Writer's Block: Love to hate
Aug. 11th, 2011 08:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofleithian[Error: unknown template qotd]
I can't really say. I love villains so much I can't really choose. But -- I can try. :3
Horror:
-Freddy Krueger from NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. Both versions.
-John Kramer/Jigsaw from the SAW franchise.
Sci-Fi/Fantasy:
Darth Vader: Yeah, you knew this was coming. But really -- he's awesome. And contrary to what some people will think, I don't think Hayden Christensen did a bad job playing him. True, there were some places where he could have been better, but that was the fault of the script, not him. If you check him out in other movies -- SHATTERED GLASS, etc. -- he's actually pretty good. And even as Anakin he had his moments. The meadow scene with Padme, for example, Mustafar, etc. (Especially Mustafar. Even when he's doing all these horrible things, you can't help but feel sorry for him. I think a lot of Mustafar, really, involves being invested in the characters beforehand)
Clu from TRON LEGACY: "Nooo..." saith the f-list who's probably had to put up with my gushing about him -- especially the brave few who've managed to sit through my LOTF-related rantings. XD (Okay, I'm kidding. :) In all seriousness though, Clu's made of awesome. It helps that Jeff Bridges is immensely talented -- it's not every day you can play the wise old mentor and the villain at the same time, let alone two different incarnations. I think one of the reasons I like Clu is that he's very complex -- even though he's a Complete Monster (callously sending programs to their deaths at the Games, manipulating people in the real world to suit his own ends, wiping out the ISOs, brainwashing Tron into Rinzler, etc.), the movie still takes pains to make him a sympathetic character. The scene where he breaks down in Kevin Flynn's apartment, for example, as well as the final confrontation with Flynn on the bridge. He still loves his creator despite what's happened between them -- but at the same time, he can't help but resent him because, in a way, he feels that Flynn values the ISOs over him. It's quite tragic, really. And yet at the same time, the movie doesn't shy away from what he does -- seriously, Clu is a nasty, nasty piece of work to say the least. I think it's one of the rare occasions (besides TOY STORY 3 -- which I'll cover later) where they manage to strike a balance between sympathetic and monstrous. Not too monstrous, but it doesn't DILP the guy either.
Saruman from LOTR -- It helps that Christopher Lee's made of win. And though one could argue it was simplified from in the books, Saruman's still awesome nonetheless. And they do remind us that Saruman used to be a helluvaguy -- Gandalf's words in the ROTK EE ("You were deep in the enemy's counsel.") and Treebeard's words to Merry and Pippin in TTT ("There was a time when Saruman used to walk in my woods"...yeah, so when he's chopping down the Ents to make weapons, etc. he's killing his own friends. I think my favorite part was definitely the speech he makes to the Uruk-Hai in TTT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLhvFSmhGC0.
He was so ruthless in FOTR and TTT (all while justifying to Gandalf that it's the only way out -- basically, he's succumbed to the same fate as Denethor looking into the palantir) that even watching the Behind the Scenes stuff, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Christopher Lee was actually quite a helluvaguy. (And a hardcore Tolkien fan to boot. Granted, everyone who worked on the movie were pretty hardcore Tolkien fans -- including the writers, naturally. :3 -- but he was actually the only one of the cast who actually met J.R.R. Tolkien? How awesome is that?) The movies were just perfectly cast all around, but Christopher Lee especially. No one could have played a better Saruman, IMHO.
-Nero from the new STAR TREK.
Animated:
Oogie Boogie from NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. He's just hilarious and despicable at the same time.
Lotso-Huggin'-Bear from TOY STORY 3: It's not every day that one manages to make a Care Bear both intimidating and sympathetic at the same time. And like Clu, the film gives him sympathetic motivations (feelings of abandonment and betrayal by his owner, Daisy, misguided as they may be), but it doesn't shy away from the fact he's an asshole (to put it mildly).
Judge Claude Frollo from THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. It helps that Tony Jay's awesome -- but it's also the fact that he's darker and more intimidating than most Disney villains. And to those who object: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqGL9B_TPTI.
Every Disney villain ever.
I can't really say. I love villains so much I can't really choose. But -- I can try. :3
Horror:
-Freddy Krueger from NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. Both versions.
-John Kramer/Jigsaw from the SAW franchise.
Sci-Fi/Fantasy:
Darth Vader: Yeah, you knew this was coming. But really -- he's awesome. And contrary to what some people will think, I don't think Hayden Christensen did a bad job playing him. True, there were some places where he could have been better, but that was the fault of the script, not him. If you check him out in other movies -- SHATTERED GLASS, etc. -- he's actually pretty good. And even as Anakin he had his moments. The meadow scene with Padme, for example, Mustafar, etc. (Especially Mustafar. Even when he's doing all these horrible things, you can't help but feel sorry for him. I think a lot of Mustafar, really, involves being invested in the characters beforehand)
Clu from TRON LEGACY: "Nooo..." saith the f-list who's probably had to put up with my gushing about him -- especially the brave few who've managed to sit through my LOTF-related rantings. XD (Okay, I'm kidding. :) In all seriousness though, Clu's made of awesome. It helps that Jeff Bridges is immensely talented -- it's not every day you can play the wise old mentor and the villain at the same time, let alone two different incarnations. I think one of the reasons I like Clu is that he's very complex -- even though he's a Complete Monster (callously sending programs to their deaths at the Games, manipulating people in the real world to suit his own ends, wiping out the ISOs, brainwashing Tron into Rinzler, etc.), the movie still takes pains to make him a sympathetic character. The scene where he breaks down in Kevin Flynn's apartment, for example, as well as the final confrontation with Flynn on the bridge. He still loves his creator despite what's happened between them -- but at the same time, he can't help but resent him because, in a way, he feels that Flynn values the ISOs over him. It's quite tragic, really. And yet at the same time, the movie doesn't shy away from what he does -- seriously, Clu is a nasty, nasty piece of work to say the least. I think it's one of the rare occasions (besides TOY STORY 3 -- which I'll cover later) where they manage to strike a balance between sympathetic and monstrous. Not too monstrous, but it doesn't DILP the guy either.
Saruman from LOTR -- It helps that Christopher Lee's made of win. And though one could argue it was simplified from in the books, Saruman's still awesome nonetheless. And they do remind us that Saruman used to be a helluvaguy -- Gandalf's words in the ROTK EE ("You were deep in the enemy's counsel.") and Treebeard's words to Merry and Pippin in TTT ("There was a time when Saruman used to walk in my woods"...yeah, so when he's chopping down the Ents to make weapons, etc. he's killing his own friends. I think my favorite part was definitely the speech he makes to the Uruk-Hai in TTT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLhvFSmhGC0.
He was so ruthless in FOTR and TTT (all while justifying to Gandalf that it's the only way out -- basically, he's succumbed to the same fate as Denethor looking into the palantir) that even watching the Behind the Scenes stuff, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Christopher Lee was actually quite a helluvaguy. (And a hardcore Tolkien fan to boot. Granted, everyone who worked on the movie were pretty hardcore Tolkien fans -- including the writers, naturally. :3 -- but he was actually the only one of the cast who actually met J.R.R. Tolkien? How awesome is that?) The movies were just perfectly cast all around, but Christopher Lee especially. No one could have played a better Saruman, IMHO.
-Nero from the new STAR TREK.
Animated:
Oogie Boogie from NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. He's just hilarious and despicable at the same time.
Lotso-Huggin'-Bear from TOY STORY 3: It's not every day that one manages to make a Care Bear both intimidating and sympathetic at the same time. And like Clu, the film gives him sympathetic motivations (feelings of abandonment and betrayal by his owner, Daisy, misguided as they may be), but it doesn't shy away from the fact he's an asshole (to put it mildly).
Judge Claude Frollo from THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. It helps that Tony Jay's awesome -- but it's also the fact that he's darker and more intimidating than most Disney villains. And to those who object: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqGL9B_TPTI.
Every Disney villain ever.
