Everyone is the hero of their own story. Each of us thinks of ourselves as the chosen one, here to vanquish evil, destroy society’s ills, and make the world a better place through righteous means. These are the characters we usually find in film.
But there are times when a person is skewed towards darker ideals and still considers themselves in the right. Though their moral compass is corrupt, how they justify their actions and their perspective of the world make for an interesting watch.
Movies About Villains
Any movie that features a villain as its protagonist is bold. It takes a lot of cinematic and storytelling skills to make their viewpoint compelling to the viewers.
But the best villain movies don’t stop there—they make the villains relatable, so much that you’ll start to doubt yourself for agreeing with their ideologies and methods. Below are just a few of these films.
1. Lord of War
In the grand theater of proxy wars, Yuri Orlov makes a fortune. As an arms dealer, he’s the one who fuels the fires and makes sure that everyone is well-armed and ready. He delivers no matter the consequences, going as far as sacrificing his family for the job.
But the law starts catching up in the form of Interpol Agent Jack Valentine. The two begin a dangerous chase spanning continents and surrounded by raging conflicts.
2. Nightcrawler
Petty thief Louis Bloom ups his game by becoming a stringer, a freelance photojournalist who sells footage to local news stations. Knowing violence and gore sells well, he begins tampering with crime scenes to get better clips.
His work gains traction, emboldening him to become more creative with his manipulations. Soon he’s editing out culprits from a triple homicide, orchestrating car chases, and sabotaging rivals.
3. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
When a corrupt judge lusts after Benjamin Barker’s wife, Barker finds himself convicted of a crime he never committed. Exiled to Australia, he returns 15 years later to find his wife dead and their daughter under the judge’s insidious care.
As the mysterious Sweeney Todd, Benjamin plans his revenge on pretty much everyone in London. Posing as a newly arrived barber, he reunites with an unexpected ally who suggests baking his enemies into her pies.
4. Monster
On the verge of suicide, prostitute Aileen Wuornos falls in love with Selby Wall, whom she meets in a gay bar. After being raped and beaten by a client, she decides to find legitimate work, though she struggles from her lack of experience and qualifications.
Desperate, she returns to prostitution. She kills and robs her clients, using the money to support herself and Shelby. As her crimes become more brutal, she struggles to hide them from her unsuspecting girlfriend.
5. A Clockwork Orange
Alex DeLarge is a gang leader with a penchant for ultra violence. He’s raped women, assaulted old people, murdered innocents, and pumped himself full of alcohol and drugs.
Arrested for the murder of a random person, he is subjected to an experimental process meant to remove his violent tendencies. But those tendencies might be deeper than the authorities originally thought.
6. There Will Be Blood
Daniel Plainview finds silver while prospecting and receives a claim for the land he found it in. Four years later, he finds oil and establishes his own drilling company. He becomes obsessed with wealth, racing against others to claim the most oil in California.
Learning about a possible oil deposit, he begins buying up land in and around Little Boston, California. And to get ahead of the competition, he’s prepared to do every underhanded trick—even when it means murder.
7. The Wolf Of Wall Street
In 1987, Jordan Belfort starts an entry level job in a brokerage firm. Barely three years later, he starts his own company. Together with his team of hard-selling brokers, they swindle people out of millions through pump-and-dump schemes.
Jordan and his team begin living lives of excess through drugs, alcohol, and frequent thrills. But the FBI and the SEC are slowly closing in, waiting for a chance to collapse their fragile empire.
8. Fight Club
An unnamed narrator is unfulfilled with his white-collar job and suffers from chronic insomnia. He experiences catharsis when he meets soap salesman Tyler Durden, who he has a fistfight with in a parking lot.
They establish an underground fighting club that slowly goes out control. As they slowly move toward acts of terrorism, the unnamed narrator must confront a truth he doesn’t realize he’s running from.
9. Basic Instinct
Crime novelist Catherine Tramell is a suspect to the brutal murder of a rock star. No hard evidence can be found, with police suspicions based only on a novel she has written that mirrors the crime.
But homicide detective Nick Curran knows she’s hiding something. They play a torrid game of cat and mouse, each waiting to pounce on the other at the slightest sign of weakness.
10. Gone Girl
On their fifth wedding anniversary, Amy Dune goes missing. Her husband, Nick, becomes the prime suspect to her disappearance. With the case gaining public attention, the media paints him as an apathetic killer.
But Amy’s only hiding. From the hastily cleaned bloodstains to her craftily hidden diary, everything’s part of her plan to frame her husband for murder.
11. Scarface
After securing a green card, Tony Montana moves to Miami and stakes a claim to its drug trade. The competition is vicious, but Tony is more so. Murdering everyone in his way, he eventually becomes the biggest drug lord around.
But the police are closing in, the drug cartels are preparing for war, and his own paranoia is destabilizing his own empire. And he’s not going down without a fight.
12. American Psycho
In 1987 New York City, Patrick Bateman enjoys life as a young, popular, and wealthy investment banker. But beneath his perfect exterior hides a crazed serial killer.
Bateman picks his victims for the shallowest of reasons. Whether it’s because they have a better business card, or they were just at the wrong place at the wrong time, no one’s safe from his murder sprees.
Villains in Movies
Sometimes the villain steals the show from the hero, becoming more memorable than any of their do-gooder counterparts. It’s happened with Joker, Colonel Hans Landa, and Anton Chigurh.
Seeing how these villains perceive the world and justify their actions is interesting for the viewers. It provides them with a basis of what the concept of “bad” and “evil” is. Thus, they know what to avoid and judge how to act righteously.
And sometimes people just want to watch the world burn—fictionally, of course. In a world with a lot of rules and expected behaviors, it’s cathartic to watch characters who don’t care about the consequences. The audience can work out their fantasies and frustrations through them while staying safe in front of the screen.
Did you find this post useful? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:
- 12 Types of Villains in Fiction
- 15 Books About Villains: Can a Protagonist Be Bad?
- Big Baddies: The 30 Best Villains On Screen and Paper
- 5 Villain Name Generator Tools and Tips for Naming Your Antagonist
Cole is a blog writer and aspiring novelist. He has a degree in Communications and is an advocate of media and information literacy and responsible media practices. Aside from his interest in technology, crafts, and food, he’s also your typical science fiction and fantasy junkie, spending most of his free time reading through an ever-growing to-be-read list. It’s either that or procrastinating over actually writing his book. Wish him luck!
