By Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY
Let's pause a moment to give thanks to the bad guys.
Warner Bros Pictures
Ralph Fiennes stars as the evil Lord Voldemort in 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,' which hits theaters July 15.
Warner Bros Pictures
Ralph Fiennes stars as the evil Lord Voldemort in 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,' which hits theaters July 15.
This summer, multiplexes will be filled with every size and shape of villain looking to push forward a dastardly agenda, ranging from human domination to human consumption. Sure, most of the time moviegoers will be rooting for the hero to save the day. But without a dark foil, there isn't a story.
"Your movie is only as good as your villain is," says Kung Fu Panda 2 director Jennifer Yuh Nelson. "It's so crucial to have a good one so you have someone for the good guy to rise up against. The more charismatic, the better."
Nelson scored on the last point, roping in Gary Oldman to play the murderous peacock Lord Shen in the animated film's sequel. The veteran actor harks back to baddie pop history to explain why darkness is needed. "What would Die Hard be without Alan Rickman?" he asks. "Once the movie starts to kick in, it's all about cutting between the forces of good and evil."
Oldman claims not to know why the public cheers on his menacing side. "I just sort of fell into it," he says. "I have no idea why people like me as a villain." Big hint: That treacherously wonderful voice is total awesomeness.
In Oldman's view, effective villainy is all about finding "the redeeming quality" of the characters to make them watchable on-screen. But if there is no tough upbringing to bolster a back story, other films trump up riveting cinematic credentials such as big weapons or Armageddon plans.
In X-Men: First Class, which opens Friday, Kevin Bacon plays devious mutant Sebastian Shaw. Don't be fooled by his classy exterior: He has his sights set on world annihilation.
"He has all the charm, and he's very seductive," says producer Bryan Singer. "But he's about as bad as you can get in a PG-13 movie."
There's plenty of bad to go around. Summer 2011's class of villains ranges from pirates to vampires to beautiful dentists. Our countdown:
12. Gargamel (The Smurfs, July 29)
Secret weapon: Bad spells
Gargamel has serious issues with everyone's favorite blue friends and must steal Smurf-essence to strengthen his powers. However, his wrath is tempered by ineptitude. "He sees himself as Voldemort, but he's a mediocre wizard," says Hank Azaria, who plays Gargamel. "He's more of a Ron Weasley. But he's mean for sure." Especially when he straps Papa Smurf to a machine to extract his Smurf-essence. "That's just bad," says Azaria.
11. Lord Shen (Kung Fu Panda 2, in theaters)
Secret weapon: A Panda-killing cannon
Peacocks don't dominate the bad-guy market, but that could change after Oldman's panda-despising Shen. Director Nelson insists Shen's traumatizing childhood helped deepen the character's rage. "It really scarred him and sent him down a dark path," she says. "There is real badness there." Shen's goal: to take over China, one dead panda at a time. That will show his disapproving parents.
10. Julia Harris (Horrible Bosses, July 8)
Secret weapons: Dentistry tools, naughty pictures
Jennifer Aniston's dentist character is one of the three horrible bosses (alongside Kevin Spacey and Colin Farrell). But Aniston puts evil back in its rightful place ? the dentist's chair. Can the likable star pull it off? "She's diabolical," says director Seth Gordon. "She's a predatory cat who just needs to eat." Her initial prey is her dental assistant, played by Charlie Day, whom she harasses and then blackmails with faked, compromising pictures. "It's her purest evil moment," says Gordon.
9. Great White Shark (Shark Night 3D, Sept. 2)
Secret weapon: Teeth
It doesn't matter how a saltwater lake in Lousiana became infested with multiple varieties of sharks. The real question is how to get away from the Great White. This ultimate predator proves his chops by "taking one guy in two bites," says director David Ellis. How does he compare to the bad boy from 1975's Jaws? "It would be a heavyweight battle," says Ellis. "But our guy is in better shape." Further, his shark has ambition. "He's going to dominate the lake, then all the lakes, then the world ? one meal at a time."
8.Blackbeard (Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides, in theaters)
Secret weapons: Killer beard, magic sword
Ian McShane notes that the "biggest, baddest pirate of all time" gets a little help from a serious scowl and an insane beard. "He's a fearsome sight, working on intimidation," he says. "That's what bad guys do best, all the way through Osama bin Laden." Blackbeard gets further help from a magical sword ("That even put a little turbo in me," McShane admits) and shows impressive coldness, even by pirate standards.
7. Jerry DandridgeFright Night (Aug. 19)
Secret weapon: Fangs
Forget those sparkly romantic vampires. Colin Farrell's Jerry Dandridge is a blood- and sex-starved predator, says director Craig Gillespie. "We're back to the vampire as a monster," he adds. "That's what we've lost recently." Farrell says he loved playing one so dominant over humans that he's "pretty bored" and getting a little bit careless with his trail of discarded dinner dates that turn into dinners. He's smug and bloodthirsty. "He gets off on his own sense of cruel power," says Farrell. "It's a lot of fun."
6. Uday Hussein (The Devil's Double, July 29)
Secret weapon: Untouchable during dad's reign of terror in Iraq
The name alone gets him on the list. The real-life son of Saddam Hussein was such a terrible human that British actor Dominic Cooper anguished playing him on-screen. "This man was epic evil," he says. "I was constantly despairing." The movie doesn't pretend to be historically accurate. It's more of a Hussein-infused Scarface. But the story of a demented son trying to please a despot dad rings true. "He was this crazed lunatic, and no one could stop him in his country," says Cooper. "A spoiled, terrible kid with ultimate power."
5. Parallax (Green Lantern, June 17)
Secret weapon: Fear
"His fuel is fear. It makes him stronger and more powerful," says producer Donald De Line. "And there's a lot of fear here on Earth." What's worse for humans is that Parallax is not going to eat just their bodies. "He eats people's souls and grows with each one," De Line adds. He also gets bonus points for an ugly exterior. "Parallax is hellish," says De Line. "He's a writhing mass of trapped and anguished souls."
4. Sebastian Shaw (X-Men: First Class, Friday)
Secret weapon: Mutant power, magic helmet
Before Magneto turned dark, there was Sebastian Shaw, the granddaddy of X-Men evil. His credentials include a deranged concentration-camp doctor and a mastermind pushing the Soviet Union and the USA to the brink of nuclear war. "He's basically a sociopath," says Bacon, who portrays Shaw. He is aided by mutant power that allows him to absorb and re-channel energy used against him. Shaw also possesses a helmet that prevents others from reading his thoughts and a submarine. "We decided to give him a piece of James Bondian technology that's really cool," says producer Singer.
3. Shockwave (Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon, June 29)
Secret weapon: Morphs into a building-destroying death snake
The one-eyed Shockwave makes his movie debut after providing serious menace in the 1980s television series. "He's bigger, badder, with a greater arsenal," says producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. "And he's had a face lift." The trailer gives a glimpse of Shockwave's power when he morphs into a snakelike creation that cuts through Chicago buildings like butter ? staggering even for Transformers. "It's a huge escalation in the amount of damage that one Decepticon can wreak," says di Bonaventura. "He's capable of wholesale destruction ? that's really bad for humans."
2. Red Skull (Captain America, July 22)
Secret weapon: Ancient relic providing unlimited energy
Science can go two ways ? studly Captain America or the disfigured Red Skull. ("He's horrific," says director Joe Johnston.) Red Skull aims to take over America and then the world with his conniving HYDRA organization after finding a source of unlimited power for their weapons. Played by Matrix baddie Hugo Weaving, Red Skull has "charm and charisma" even when he takes his mask off to show his true ugly. Besides, as Johnston points out, "you have to admire a guy who just wants to rule the world."
1. Lord Voldemort (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, July 15)
Secret weapon: Supremely dark magical powers, disgusting, noseless face
The man so bad you dare not speak his name tries to kill Harry Potter once and for all. "Harry Potter is a pain in the ass," says Ralph Fiennes, who relishes the Voldemort role. "It's not hard to be mean to Harry Potter. He's so nice." In terms of bad rankings, you can't go higher. "He's sort of the devil, really," says Fiennes. His terrible face adds to his malevolent mojo and is sure to lead to a lot of frightened moviegoers. Adds Fiennes: "I hope I scare a lot of them."
Contributing: Scott Bowles and Claudia Puig
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