So, I believe in the years since The Dark Knight, we have had a villain problem. This isn't exclusive to one studio, I believe Marvel AND DC and Fox and Sony etc. etc. have consistently had a hard time bringing compelling, memorable, formidable villains to the screen to oppose the protagonists. So what's the problem?
Since 2008, we've had about 25 CBMS, out of those CBMS, only Loki, General Zod, Winter Soldier and, I would say, Fassenber's Magneto have really only left an impression. Everyone else has been so throwaway, so forgettable and just there to cackle at the hero or heroes. Why are the screenwriters having such a hard time writing compelling, menacing villains? Or is it the screenwriters? Is it the actors themselves who just aren't landing the material? Or perhaps, the focus is put squarely on the heroes in these movies altogether and the villains are an afterthought?
What are your guys' thoughts? Or is there no problem at all, in your opinion and maybe its fine that the villains serve a functional purpose?
Hmmmmm, it's a fine line. If you have a villain who's too compelling or interesting, they risk taking over the film. Batman 1989 was as much the Joker's movie as Batman's- whereas Nolan carefully avoided that, and while TDK's Joker is the very pinnacle of cbm villains he doesn't own the entire film, and it's Batman who stays centre stage.
Interestingly, Zemo is clearly IMO the best villain of 2016, and he does it all with very little screentime. He doesn't steal scenes but certainly enhances them with his presence.
A lot of times the only reason a villain is interesting anymore is because the actor behind him is interesting.
There's a lot of truth in that - look at the villains who have been compelling and then look at the guys who played them (which of course suggests that we haven't had a really good cbm villainess in a long time).
On a similar note, my all time action movie favorite villain is Hans Gruber, and that comes down solely to Rickman's amazing performance (but again, while he steals every scene, McTiernan prevented him from taking over the movie, and it's still very much John McClane's story). I put Ledger's Joker and Rickman's Hans on the same sort of level, as a performance that transcended the film.
I think Daniel Bruhl, with more screentime would have come close.
I would also put a bit of stock into the character themself -e.g. Magneto is probably the most compelling comic book villain of all time, so once you put even a half decent story in front of him, and get a top-notch actor - which has definitely been the case - well it's hard to go wrong (at least with the villain, although Malekith would be a clear exception to that, as he was massively underwhelming).
I'm interested to see how this year's crop of Marvel villains turns out:
- one would think Cate Blanchett couldn't go wrong as Hel in Ragnarok, with
Karl Urban in support as Skurge.
- not sure who the GOTG villains are, but as in the first film they'll be overshadowed by the heroes themselves.
-Michael Keaton can do villains well, so I think he'll be more than adequate in Homecoming, as the Vulture.
I don't really want to go into the DC villains , as they're struggling to make even the heroes compelling.
Anyway, will any of the villains above put in an iconic performance like Ledger's Joker or Rickman's Hans ? - in fairness to Loki and Magneto, while they've been great they have had multiple appearances to develop their respective characters , while Ledger had only a single brilliant film to work with -
I doubt it - I don't think any of the films they're appearing in are weighty enough to allow for a truly transcending performance (okay, Die Hard isn't that weighty) - sure they'll be good and nasty, but nothing we'll look back on
in a decade and fondly reminisce about.
Finally, the guy who's missing from this thread so far is Mark Strong, who's spot on portrayal of Sinestro was the only good thing in that stinker Green Lantern - IMO a sequel would have been worth it just to see Strong tear it up as Sinestro, I feel he was robbed of a real opportunity there.
Oh wait, even more finally, the best example of simply functional villains was in Dr Strange, which I loved. I think because it was an origin film and the focus has to be on Strange it was fine to have Kaecillius be a pretty two-dimensional character, let's hope Ejiofor gets a bit more to play with in the sequel. Although having said that Loki was brilliant in the first Thor film.
Guess there's an exception for every rule.
