Movies Where the Villain Has a Point

The methods were a problem. The memo was correct.

Entries
10
Category
Film
Updated
  1. A thirteen-hour clock above a huge stone maze, a crystal ball resting on a wall.

    10. Labyrinth

    Jim Henson · 1986

    Sarah, annoyed at babysitting, asks the Goblin King to take her baby brother. He does exactly what she asked, then offers her the chance to win him back in 13 hours with a free maze. The man was clear about terms. Customer service has rarely been better.

  2. A pile of free SIM cards in a fishbowl on a reception desk inside a mountain bunker.

    09. Kingsman: The Secret Service

    Matthew Vaughn · 2014

    Tech billionaire Richmond Valentine looks at climate change, concludes nothing else has worked and hands out free SIM cards that make people kill each other. He also gets squeamish around blood. The diagnosis is sound. Treatment needs work.

  3. A glass Antarctic fortress filled with television screens, a single yellow smiley badge on the floor.

    08. Watchmen

    Zack Snyder · 2009

    Ozymandias destroys several cities and frames Dr. Manhattan, and the threat of a common enemy stops a nuclear war. The heroes find out and, after some yelling, mostly agree to keep quiet. When the good guys sign off on the plan, the villain had a point.

  4. A tiny cluttered office in a converted boiler room, a tall stack of files and a small desk nameplate with no writing.

    07. Zootopia

    Byron Howard and Rich Moore · 2016

    Assistant Mayor Bellwether is a sheep the lion mayor treats as unpaid office furniture, belittling her and parking her in a closet-sized office. Her answer is a scheme to make predators go savage, which is too far. The workplace complaint, though, is airtight.

  5. A pair of homemade rocket boots on a garage floor next to an autograph book with a torn page.

    06. The Incredibles

    Brad Bird · 2004

    Young Buddy builds his own rocket boots and asks to be Mr. Incredible's sidekick. His hero tells him to go home. Buddy grows up, becomes Syndrome and plans to sell powers to everyone. The murder is unforgivable. The brush-off, from a man in a cape, was also not great.

  6. A mint-condition toy box on a glass museum pedestal, its plastic window still sealed, a cowboy hat beside it.

    05. Toy Story 2

    John Lasseter · 1999

    Stinky Pete spent decades unsold in his box and tells Woody plainly: Andy will grow up and leave you. He would rather spend eternity in a Tokyo museum. Toy Story 3 is about Andy growing up and leaving Woody. Pete ends up in a backpack, vindicated.

  7. A heavy iron gate twisted open by unseen force, rain falling on an empty courtyard.

    04. X-Men

    Bryan Singer · 2000

    The film opens with a young Magneto at Auschwitz, then cuts to a senator pushing a Mutant Registration Act. Magneto has seen where lists of a certain kind of person lead and would prefer to skip it. Then he builds a machine that mutates world leaders. Point stands.

  8. A salvage truck loaded with glowing alien wreckage parked under a bridge, a pair of mechanical wings folded in the back.

    03. Spider-Man: Homecoming

    Jon Watts · 2017

    Adrian Toomes runs a salvage crew cleaning up after the Battle of New York until a Stark-government joint venture takes the contract and puts him out of business. So he keeps the alien scrap. A small contractor squeezed out by a billionaire. The billionaire is the hero.

  9. A sand-buried cargo container on a barren desert planet under a harsh sky, a small glass tank on a table inside.

    02. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

    Nicholas Meyer · 1982

    Kirk maroons Khan on Ceti Alpha V in a 1967 episode and never checks in. A neighboring planet explodes, the place turns to desert, and parasitic eels kill Khan's followers and his wife. Fifteen years later he is upset. Reasonable, honestly.

  10. A basketball hoop on an Oakland apartment rooftop at dusk, a sleek futuristic aircraft hovering above it.

    01. Black Panther

    Ryan Coogler · 2018

    Killmonger grows up in Oakland after a Wakandan king kills his father, then asks why a nation with the world's best technology stayed hidden while people like him struggled. T'Challa wins the fight, then opens an outreach center in Oakland. He lost the argument.

Honorable mentions

  • A factory floor of rows of bedroom doors on conveyor rails, a yellow energy canister half full.

    Monsters, Inc.

    Pete Docter · 2001

    CEO Waternoose is running a power company in an energy crisis, with kids getting harder to scare and rolling blackouts in Monstropolis. His fix is a machine to extract screams by force, which is bad. The heroes discover laughs work ten times better. He was half right.

Dishonorable mentions

  • A huge golden gauntlet with six empty sockets resting on a fence post beside a quiet farmhouse.

    Avengers: Infinity War

    Anthony and Joe Russo · 2018

    Thanos worries about resources running out, gathers six stones that let him rewrite reality, and uses them to delete half of all living things instead of doubling the resources. Wins, then retires to a farm. Big concern, worst possible math.

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