Top 10 Villain Performances From Actors Who Usually Play Heroes

Top 10 Villain Performances From Actors Who Usually Play Heroes

While certain actors are synonymous with heroes, that does not mean they cannot portray villains effectively. These 10 performances prove as much.

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Sometimes the allure of the modern movie runs dry when fans know who will come out victorious in the end.

In an era where movie stars have it built into their contracts that they cannot lose fights on-screen, heroes and villains are clearly defined across pictures of all kinds. A fact making the following 10 films that much more impressive, as each movie cast a star in a rare antagonist role that they otherwise avoided in subservience to the image they built their brand upon. Honorable Mention goes to Ben Stiller in Dodgeball because he has played too many other comedic villains that are villains nonetheless.

10 Denzel Washington (Training Day)

King Kong ain’t got nothing on him.

Many may have felt he deserved as much for earlier films like Spike Lee’s Malcolm X (1992), but The Academy finally recognized Washington’s leading efforts in 2002 for Antoine Fuqua’s Training Day instead.

As a corrupt LAPD veteran, the actor who basically played a superhero in The Equalizer 2, wowed in this day-in-the-life drama seen through the overwhelmed eyes of the rookie he is paired with (Ethan Hawke).

9 Kevin Bacon (Sleepers)

While the noted character actor has played his share of villains in supporting turns, Kevin Bacon’s leading performances mostly consist of the heroic variety. Thus, his turn as a sadistic-and-sexually abusive youth detention center warden in Barry Levinson’s underrated 1996 film, Sleepers, stands out all the more.

As an officer of the law in both Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River (2003) and Jon Watts’ Cop Car (2015), Bacon is only fringe-antagonistic by narrative design. But in Sleepers – which arguably paved the way for similarly-themed films like the former by Eastwood and also the Best Picture-winning Spotlight (2015) to appeal to mainstream audiences – there is no debate.

8 Scarlet Johannson (Don Jon)

Blink and you will think the double-nominee at the 2019 Oscars was doing her best Margot Robbie-in-The Wolf of Wall Street impression (though her 2013 film did hit theaters first).

Equally heavy on the distinctly New York-accent, Johansson’s Barbara Sugarman is painted with a ruthlessly more inconsiderate, unaccepting, and irredeemable brush. Her swift refusal to accept the porn-addicted Jon’s (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) fatal flaw convinced audiences to see the actress through a negative light she had never been put under prior.

7 Michael B. Jordan (Black Panther)

Ryan Coogler’s leading man on both Fruitvale Station (2013) and Creed (2015) switched teams for their third collaboration. Noted cinema hero Michael B. Jordan assumed the role of the betrayal-motivated, bitter war veteran Erik Killmonger in what became the first superhero movie nominated for Best Picture.

Though most could have correctly presumed the doomed nature of his reign following an initial dual victory over the titular Wakandan King, Jordan still captivated with type-breaking defiance.

6 Uma Thurman (My Super Ex-Girlfriend)

Following a brief sabbatical, the Golden Globe-nominee sought less-demanding material that provided ample challenge nonetheless.

The result: Uma Thurman’s turn in this romantic comedy alongside Luke Wilson as a jealousy-prone, superpowered drama queen. In spite of fans being conditioned by then-recent fare to root for Thurman at all costs, the Kill Bill star’s commitment to the mania convinced them that in this case, her downfall was necessary.

5 Robin Williams (Insomnia)

The late comedian did not shy away from dramatic roles, if Dead Poets Society and Good Will Hunting – the latter for which Robin Williams won his only Oscar – are any indication.

Williams’ casting in Christopher Nolan’s Alaskan-set, 2002 murder mystery/thriller served the plot brilliantly. Audiences would not have been hardwired to accept Williams as the killer in any circumstance at first; in lockstep with Al Pacino’s restless detective-in-disarray, the realization he (Willams) is just that renders the possibilities endless as the remainder of the film unfolds.

4 Leonardo DiCaprio (Django Unchained)

“Gentlemen, you had my curiosity; but now you have my attention.”

Arriving near the film’s midpoint, everything that occurs after Monsieur Calvin Candie’s arrival satisfies Tarantino Heads’ cinematic taste buds better than white cake. Through over-the-top antics and chilling power play demonstrations involving human skulls, DiCaprio’s plantation owner is undoubtedly the most morally unsalvagable character the A-List Oscar-winner has ever played.

3 Henry Fonda (Once Upon a Time in the West)

In his most noted non-“Dollars Trilogy” outing, Sergio Leone sought to achieve exactly what transpired: Shock on the part of the audience at the sight of Henry Fonda like he had never been seen before.

The star of The Grapes Of Wrath and 12 Angry Men was the quintessential screen hero during the Golden Age and afterward. Yet, his gunslinging “bad guy” debut in this acclaimed Western helped paved the way for other Hollywood leading men like Jack Nicholson and Al Pacino to welcome villainous roles.

2 Tom Cruise (Collateral)

Film critic Roger Ebert argued each movie in the star’s filmography shared essential traits, qualifying them for placement within a formula he dubbed “The Tom Cruise Picture.”

Since he rarely played anything but the hero, Cruise’s Vincent – his silver-haired hitman character in Michael Mann’s LA underworld-set crime thriller – is the straw that broke the algorithmic camel’s back. The film helped strengthen Cruise’s image in the minds of those who had grown tired of his aforementioned role predictability.

1 Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)

While he did have a knack for playing arrogant cowboy-types or literal cowboys (10 Thing I Hate About You, Brokeback Mountain), the late actor built his bankability on his sympathetic arsenal.

The Australian native’s easing screen presence is what brought upon offers to star as the lead in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man (2002), which he turned down to avoid becoming merely a “teen heartthrob.” Holding out for something greater within the superhero genre ultimately paid dividends for Heath Ledger, as his posthumous Oscar-winning Joker performance in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight speaks for itself.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/best-villain-performances-actors-heroes/

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