Villains in Hollywood Films

Villains in Hollywood Films

Alfred Hitchcock once said "The better the villain, the better the

film" and this year's Hollywood filmmakers have abided by this golden

rule as there was no stopping this year's summer blockbusters from

having a whole horde of villainous characters spreading their wings

onto the big screen, making the darker side more appealing for

audiences. Everybody has gone villain this year, from Tom Cruise to

Halle Berry, from the not- so-friendly extra terrestrials in Alien Vs

Predator to Spiderman's sworn enemy Dr Octopus, played by Alfred

Molina.

The origin of villains

Villains have been around since evil has walked the earth. People have

been creating villains ever since the beginning of human civilization.

Every tale has its villain and villains are at the core of great

stories. There are few real-life villains but the most colourful ones

exist in literature, theatre and, needless to say, on the silver

screen. Where would Sherlock Holmes be without Professor Moriarty? Or

Iago and his "friendly" advice poison to Othello's ears, destroying

what was so innocent and pure. In Hollywood, the villain has been

portrayed as a person that the audience loves to hate and hates to

love. These characters are made up of wickedness of mind; selfishness

of character and will to power, often masked by beauty and nobility.

Others rage unmasked. Daring the worst to gain the most, the movie

villains we remember best can be horrifically evil, merely sleazy, or

grandiosely funny, but are usually complex, moving and tragic. The

earliest known villain caught on film would be the serpent in the

Garden of Eden coaxing Adam and...

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...Men with one of the most original,

endearing and plain super human lead characters in years.

Leading this summer's villain battle is Tom Cruise who for the first

is playing a bad guy in Michael Mann's adult thriller Collateral. The

Cruiser puts aside his Samurai armour and plays Vincent, a

slicker-than-thou assassin who takes LA Taxi driver Max, played by

Jamie Foxx, hostage over the course of a single night, during which he

has five hits to carry out, while Mark Ruffalo's dogged cop tries to

stop him. Collateral promises dead-eye action and gritty visuals but

there are some who doubt whether the great movie-going public will

accept Tom Cruise as a bad guy in Collateral but nevertheless it will

still be a joy to watch Cruise finally unleash his id, as on screen he

has always come close to being the psychotic villain.