There are very few bad guy movies where the bad guy emerges victorious. The bad guy movies usually have a standard hook to it. There are a good hero and an evil villain; the good hero defeats the villain who performs terrible deeds. Finally, the villain dies or surrenders to the hero and falls at his feet.
There are very few bad guy movies where the bad guy is potent, smart, and powerful. He has the upper hand till the end of the film and emerges victorious with his superpowers and extremely potent abilities.
Although Hollywood is filled with all the noble adventures where the ‘good over evil’ mantra prevails, the pessimists know the gloomy picture. In real life, this isn’t always true. And only a few film-makers can showcase this as the bad guy in the movie escapes with all the evil deeds and goes on with his life.
Why are there so few films where the bad hero wins?
A lot of the time, this question has come up in the world of films. Why are there very few films where the bad guy wins? The most common reason that comes to the people’s mind shall be that making such a film might result in a box-office suicide. This means that generally, only those movies allure the audience where the victory of good over evil is portrayed.
In common parlance, most of the people have this ‘just world’ view. In this sense, they view society in light of what is right. Doing the right thing shall bring back good to you is a commonly believed notion. The believers of Karma’s cycle have ingrained that the bad people shall get a negative reward in the end, and thus these viewers prefer the hero to be victorious. The very notions with which the idea of the qualities a ‘hero’ possesses are always positive. In contrast, those of a ‘villain’ is negative, make the bad guy movies a little less than popular in mainstream film-making.
Although there have been successful lousy guy movies where the bad guy wins, they are portrayed in a sympathetic light. The viewers are compelled to see the world in their light and, thus, sympathize with their role to accept their victory in the end.
The people love Batman because his character does not kill, but if the same Batman were an Avatar of Lord Vishnu, he would have had the license to kill on moral grounds. Thus, how one views the world being right or wrong defines the acceptance of the victory of bad guys in the movies. Thus, changing conceptions about lousy guy movies.
This also depends on who the protagonist of the movie is. The audience generally falls in flow with the actions of the protagonist. If the bad guy is the lead, the audience is automatically compelled to see things in his light.
Although Hollywood is trying to give depth to the bad guy in movies, like in Joker, there is a lot of acceptance yet to come on the viewers’ part.
Most Suitable Genres for such films
Although there are no specific genres that have been recognized to have been molded into the bad guy movies, individual specifications can be drawn.
Mostly, a trend has been observed that science fiction, action movies, psychological thrillers, and movies set in suspicion are usually the ones that find ease in portraying the bad guy’s victory. These movies have a higher allowance in terms of creative license and having the bad guy who wins to be a protagonist or emerging victorious in the end.
For example, in the Dark Knight Rises, the protagonist, Joker, proves that the best for humanity can be corrupted as Batman kills Dent, and with Gordon, tries to cover up Dent’s crimes.
In the movie No Country for Old Men too, Anton Chigurh kills the targets and bribes the car accident witnesses.
In the movie Seven again, John Doe is killed by Mills, but only after he successfully manages to kill seven people in the light of the seven deadliest sins performed by them. He wanted similarly as Mills murdered him to add to his wrath, thus summing up his masterpiece.
The most iconic movies where the bad guy wins
There are various iconic movies set up in the past and contemporary times, where the bad guy wins. A few are the examples below:
- A Nightmare on Elm Street
This beautiful masterpiece is a landmark in the world of lousy guy movies. This movie left its viewers having nightmares when Springwood Slasher rose from the dead. At the same time, Nancy thought to herself that all the happenings of her life were a bad dream; Freddy possessed her boyfriend Jhonny Depp’s car and drove it to an unfortunate fate. The bad guy’s victory is celebrated with the song “One, Two, Freddie’s coming for you.”
- The Usual Suspects
A movie full of twists and turns, this lousy guy movie sets in motion events that no-one saw coming. As Kint is exposed to be the criminal mastermind, it sets in motion the glory of a villainous character. He walks away calmly after the authorities realize they were duped, and escapes freely without punishment.
- The Silence of the Lambs
This movie stars Hannibal Lecter as one of the most horrifying villains of all time. He was successful in setting a standard for the bad guy movies. He manages to escape from the FBI very shrewdly in the spine-chilling scene showing the face-swap. He finds his escape and freedom as the bad guy who wins in the movie’s sequel’s exotic climax.
- Avengers- Infinity War
This landmark Marvel movie has set in motion the liking for lousy guy movies, where the villains emerge victoriously and gather a higher fan-following than the heroes. The Russo Brother set in motion Thanos’s entry into the bad guy hall of fame, where he executes a genocide at a huge snap of a finger. The fans are left spellbound at the glory of the bad guy in this history-breaking fiction.
These and many other iconic movies have set in motion the wave of liking towards the bad guy winning on the set. The possibility of having an established world where the credibility of all the bad guy movies hit the roof is not skim at all shortly!
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