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6 Best Villain Actors
Movie Review Boreas Posted Fri January 19, 2007: 10:43 PM
Movie Review

I sat back and pondered the possibilities of the finer villains in film history. If I had my druthers of casting an action movie I looked over some qualities I'd look for when casting a veteran bad guy to menace my hero. Never underestimate the value of a strong presence on the opposite side of the law/gun/plot - He can make or break your whole film. So after careful review, here are the finalists.

1. Willem Dafoe
Relevant Villain Experience:
  • Spiderman 2002 (Green Goblin/Norman Osborn) - (+2) Raging crazyman in a form fitting green plastoid.
  • Speed 2: Cruise Control 1997 (John Geiger) - (+0) Compu-hi-jacked a boat, tries to crash it. Fails.
  • xXx State of the Union 2005 (Gen. George Octavius Deckert) - (+0) A rogue general fails to overthrow the US government due to a contrived, and ineffective plot, and a smattering of bad directing.
Pros: Like-able, can play an antagonist that you can root for.
Cons: Not Physically imposing, looks downright friendly at times, not in the "holy crap get away from my kid" way but like mailman friendly smile.
Craz-ometer:
  • Monologuing (+2) Great classical raspy voice, holds your attention even when he's clumsily explaining his character motivation in Speed 2.
  • Screaming (+0) Laissez-faire intensity when yelling. Not well suited for the holler.
  • Eyes (+2) Nice big crazy looking eyes, you can really see the whites all the way around. Really helps you believe he's trying to kidnap/bomb/Hi-jack whatever.
  • Laugh (+1) Solid rolling laugh. In concert with his eyes you've got a solid 1-2 punch that can kick up some fear when he starts cackling that he has hidden a bomb in one of your pets.
Overall: 7/14 Decent option for a bad guy.
I'd Cast Him In: A part for a criminal mastermind who organizes a troop of Androids of his own design to hi-jack a shipment of gold on its way to Fort Knox. Lots of helicopter chases, and one liners. Ends with Willem Dafoe in a gun duel on a rooftop with the hero played by Jason Statham. Statham gets cornered, runs out of bullets, and just as Willem stands over Statham laughing maniacally talking about how his planning was flawless, and his genius is infallible, one of the robots that Statham developed a relationship with fires a rocket from a helicopter killing Dafoe. Its titled "Golden Robo-Heist".
2. Jon Voight
Relevant Villain Experience:
  • Anaconda 1997 (Paul Sarone) - (+1) Backstabbing riverboat guide.
  • Enemy of the State 1998 (Thomas Brian Reynolds) - (+1) Crafty congressman covering his tracks trying to kill a black guy in D.C.
  • Super Babies: Baby Geniuses 2 2004 (Bill Biscane) - (+0) Standard Evil Genius, with world domination plans.
Pros: Has piles of experience playing corrupt military officers, and Congressmen... with agendas.
Cons: Not very active or mobile. Has to plan things out ahead of time, because it doesn't seem like he's gong to spend a lot of time jumping off bridges or parachuting with a curtain to change plans.
Craz-ometer:
  • Monologuing (+1) Decent sounding pipes, though he has had that old man voice for a while now, while he manages to work with it,Voight is kindly, so it gets confusing when he slips into the friendly grandpa mode while ordering the death of your family.
  • Screaming (+0) No help here. Definitely not a strong point. Jon's old man yell sounds helpless at best.
  • Eyes +1 Solid creepy, and his "My skin needs vitamin E" adds to the effect especial around his eyes.
  • Laugh +1 Steady and assuring, he will dole out the laugh when you underestimate his power.
Overall: 5/14 Nothing Special.
I'd Cast Him In: A film about Naval academy students learning to pilot the next generation of Extreme Nuclear Mini-Submarines. That guy from the O.C. will uncover a plot by the Retired Admiral (Voight) who runs the school, is going to sell the new technology to the Koreans. The O.C. guy rallies the whole university to attempt to stop the corrupt Admiral. The movie's climax comes when The O.C. guy is chasing down Voight along the northern shores of Japan, and to escape Voight tries a risky gambit going through the gnarly break near the shore. Voight can't hang in there and wipes out, while O.C. guy takes his mini-sub and shoots the curl. Its called "Submerge U".
Colonial Bean
3. Sean Bean
Relevant Villain Experience:
  • GoldeneEye 1995 (Alec Trevelyan) - (+2) 006 Goes evil, cool.
  • National Treasure 2004 (Ian Howe) - (+0) Fuck the Wibberleys
  • The Hitcher 2007 (John Ryder) - (+0) Killing people for no reason. He dared us not to care, and we couldn't help but not.
Pros: Muscular, can duke it out with 007 and hold his own.
Cons: You tell me, but after a while his delivery can get a little boring.
Craz-ometer:
  • Monologuing (+1) Brit accent helps with those esoteric roles were the villain is vaguely European.
  • Screaming (+1) Par yelling voice. It may not be commanding but he has pipes.
  • Eyes (+1) Par. A little Desperate, makes him dangerous when asking for a ride.
  • Laugh (+1) Great villain eyes, I would give him a 2, but he uses the evil squint too much as it is.
Overall: 7/14 Average
I'd Cast Him In: Psychological police thriller where the lead detective (played by Jodie Foster) investigating a string of murder cases is hunting down a madman (Bean) who is killing children in the Boston area on soccer teams who wear blue uniforms. Ray Batard , a former French soccer star who is a paranoid schizophrenic has become a coach and is now killing these children by day, and at night has no memory of his horrible secret. Its Called "Soccer-Ray Blue, Who am I?" And of course Jodie Foster's kids are on the team he is coaching, she of course shoots him and he falls off a bridge.
How do you shoot the devil in the back? What if you miss?
4. Kevin Spacey
Relevant Villain Experience:
  • The Usual Suspects 1995 (Keyser Soze) - (+2) Go see it again.
  • Se7en 1995 (John Doe) - (+1) Holy crap is he frightening.
  • Superman Returns 2006 (Lex Luthor) - (+1) Solid Performance as Lex.
Pros: Superb credentials, can open a movie like no other.
Cons: While his calm demeanor works for most psychopaths too calm makes you lose interest.
Craz-ometer:
  • Monologuing (+1) Can be too calm, But gets the job done. Doesn't add a whole lot when he sounds like an assistant principal when telling you that the eastern seaboard is going to evaporate.
  • Screaming (+2) The calm may bottom out, but when he kicks back into yell it throws you for a loop.
  • Eyes (+1) Decent crazy man eyes.
  • Laugh (+1) Warm, and tinged with saccharine, letting you know he's mocking you.
Overall: 9/14
I'd Cast Him In: The Usual Suspects again. No I don't mean a sequel, I mean like I'll just go watch it again.
5. Christopher Walken
Relevant Villain Experience:
  • The Prophecy III 2000 (Gabriel) - (+1) Creepy
  • The Prophecy II 1998 (Gabriel) - (+1) Creepy
  • The Prophecy 1995 (Gabriel) - (+2) Fucking Creepy
Pros: Classic American villain. His toolset as an actor gives him enough range to be blowing up dams, to running a mob, to high level military or government. Great dancer.
Cons: Limited athletic ability, but he can throw a punch, and aim a gun, so its not a big problem.
Craz-ometer:
  • Monologuing (+2) To the pedestrian observer Mr. Walken's voice is a standard raspy whisper of an aging man. But to the refined consumer, you can hear the over-tones of cunning and tinges of power and spite flowing through his stunted pacing sending a simple sentence into its own orbit of uniqueness.
  • Screaming (+2) Knows his own range and plays with it. His voice has that built in break point where he will hit a high register and volume and it cuts back into a raging gurgle.
  • Eyes (+1) A strong gaze accompanies his intense face.
  • Laugh (+2) A roiling cauldron of rushing whispers. His laugh lets you know that he has you right where he wants you, or failing that if its in the last three minutes of the movie, it lets you know that even though you defeated him, he sees the game on a different level and he is laughing at your achievements.
Overall: 11/14
I'd Cast Him In: A film set in 2077, when inter-solar travel becomes a reality and humans start to visit other planets. Jack Blaster (Nicholas Cage) is an intergalactic prosecutor who puts Kree-Glon (Walken) on trial for eating one of Earth's ambassadorial Jackie Onassis clones when it trespasses on his space lawn. The film ends with a moving closing argument from Blaster about how clones and aliens can get along if we all love one another, and if the five prime galaxies are aligned with the dark temple of Qualght'thgh. Its called: "Space Mouth"
6. Gary Oldman
Relevant Villain Experience: There are plenty to name here.
  • The Professional 1994 (Stansfield) - (+2) Holy crap go see this again.
  • Dracula 1992 (Dracula) - (+2) Maming leaps and bounds in being a weirdo.
  • JFK 1991 (Lee Harvey Oswald) - (+2) He killed an American hero, can't beat that for credentials.
Pros: You don't get any more villainous for your movie going dollar. Fifth element, Sin, Lost in Space, Air-force one, just to name a few. Hell he even played the devil in a short film with James Brown and Clive Owen.
Cons: The only bad thing that can come from all the experience is that you expect him to kill a bunch of people when he appears on screen. So don't try and pretend he didn't do it when a garage full of mutilated nun-corpses crops up.
Craz-ometer:
  • Monologuing (+2) This fucker is all over the place. Watching him is exciting, is he going to flip out? Will he let the dude go unharmed or as a warning perform ritualistic buttsecs? Always entertaining.
  • Screaming (+2) Almost as much as he is whispering and crying, he resorts to the scream without over using it. His face peels red, sweat pouring down his brow - He means it, he's going to kill another hostage.
  • Eyes (+2) Genuine Crazy man eyes, can't beat em.
  • Laugh (+2) Maniacal.
Overall: 14/14
I'd Cast Him In: David Bessire (Eric Bana) and Keith Bessire (Christian Bale) play two brothers on the same police force in New York. Ahmet Dashamir (Gary Oldman) plays a world famous Opera singer from Kosovo who sustained damage from a U.S. Tomahawk missile. Having gone mad from losing a lung and the ability to sing he plans to decimate the populace of New York (including General Wesley Clark who targeted civilians during the war and is residing in New York).Dashamir tells the press that he has planted bombs in the subways that will go off unless the U.S. convinces the U.N. to execute a Serbian war criminal that received a minimal sentence for war crimes again Albanians. Each tape is underscored by recordings of his own voice as he begins his disctractionary ploy of destroying subway cars in a requiem of terror, meanwhile David (Bana ) and Keith (Bale) uncover the plot to spray sarin gas up and down the major streets of Manhattan using crop dusters from upstate farms.
After averting explosions that almost crippled the big apple, the Air Force has its hands full with hundreds of crop dusters flying the skies towards New York, David (Bana) and Keith (Bale) find themselves clutching wings of Dashamir's plane which has a timed release Sarin cannister on its belly. Steering straight for the east river they have to submerge the plane, and there is only one parachute. This summer watch "Don't Bale on your Bana".
- Kai