **ransom** was way more fun to watch than mel gibson. and gary oldman in that movie with a young natalie portman and the french guy. i can’t remember the name. sorry. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2003, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-evil-guy-is-more-interesting-than-the-good-guy/199730/20 "2003-09-05T23:55:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by poiema \* > \*\*the bad guy in **ransom** was way more fun to watch than mel gibson. and gary oldman in that movie with a young natalie portman and the french guy. i can’t remember the name. sorry. ☹ \*\* That was The Professional, also known as Leon. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-in-which-the-evil-guy-is-more-interesting-than-the-good-guy/199730.md?page=2)