Movies What are the best film antagonists ever?

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

 

[Ezekiel 25:17]

 

[Zer]

Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber (Die Hard) and The Sheriff of Nottingham (Robin Hood Prince of Thieves)
Wesley Snipes as Simon Phoenix (Demolition Man)
Robert Mitchum as Harry Powell (The Night of the Hunter)
Klaus Kinski as Aguirre (Aguirre The Wrath of God)
Dennis Hopper as Frank Booth (Blue Velvet)

 

[Nathan LaMontagne]

Oh wow fantastic question and thread. I don't know to be honest. But first thing that came to mind is the movie Blade Runner and the character Roy Batty. I know he suppose to be some sort of human but he's not. So it's quite an intriguing character.

Excellent choice!

Also was Hannibal Lector really an antagonist? Buffalo Bill sure.
Lectors role was more on the side of Clarice. Anti Hero almost.

 

[Sweater of AV]

 

[LEWIS540]

Also was Hannibal Lector really an antagonist? Buffalo Bill sure.
Lectors role was more on the side of Clarice. Anti Hero almost.

......I mean he did bite a cop's face off before subjecting his partner to a 'blood eagle'.

That was the wrong thing to do, imo.

 

[gspieler]

Daniel Plainview.

Daniel Plainview is the protagonist. Or am I missing the joke.

 

[Chad R. Thundercock]

Come on, Bennett, throw away that chicken-shit gun. You don't just want to pull a trigger. Put the knife in me and look me in the eye and see what's going on in there when you turn it.

 

[Spam On Rye]

Daniel Plainview is the protagonist. Or am I missing the joke.

Yes

 

[tobiaswins]

Nurse Rached
Pazuzu
The Nazgûl

Now it could be argued that Nurse Rached wasn’t a true villain but I always considered her one.

 

[deviake]

Alien
Predator
Terminator

Heath Ledger's Joker
Darth Vader
Emperor Palpie
Rian Johnson

 

[sleepwalk]

Human: Heath Ledger's Joker
-Honorable mention: Michael Myers

Humanoid: Darth Vader
-Honorable mention: The Predator

Non-human: The Terminator
-Honorable mention: Shere Khan (1967)

 

[Highway99]

 

[GSP_37]

The Slow Horses actor in Leon The Professional, Gary Oldman.

 

[Osculater]

The Pharisees (The Passion of the Christ)

 

[Chesten_Hesten]

 

[Wetarmpits]

Darth Vader

 

[TheTickG]

I've decided to break them into the following categories:

(1) Human
(2) Humanoid
(3) Other

Note that 'human' is just a vanilla human. A human with superpowers, or possessed by a demon, or a werewolf or anything else puts them in Category Two. If it's something that shifts between humanoid and non-humanoid forms, like Pennywise or the T1000 I would weigh it up. Is its base form humanoid? T1000 yes so Category Two, Pennywise no so Category Three. Please respect the categories or we won't be comparing like with like. My choices:


Human: Hannibal Lecter by Anthony Hopkins

Completely frightening, malevolent and disturbing, then he escapes!


Humanoid: Dracula by Gary Oldman

Dracula has been portrayed on screen so many times and of course I haven't seem them all. Maybe some will say Christopher Lee was better. Maybe he was but for me it's Gary Oldman. Dracula is such a great character, Stoker caught lightning in a bottle with that novel. He's so creepy and unsettling and it seems like his opponents have no chance.

Interesting that both Lecter and Dracula are aristocrats. In fact Clarice Starling is clearly out of her depth dealing with Lecter as well.


Other: Azazel in 'Fallen' (1998)

I bet you weren't expecting this one! Azazel is a disembodied fallen angel that possesses people and moves between them at will (with a few exceptions), usually by making the person he's possessed touch the person he wants to jump into. You can't actually see Azazel but the way the various actors portray him is chilling and in the end, like Lecter, he escapes! Another powerful and unsettling supernatural enemy that fills you with dread and despair. I find supernatural things much scarier than a common or garden monster.

I'll go with other, Jason in Friday the 13th part 9.

 

[Bacco]

 

[moreorless87]

Probably one of the most important as well, just within that film you see how much his performance stands out in terms of how naturalistic it is compared to everyone else.