Submitted by drumlip t3_yiojy5 in movies

I watched Last Action Hero (1993) last night, and it's a very mediocre film, but Charles Dance's villain is incredible. I feel like if the movie had been better on the whole, he could have gone down in history among great film baddies.

It got me thinking, what are some other movies that are bad to middling but have excellent bad guys?

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MrThrowAweh t1_iujo8bt wrote

Law abiding citizen. Really murky film in which most viewers including myself see the main antagonist as the main protagonist.

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ryschwith t1_iujoioq wrote

Sam Rockwell in Iron Man 2 (even though I like that movie more than most).

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arlondiluthel t1_iujozt5 wrote

The Dark Knight Rises. The bar set by The Dark Knight essentially guaranteed that the movie wouldn't be well-received, but I thought Bane was very good.

Avengers: Age of Ultron. One of the weaker MCU films, but Ultron was fantastic (they did him dirty though, he was very weak by MCU villain standards), and James Spader did a... Marvelous job (I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself).

I'm going to pair these next two together, because I think the context is needed. Both Johnny Depp and Mads Mickelsen did an incredible job in The Crimes of Grindelwald and the Secrets of Dumbledore, even if the movies themselves weren't... Fantastic (seriously, I might have a problem).

Finally... Count Dooku was the best aspect of Attack of the Clones.

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500DaysofNight t1_iujp27j wrote

As much as I love Masters of the Universe, Frank Langella far and away stole every scene he was in and was the best part of the movie.

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nowhereman136 t1_iujpeum wrote

Black Mask (Ewan McGregor) in Birds of Prey

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Scoob79 t1_iujqn1g wrote

Robin Hood Prince of Thieves and Gangs of New York immediately come to mind for me.

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Syn7axError t1_iujrqsj wrote

Street Fighter: The Movie with Raul Julia.

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Mulchpuppy t1_iujsq5e wrote

At first I didn't like him in the movie, but as it moved along I did a 360.

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farmerarmor t1_iujt1uv wrote

Highlander is a trash film without Clancy brown.

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farmerarmor t1_iujtdra wrote

That movie could have been so much better. I still love it because I grew up during that era and 5 year old me almost lost my mind at how awesome it seemed. But they coulda done so much better.

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humble_oppossum t1_iujursp wrote

Bunker. No one has seen it because it just debuted at a local theater but it does have a YouTube trailer. The bad guy made the movie watchable and outshined the lead

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Opus-the-Penguin t1_iujw1zr wrote

The Dark Knight. Not bad, but definitely "middling" in my opinion. Heath Ledger's performance is what makes it worthwhile. Bale's Batman isn't worthy of that quality of nemesis.

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Stunning-Hedgehog932 t1_iuk04ch wrote

Art the Clown

Both movies are good fun with some amazing moments, but there's a AAA+ horror in there somewhere that hasn't been reached yet

Hopefully they experiment a little within the franchise. Two splatter movies could have a straight 90 min horror as a palette cleanser

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HotBarnacle t1_iuk3jg3 wrote

Alex Cross. I couldn't be bothered to finish the movie, but Matthew Perry's character was the sole bright spot (and it was a faint one, to be sure).

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Unlikely_Layer_2268 t1_iuk6pjb wrote

Star Wars. Han was cool. Vader was brutal, crushing throats all the time

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