Villains of Film, Part 1: The Dark Knight (2008)

I've seen very few effective villains.

Some examples of good central villains I recall are Bruno from Strangers on a Train, the old man played by John Huston in Chinatown, possibly the son in Psycho... (I would include the shark from Jaws... An argument could also be made for HAL from 2001.)

Another type is the many/multiple villains type; Birds or Jurassic Park.

Most often the villain is simply life itself and all it's workings... Think of all the films you really love and you'll be hard pressed to find that they include much of (if any at all) a villain character.

Writers talk about about how much fun it is to write a villain. Well evidently most of them are having a blast and doing a poor job of it. A villain is often an excuse to create a somewhat interesting character with extreme personality traits; a character who does things outside the norm, a foil, a backdrop to set other characters against. (The latter being one of the better lesser reasons to create a villain.)


1) A good villain has significant well crafted traits of his/her own including a philosophy, idiosyncrasies, a purpose and motivation.

The Joker here has a personality with quirks, motivation, surprise motivations, and even a sense of realistic sarcasm. His character comes through in specific moments (one of my favourites is after Batman slides his bike down on the pavement and as the Joker is trying to open Batman's mask... Gordon sneaks up behind him at gunpoint and the Joker states dryly, "Can you just give me a couple minutes?")


2) A villain has an effective and believable influence over characters and the viewer.

Here, thanks in very large part to Ledger brilliant execution, we have an enigmatic villain... He's so intriguingly executed I couldn't wait for Batman to leave the screen and the Joker's re-entrance. He's creepy, yet beautiful and attractive. I can buy into the fact he's doing the very things he's doing on screen and influencing the people he's influencing.


Postlude:

I'm not a real fan of the film for the same reason I disliked Batman Begins. They were both so thick and required a good deal of investment (with little return) that it felt like a chore to watch them. (It feels this way with a great deal of DC Comics films.)

I'd say The Dark Knight is a long way from the best comic film, but it put it in for having one of Hollywood's best villains.