4 Movie Villians That Actually Had a Point
Every story needs an antagonist. In most cases, the antagonist is a bad guy who seems to exist only to provide a foil for the good guy. In some cases, though, the antagonist is fleshed out enough that viewers might actually sympathize with them. These antagonists have a point, even if they are a bit misguided. Below are just a few of the movie villains who had a reasonable motivation for being evil.
Magneto (X-Men Films)
Magneto advocates the destruction of humans. That’s probably enough to make him an irredeemable villain, right? That’d certainly be the case, until you take a look at the man. He’s a Holocaust survivor, one that’s seen people ruthlessly killed because of the fact they differed from an ideal. He sees the same thing coming from humans and wants to protect his race.
It’d be easy to dismiss that as paranoia, except that’s pretty much the future of the X-Men franchise in Days of Future Past. Magneto didn’t just have a point — he was right.
Sid (Toy Story)
The only reason that Sid is a bad guy is because he’s in a movie starring toys. Do you know what you call a kid in the real world who can take apart toys and rebuild them in amusing new shapes? Probably a future engineer. Seriously, Sid made some impressive stuff given what he had at hand.
Sid’s such a good guy, in fact, that he stops mutilating his toys the second he learns that they are alive. He clearly didn’t need to be traumatized by Woody — he just needed a toy to break its silence.
Ozymandias (Watchmen)
Ozymandias kills millions, but he’s got a point — in a world that’s on the brink of nuclear disaster, sacrifices had to be made to unite the world. How do we know that he had a point? Easy — it’s because his gambit was successful. In Watchmen, the world was on the eve of nuclear war and his horrific actions made peace possible. Would it be permanent? Probably not. Even so, though, he managed to save the world.
Ice Man (Top Gun)
Maverick was a cocky jerk who got his friend killed. Ice Man, however, was a by-the-books pilot who just wanted people to follow procedure. Did this make him a ton of fun at parties? Probably not. Given that he was flying a multi-million dollar War Machine, though, it’s hard not to admit that the guy has a point.
Some movie villains are only villainous because they oppose the protagonist. The sampling above are only a few of the people who have, at the very least, good intentions. Sometimes, a great movie antagonist has to go beyond being evil to being simply misguided.
Robert Gillings is an award winning writer, producer, actor architectural designer, philosopher and financial consultant.
