Top 5

Top 5 Antagonists

1. Peter Lorre's character - M - Great performance, creepy character, whisteling that tune over and over in my dreams

2. The Lone Biker of the Apocalypse - Raising Arizona - satirical and scary as hell at the same time

3. Benoit Benoit Poelvoorde - Man Bites Dog - how could you not love this guy?

4. Hannible Lecter - Silence of the Lambs - when he puts that guy's face on as a mask was my favorite scene.

5. Kevin Spacey's character - Seven - very similar to his character in The Usual Suspects but add the psycotic murdering funtime.

Re:Top 5 Antagonists

Top 5 Antagonists: Human

1.) Dazed and Confused - O'Bannon - Ben Affleck's character takes the cake as the biggest a**hole and eventually gets what he deserves.

2.) Mutiny on the Bounty - Captain Bligh - Sadistic and unflinchingly evil, Captain Bligh is undoubtedly one of cinemas most hated antagonists.

3.) What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? - Jane - Bette Davis oozes nastiness from her caked on makeup to her hoarse, smokers voice.

4.) Se7en - John Doe - The unseen serial killer in this film intensifies the terror and dread the viewer feels throughout this film, even more so when he reveals himself and his final acts of brutality.

5.) Groundhog Day - Phil "like the groundhog!" Connors - Bill Murray is incredibly noxious for most of the film as a jaded weather man forced to relive the same day over and over again.

Runner's Up: Strangeland, Misery, All About Eve, Man Bites Dog, Lemony Snicket's, Dogville 

Top 5 Antagonists: Supernatural / Science Fiction

1.)  The Wizard of Oz - The Wicked Witch of the West - Damn if that green-skinned witch isn't the meanest *itch in all of Oz and cinema.

2.) Star Wars Trilogy - Darth Vader - Masked and menacing, Darth Vader is felt through each film even when he's not on screen.

3.) Jaws - The Great White Shark - Only supernatural in it's damned ability to know what's going on in every inch of the ocean, the shark is one evil son of a *itch.

4.) Halloween - Michael Myers - Again, masked and scary as hell, Michael Myers is the definition of a nightmare come to life.

5.) Alien - The Alien - In my opinion, one of the creepiest monsters ever imagined.

Runner's Up: A Nightmare on Elm Street, Poltergeist, Friday the 13th, Mommie Dearest (Joan Crawford must have had supernatural powers to be that wicked). 

Top 5 Antagonists: Inanimate Objects

1.) The Money Pit - The House -  Definitely one of the most aggravating movies where the main antagonist really does nothing but sits there (and continues to fall apart).

2.) Speed - The Bus - You try to keep your cool while maintaining the speed limit in L.A. traffic!

3.) Cube - The Cube - Murderous booby-traps aplenty, room after room after room after room after room after room after room etc.

4.) Maximum Overdrive - The Machines - When those damned semis went crazy, they really went crazy.

5.) Modern Times - The Machines - Again, those damned machines getting a mind of their own. 

Re:Top 5 Antagonists

leeroy711:

1. Peter Lorre's character - M - Great performance, creepy character, whisteling that tune over and over in my dreams

2. The Lone Biker of the Apocalypse - Raising Arizona - satirical and scary as hell at the same time

3. Benoit Benoit Poelvoorde - Man Bites Dog - how could you not love this guy?

4. Hannible Lecter - Silence of the Lambs - when he puts that guy's face on as a mask was my favorite scene.

5. Kevin Spacey's character - Seven - very similar to his character in The Usual Suspects but add the psycotic murdering funtime.

I'm quoting myself because I disagree with myself, "self, how could you come up with a list of Antagonists and not include the coin flipping Anton Chigurh in No Country For Old Men? I am very dissapointedin myself. That should probably #2

Re:Top 5 Antagonists

leeroy711:

3. Benoit Benoit Poelvoorde - Man Bites Dog - how could you not love this guy?

Although he may be the opposite of your standard hero, I think by definition he would be the protagonist of this film rather than the antagonist.

Re:Top 5 Antagonists

Risselada:

leeroy711:

3. Benoit Benoit Poelvoorde - Man Bites Dog - how could you not love this guy?

Although he may be the opposite of your standard hero, I think by definition he would be the protagonist of this film rather than the antagonist.

Are you starting an argument with me again?!??!?! Allright so maybe you're right, he's the PROtagonist. But he is a real bad mamma jamma. I love the scene when he's explaining the proper dead body to rock weight ratio in order to assure the body doesn't float to the top of the water.

Re:Top 5 Antagonists

leeroy711:

leeroy711:

I'm quoting myself because I disagree with myself, "self, how could you come up with a list of Antagonists and not include the coin flipping Anton Chigurh in No Country For Old Men? I am very dissapointedin myself. That should probably #2

Very good catch...I was about to add that myself before I saw your add-on.  I have a few to add myself.

-Colonel Walter E. Kurtz from Apocalypse Now.

-Nurse Fletcher from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. 

-Jack Nicholson in The Shining (one of his greatest roles).

-Voldemort in Harry Potter.  That's a given...

There's so many more, but these are just the few that really stood out to me. 

     

Re:Top 5 Antagonists

5.  The T-800 (Schwarzenegger) in the original Terminator.

 When I was a little boy I read a lot about alleged curses on pharaohs' tombs, and I'd imagine how I'd steal from a mummy and get off scot free. (I'd have a helicopter waiting right outside the pyramid, etc.) But then I'd imagine the mummy slowly, indomitably trudging along the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, always getting closer, me never knowing where he is.  Though it may take years, he would get to me, and even if I were lucky enough to avoid him I'd have to flee to the other side of the world and the whole process would just start over again.  Grave robbing didn't seem so beneficial anymore.

 Besides the Brendan Fraser movies, the only mummy movie I've seen is one of the old Hammer films with Christopher Lee as the mummy, and I only slightly enjoyed it.  That's why I'm mentioning the T-800, becausing imagining being pursued by an ingenius, nearly-indestructible machine fills me with a dread similar to my old mummy musings.  

4.  The Tyrannosaurus Rex in Jurassic Park.  

Sure the velociraptors are more cunning, but the T. Rex will always be the king of terrible beasts!

3.  The Joker in Tim Burton's Batman.  

Based on the preview I think Heath Ledger will surpass Jack Nicholson's performance.  The Joker has always been my favorite comic-book villain because he isn't concerned with something silly like controlling the world.  When he commits crimes, sometimes he does it only to torment Batman's conscience (see Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, which to my understanding is the basis for the upcoming Nolan film).

2.  Anton Chigurgh in No Country for Old Men.  

If the character believes he embodies anything, such as Death ("That depends. Do you see me?") or Chaos ("I got here the same way the coin did") I think he's wrong.  He's not a master over Chaos anyway, as the car crash shows.  However, there is something invincible about this character, and for me that's linked to his ability to go wherever he pleases (pressurized hammer-gun) and kill in silence (silenced shotgun).  For me he imperfectly (realistically) embodies elements of both malice and chaos, which makes him almost as significant as the next antagonist . . . 

1.  Moby-Dick, the Whale.  Leviathan!

I don't love either of the movie versions I've seen, but the white whale continues to be a symbol of great significance for me.  When I discuss the struggles I have in this crazy thing we call life, I frequently recourse to Moby-Dick, what his antagonism meant for Ishmael, Capt. Ahab, and the rest of the Pequod crew.  The Whale seems to represent different things to the characters at different times, but to oversimplify it, Moby-Dick is Leviathan.  If it sounds like your bag, I think you'll have fun checking out the monster/concept of Leviathan.