Badmovies.org Forum

Movies => Good Movies => Topic started by: bob on July 23, 2011, 11:37:45 PM



Title: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: bob on July 23, 2011, 11:37:45 PM


I thought this would make for an interesting topic so I'll get this started.

I rooted for Clyde Shelton throughout Law Abiding Citizen.


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: WilliamWeird1313 on July 24, 2011, 12:21:56 AM

Return Of The Jedi. The whole time Vader was trying to convince Luke to cross over to the dark side I was going "Do it! Go ahead! Do it!"



Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: Jack Slater on July 24, 2011, 12:23:54 AM
Jack in The Shining


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: Vik on July 24, 2011, 02:44:51 AM
^Same, in the Shining I was rooting for the husband.


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: Jack on July 24, 2011, 06:28:31 AM
Deep Blue Sea - they were trying to make Saffron Burrow's character out to be the bad guy because she genetically altered the sharks, but to me she was by far the most sympathetic and likable character in the whole movie.  The so-called "good" people came off like a bunch of self-righteous pricks.


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: Doggett on July 24, 2011, 09:30:29 AM
The Green Hornet.

M:I III

The Dark Knight



Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: Umaril The Unfeathered on July 24, 2011, 01:37:37 PM


I thought this would make for an interesting topic so I'll get this started.

I rooted for Clyde Shelton throughout Law Abiding Citizen.

You took the words right out of my mouth...after what he went thru, he lives to see the system side with the murderer.  

Even if this movie is fiction, the sense of frustration and anger over cops "siding with thieves" is too prevalent to ignore. How many times have decent people truly been fuc*ed over by the law in real life?

Shelton was truly the victim in the movie. I wouldn't say he was the bad guy, he was a by-product of someone else's actions that personally affected his own life.



Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: JayJayM12 on July 25, 2011, 04:00:29 PM
Only because it's the fun way to look at it, I tend to root for the bad guy in any cheesy slasher flick.  Most of the victims tend to be VERY unlikeable, so watching them get sliced and diced is what makes those movies of course...

Also, and this kind of plays into previous comments about Law Abiding Citizen, I always root for the protagonist in any revenge thriller.  They start off as the nice family man, but due to circumstances that occur, they become the 'bad guy' in the eyes of authorities when they seek their revenge.  But, of course, you want to see them get that revenge!


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: AndyC on July 25, 2011, 04:17:27 PM


I thought this would make for an interesting topic so I'll get this started.

I rooted for Clyde Shelton throughout Law Abiding Citizen.

You took the words right out of my mouth...after what he went thru, he lives to see the system side with the murderer.  

Even if this movie is fiction, the sense of frustration and anger over cops "siding with thieves" is too prevalent to ignore. How many times have decent people truly been fuc*ed over by the law in real life?

Shelton was truly the victim in the movie. I wouldn't say he was the bad guy, he was a by-product of someone else's actions that personally affected his own life.


Same here. Rooting for Shelton the whole way.

I'd add any movie where the protagonists are just too difficult for me to like. I was just thinking about Pacific Heights recently, and remembered rooting for Michael Keaton's character at times because his victims struck me as such an annoying yuppie couple.


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: Mr. DS on July 25, 2011, 08:08:22 PM
Star Wars series

NOES series



Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: InformationGeek on July 25, 2011, 08:20:43 PM
Blade Runner: *shrugs* I felt more the robots than the humans, especially since they felt more like actual humans than the real humans were.


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: crackers on July 26, 2011, 04:53:50 AM
Cobra Kai


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: dean on July 26, 2011, 08:17:06 AM

Terminator.

The Jackal.

Pitch Black [although do anti-hero's count?]

There's a heap more, but they stand out right at the moment.


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: The Burgomaster on July 26, 2011, 11:25:28 AM
* BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID
* BONNIE & CLYDE
* THE WILD BUNCH

Of course, these movies portrayed the outlaws as likeable people who just happened to go around robbing and/or killing people.   :teddyr:



Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: Doggett on July 26, 2011, 11:28:19 AM
Thor.

I kinda liked Loki...


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: Flick James on July 26, 2011, 12:18:57 PM
* BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID
* BONNIE & CLYDE
* THE WILD BUNCH

Of course, these movies portrayed the outlaws as likeable people who just happened to go around robbing and/or killing people.   :teddyr:



Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a great example. I love that movie. You can totally see how it was the product of the Spaghetti Westerns that blurred the lines between the good guys and the bad guys.


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: Jack Slater on July 26, 2011, 12:25:35 PM



The Jackal.


There's a heap more, but they stand out right at the moment.

Great call.


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: wuatenigenu on July 26, 2011, 01:18:22 PM
Titanic ... The bad guy being the iceberg!


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: The Burgomaster on July 26, 2011, 03:30:52 PM
How about SCARFACE.  Although, I guess Tony Montana was the "goodest" of the bad guys.



Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: Umaril The Unfeathered on July 26, 2011, 06:54:06 PM
How about Michael Douglas' character in Falling Down?

Although the majority of his actions weren't in good judgement, the scene where he beat the hell out of the two gang bangers with the sawed-off bat was worth it.

One thing about these sorts of movies-it's very hard to call some of the the bad guy when you see what they went through.

I'm gonna' go out on a limb here and also root for Captain Rhodes in the original Day Of The Dead because of his uphill struggle with the lunatic scientists, and the way he and his men suffered when they did their dirty work.

AND,as far as the living dead go, I tip my hat to Mr. Harry Cooper, for truly showing us that the cellar WAS the safest place after all.   :cheers:


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: voltron on July 27, 2011, 05:17:05 PM
Repulsion came to mind in a weird way. I wasn't rooting for the main character, but I did empathise with her. Ahhh....just thought of Maniac (1980) - you don't really root for Frank Zito but the movie tends to set you up almost to see things through his eyes in a twisted sort of way.


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: Vik on July 27, 2011, 06:49:41 PM
How about SCARFACE.  Although, I guess Tony Montana was the "goodest" of the bad guys.


I guess he doesn't really count as the bad guy, even though he does bad things, because he's the protagonist. I assumed the question of this thread meant: In what movies did you root for the person you weren't meant to root for?
 :cheers:


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: AndyC on July 27, 2011, 07:19:17 PM
How about Michael Douglas' character in Falling Down?

Although the majority of his actions weren't in good judgement, the scene where he beat the hell out of the two gang bangers with the sawed-off bat was worth it.

That's what I liked about that movie. Bill Foster had, until that final day, endeavoured to do everything he thought he was supposed to do. He played by the rules, but the rules changed, his life fell apart, and he became this downtrodden nice guy with a lot of pent up rage. Aside from his more violent and psychotic moments, Foster comes across as a sane man trapped in an insane world. And it's hard not to applaud the targets he chooses, especially when they're usually provoking him. He spends the entire movie trying to quietly get where he's going, and people just won't leave him alone.

I love that part at the end, where Detective Prendergast confronts him and he seems almost confused. "I'm the bad guy? How did that happen?" It's also a beautiful parallel with Prendergast as another nice, old-fashioned guy, who takes everyone's abuse with a smile until he learns from Foster the importance of standing up for himself. It becomes kind of a "There but for the grace of God go I" sort of thing. A lot of people can identify with both these guys.

You can probably tell Falling Down is one of my all-time favourite movies.


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: bob on July 27, 2011, 07:57:22 PM
How about SCARFACE.  Although, I guess Tony Montana was the "goodest" of the bad guys.


I guess he doesn't really count as the bad guy, even though he does bad things, because he's the protagonist. I assumed the question of this thread meant: In what movies did you root for the person you weren't meant to root for? :cheers:

it's open to interpretation in terms of who each one of us deems the bad guy


stating the obvious I was hoping for any bad guy to kill off Jar Jar and Jake Lloyd in Episode One



Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: AndyC on July 27, 2011, 08:20:26 PM
Yeah, I agree with the interpretation that "good guy" and "bad guy" have more to do with a character's function in the story than whether they're good people. The protagonist is the good guy and the antagonist is the bad guy, even if the former is a criminal and the latter is a cop trying to catch him.

That was the problem I had with the tagline for Payback - "Get ready to root for the bad guy." Sure, he might be a career criminal and a genuine dirtbag, but if the story is written so that we root for him, he is, for all intents and purposes, the good guy. I like Payback, and thought about listing it here, but didn't. When you're supposed to root for the bad guy, he isn't the bad guy.

There aren't many movies where the protagonist was so unlikeable I cheered for the villain. Pacific Heights was definitely one, although back in 1990, yuppies just really p!ssed me off. Showgirls, on the other hand, is a good example of a movie where I just didn't like anybody, regardless of whether I was supposed to or not.


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: JaseSF on July 27, 2011, 08:32:16 PM
King Kong
Godzilla
The Ymir
Jason Vorhees

(Honestly most movie monsters)

Falling Down though is definitely the first film that came to mind...


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: Ted C on July 28, 2011, 01:53:18 PM
X-Men: First Class
Magneto, in particular. The way that humans have treated mutants and general and the X-Men (who just prevented World War 3) in particular completely justifies his turn to "the dark side" at the end.


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: BoyScoutKevin on July 28, 2011, 04:31:16 PM
Ye-es!

I root for the villain about 38% of the time. Of course, that's in the books I've read. (46% of the time for the hero and 16% of the time for a character that is neither the hero nor the villain.) Films not so much, but there are still some film villains I've rooted for. So, here is . . .

the wouldn't
the shouldn't
the couldn't
and the misled.

Kurt Kelly (Lance Fenton) in "Heathers"
J. Douglas Williamson III (Ronald Sinclair) in "They Made Me a Criminal"
Scott Wormer (Devon Sawa) in "Now and Then"
and Edward Thompson (Stephen Geoffrey) in "Fright Night"


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: akiratubo on July 28, 2011, 04:45:04 PM
The Matrix.  Neo and crew may be the least sympathetic "heroes" in all of movie history.  All the machines were doing was keeping humanity alive and happy.

There's an anime series called Megazone 23.  In the second episode, in particular, the "bad guys" were so sympathetic I didn't even realize they were supposed to be the bad guys.  It all of a sudden hit me, "Hold on, the movie wants me to be on the side of the biker gang?  $#@! that!"


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: Umaril The Unfeathered on July 28, 2011, 07:25:26 PM
How about Michael Douglas' character in Falling Down?

Although the majority of his actions weren't in good judgement, the scene where he beat the hell out of the two gang bangers with the sawed-off bat was worth it.

That's what I liked about that movie. Bill Foster had, until that final day, endeavoured to do everything he thought he was supposed to do. He played by the rules, but the rules changed, his life fell apart, and he became this downtrodden nice guy with a lot of pent up rage. Aside from his more violent and psychotic moments, Foster comes across as a sane man trapped in an insane world. And it's hard not to applaud the targets he chooses, especially when they're usually provoking him. He spends the entire movie trying to quietly get where he's going, and people just won't leave him alone.

Very good dissection of Foster's character. I liked when he apologized for the Uzi going off in the restaurant, and told everyone to get back to their meals. Another part shortly before or after sees him saying that he's "not really used to this sort of thing", so yes he was definitely not crazy, even if he showed some slightly sociopathic tendencies.


I love that part at the end, where Detective Prendergast confronts him and he seems almost confused. "I'm the bad guy? How did that happen?" It's also a beautiful parallel with Prendergast as another nice, old-fashioned guy, who takes everyone's abuse with a smile until he learns from Foster the importance of standing up for himself. It becomes kind of a "There but for the grace of God go I" sort of thing. A lot of people can identify with both these guys.

You can probably tell Falling Down is one of my all-time favourite movies.

I'd say, from what I've read, that FD is definitely a fave of yours,  :wink:


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: Umaril The Unfeathered on July 28, 2011, 07:30:11 PM

One that I'm not sure has gotten mentioned yet is Bad Ronald. 

For those of you not familiar with the film, it's a 1970's made for TV film about a mother sheltering her son from the outside world and the bullies that prey upon Ronald Wilby every day.

Anyone who has seen the movie knows my slant here, and also know that Ronald was definitely the good guy, and beset by circusmatances beyond his control and his comprehension. Great movie that needs to be seen again!


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: InformationGeek on July 28, 2011, 07:47:25 PM
There's an anime series called Megazone 23.  In the second episode, in particular, the "bad guys" were so sympathetic I didn't even realize they were supposed to be the bad guys.  It all of a sudden hit me, "Hold on, the movie wants me to be on the side of the biker gang?  $#@! that!"

I've watched a lot of anime and for sure, there are a lot of series where I ended up rooting for the villians.  Gunslinger Girl, Code Geass, Death Note (Well, L & Near are techincally the bad guys since the series has Light as the protoganist), Darker than Black, and there's probably more.


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: AndyC on July 29, 2011, 08:22:28 AM
There's an anime series called Megazone 23.  In the second episode, in particular, the "bad guys" were so sympathetic I didn't even realize they were supposed to be the bad guys.  It all of a sudden hit me, "Hold on, the movie wants me to be on the side of the biker gang?  $#@! that!"

I've watched a lot of anime and for sure, there are a lot of series where I ended up rooting for the villians.  Gunslinger Girl, Code Geass, Death Note (Well, L & Near are techincally the bad guys since the series has Light as the protoganist), Darker than Black, and there's probably more.

Anime is pretty good at doing the "honorable adversary" thing, giving the antagonist an understandable motive and just generally making really cool villains. And I can think of a few examples of villains becoming the heroes' allies after a new enemy comes along. It's such a different way of looking at things compared to most western animation.


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: Umaril The Unfeathered on July 30, 2011, 10:06:11 AM
There's an anime series called Megazone 23.  In the second episode, in particular, the "bad guys" were so sympathetic I didn't even realize they were supposed to be the bad guys.  It all of a sudden hit me, "Hold on, the movie wants me to be on the side of the biker gang?  $#@! that!"

I've watched a lot of anime and for sure, there are a lot of series where I ended up rooting for the villians.  Gunslinger Girl, Code Geass, Death Note (Well, L & Near are techincally the bad guys since the series has Light as the protoganist), Darker than Black, and there's probably more.

Anime is pretty good at doing the "honorable adversary" thing, giving the antagonist an understandable motive and just generally making really cool villains. And I can think of a few examples of villains becoming the heroes' allies after a new enemy comes along. It's such a different way of looking at things compared to most western animation.

Good point, AndyC. Dragonball Z comes to mind, because of Vegeta.  His character development as his love-hate relationship with Goku went on all thruout the show was a great example.  A lot to mention, but anyone who has seen the show knows the deal.


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: Dr. Whom on July 31, 2011, 06:13:03 AM
Deep Blue Sea - they were trying to make Saffron Burrow's character out to be the bad guy because she genetically altered the sharks, but to me she was by far the most sympathetic and likable character in the whole movie.  The so-called "good" people came off like a bunch of self-righteous pricks.

I was rooting for the sharks from the moment they got Samuel L Jackson.


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: SaintMort on August 07, 2011, 03:44:17 PM
Sorry for the s**tty video quality

http://youtu.be/Kzt409x8L14


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: Trevor on August 12, 2011, 02:26:00 AM
AL Pacino's character of Walter Burke in The Recruit ~ after you find out what had happened to him in his CIA career, you start to root for him.


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: Archivist on August 23, 2011, 02:10:34 AM
Thor.

I kinda liked Loki...

TOTALLY.  I thought Loki's character was sympathetically written and I liked him a lot.  I hope they do good things with him in future movies, rather than make him some one-dimensional bad guy.  And Hiddleston is a great actor; you can see his stage and Shakespeare experience.


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: ChaosTheory on August 23, 2011, 11:29:18 AM
JAWS - not so much the first one, but the sequels?  I wanted to see Bruce chomping down the whole seaboard.
THE MATRIX - again, more in the sequels, but Agent Smith was just so much cooler than the good guys.
TERMINATOR 2
XMEN movies - I always kind of liked Magneto
A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE - the Ed Harris character
THE HITCHER (remake)
THE JACKAL
FRAILTY
ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: Mr. DS on September 18, 2011, 10:14:30 PM
Another one for me, Who Framed Roger Rabbit.  I would love to have seen RR dipped in the turpentine.


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: Chainsawmidget on September 19, 2011, 01:08:52 AM
Ye-es!

I root for the villain about 38% of the time. Of course, that's in the books I've read. (46% of the time for the hero and 16% of the time for a character that is neither the hero nor the villain.)

Did you actually sit down and do the math on this one? 

Myself, the MAJORITY of the time when a movie has Dracula in it, I'm cheering him on.


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: InformationGeek on September 19, 2011, 08:28:29 PM
Spy Kids 4-D: The villian's motives... were not all that evil.  Hell, the good guys looked much worse than him, especially considering how Jessica Alba's character put her children at risk tons of times, even when she was pregant!


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: El Misfit on September 21, 2011, 09:20:07 PM
Transfomers- Where the robot in the Black Mustang cop trying to run down Shia.


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: Rev. Powell on September 22, 2011, 12:10:48 PM
I didn't root for the bad guy in THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY, but I did root for the ugly guy.


Title: Re: movies where you rooted for the bad guy
Post by: BoyScoutKevin on October 04, 2011, 07:28:23 PM
Ye-es!

I root for the villain about 38% of the time. Of course, that's in the books I've read. (46% of the time for the hero and 16% of the time for a character that is neither the hero nor the villain.)

Did you actually sit down and do the math on this one? 

Myself, the MAJORITY of the time when a movie has Dracula in it, I'm cheering him on.

Ye-es! I keep a list in a notebook of all the characters for whom I feel some empathy, whether in a film, on a TV show, or in a book. And when it comes to the books I have read, 38% of the time I have more empathy for the villain, then I do for the hero. And while I do not have an exact total with me, that is out of some 55 to 60 characters. And when it comes to films and TV shows, there are fewer characters for whom I have empathy, but the percentage of villains is even greater. Somewhere around 50% of the time, and there again, I don't have an exact figure, I have more empathy for the villain than I do for the hero.