10 Great Cinematic Sociopaths

In honor of the Joker, who truly sets the bar for crazy society upheaving id, I'm going to run down some other superb psychopaths on film.

10. Francis Begbie (Trainspotting)

If Renton is right and the Scottish are the “most wretched, miserable, servile, pathetic trash that was ever shat into civilization”, Francis “Franco” Begbie somehow manages to ooze below that bar. In a film of heroin junkies, Franco stands out as a beyond horrible person. His addiction is not smack, but violence and hurting people. He glees at the girl bleeding from the recent head wound or at any opportunity for a violent altercation. He is a uncaring and unsympathetic man, who sucks down everyone around him in his world of horrid. Even when Renton has kicked the habit, living clean and legitimate in London, it is Franco’s arrival, needing a place to hide from cops, that sends Renton back on self destructive habit.

Defining Moment: Tossing his empty beer glass over his shoulder to haphazardly start a bloody bar fight because, you know, nothing else was going on.

9. Mickey and Mallory Knox (Natural Born Killers)


As the title suggest this pair just likes to kill, plain and simple. Though I suppose it is important for a married couple to do things together.

Defining Moment: Escaping from jail and doubling their body count on live TV.









8. Henry (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer)

Forced to watch his mom have sex with her clients, sometimes while dressed up as a girl, Henry finally snaps and murders her, though it’s very possible this a lie as he switches how he murdered her from strangulation to stabbing to shooting. The man doesn’t seem to take joy in killing or show an uncontrollable need to do it, but he is practiced in it enough to know how to school a friend in the finer art of avoiding detection.

Defining Moment: Proving in the final scene that he will always be a monster no matter what.

7. Anton Chigurh (No Country For Old Men)

The Coen Brothers have a knack for creating men who are a personification of unstoppable evil, and Anton Chigurh will no doubt be the most remembered of their chilling antagonists. Sure there’s the haircut, and of course the killing, but it’s more than that that makes him standout. It’s his demented smile when he’s strangling a cop with his handcuffs. It’s his unique use of killing with an air gun. It’s him sparing people’s lives based on the fate of the coin flips. These are the things that shock you when you first see it happen. That make veteran sheriff Tommy Lee Jones retire. That stick in your mind hours later, as you dreamily think about what he’s like in bed… uh… I mean… what?

Defining Moment: Killing the men who just hired him for no apparent reason.





6. Tommy Devito (Goodfellas)

It’s a sad case really. Being in an organization above the law he has a lot of freewill to just do what he wants. And he is in a constant state to prove his machismo against all the other mobsters to show how tough he is. Throw in a rather choleric persona, and we have a recipe for a lot of unnecessary and angry killings. Murdering on whims, keeping everyone around you so frightened they are afraid to compliment you less it be taken in the wrong way, and no one calls him on this. They are only pissed they have to keep on digging graves. He really is someone to be pitied. Poor, poor man.

Defining Moment: Killing the kid he previously shot in the foot while making him dance, because he sassed him.

5. Max Cady (Cape Fear)

I am of course talking about Robert Mitchum’s pitch perfect bad guy, not Robert DeNiro’s surprisingly inferior one. It’s practically awe inspiring how methodical this man gets in torturing the family of Gregory Peck’s Sam Bowden, the man who testified, putting him away. He stewed in prison learning the law in order to take his revenge within the letter of what is legal or at the very least to leave no evidence. The man instills fear, watching the family as they go bowling, hanging outside the daughter’s school, poisoning the family dog. And then he is able to file suit against the cops for harassment and provoke Gregory Peck into assaulting him. The man is frightening, of course being helped by Bernard Hermann’s spectacular leitmotif helps.

Defining Moment: The psychological torture of giving a mother the choice to have sex with him or allow her daughter to be raped, which he has no fear of reprisal because he doesn’t think Bowden would put his daughter on the stand to relive the experience, is the clincher.

4. Vic Vega (Reservoir Dogs)

Everything unravels during a caper for the hip criminals in Quentin Tarantino’s directorial debut. It is believed that one them is a cop and no one knows who to trust. Everyone’s a suspect. That is except for Mr. Blonde, because no one seems to think that a cop would go on an unnecessary shooting spree during the robbery (though to be fair if they hadn't done what he told them not to do, they'd still be alive). And certainly not be so calm about it to right afterward to grab a Kahuna burger, some fries, and a drink. Or you know kidnap a cop to torture. Mr. White is disgusted with him and with Joe for putting him on a job with the whack job. It takes a special breed of sick for cop killers to be pissed-off at just being in your presence.

Defining Moment: Everyone knows the scene. He starts off saying he doesn’t care what the cop says, he’s going to be tortured because “it’s amusing for [him] to torture a cop”. A jig to “Stuck in the Middle with You” by Stealers Wheel and a pan later, Vic Vega is talking into the cop’s dismembered ear and about to set him on fire.

3. Patrick Bateman (American Psycho)

Sure the man has an unquenchable urge to kill and revels in blood, but it’s this dude’s vanity that is the scariest thing. The man is on the burst of tears for fear he won’t get a good table at a restaurant, does hundreds of crunches and is on an anorexic diet, despite having Christian Bale's body, and feels the need the kill a fellow employee because people think he has a superior business card. He is so wrapped in the shallow New York business world of the 80s of bigger and better and flaunting it, the fact that he uses the murdered business partner’s apartment as rather messy treasure trove of Saran wrapped dissected bodies and has a carving utensils at the ready is the less disturbing thing. Though not be a whole lot. And on a side note, how does a nude man who chases a screaming and bloody prostitute with an equally bloody and screaming chainsaw through an apartment building not attract anyone’s attention? I mean at least someone yelling at them to keep it down.

Defining Moment: Enjoying his reflection in the mirror, while fucking two women.

2. Frank Booth (Blue Velvet)

God this guy is sick. And so creepy. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared of a fictional character than I was of Frank Booth. And not just that this guy would gut me like a fish or put on lipstick and kiss me at a moment’s notice, but also because I was scared for him. I mean the dude really needs help. He has issues in that freaky way only David Lynch would think of and Dennis Hopper could pull off. And the guy manages to control everyone around him with no more than ballsy intimidation, forcing himself into someone’s home, making Kyle MacLachlan ride around and drink Pabst Blue Ribbon with him, and gently coercing a woman to be a party to his demented sex after kidnapping her husband and son. A true inspiration to the children.

Defining Moment: Inexplicitly switching from helpless infant to drug crazed sadist in one hell of a sex scene.

1. Alex DeLarge (A Clockwork Orange)

In a list full of sickos, murderers, sexual deviants, and people addicted to violence, it takes someone with a special characteristic on top of all that to true shine above. Alex DeLarge is that someone. Yes, the others murder and rape without remorse like he does, taking upmost happiness in pain and blood, but none of the others on this list reached their peak sociopathic tendencies at the age of 14. Stanely Kubrick’s adaptation of Anthony Burgess’s stunning world of a future of roving with teenage gangs doing what they will to whoever they will can send shivers down the most hardened spine. I mean this kid is so horrible Burgess had to invent a whole new word to describe his heightened level of depravity: ultra-violence. But it the scary idea isn’t that a kid who’s balls have just sprouted hair can do these things, it’s that the film tells us because it is his choice, it is better than an automation just doing what is right. You tell them that during your next murder trial.

Defining Moment: A stunning rendition of “Singin’ in the Rain” whilst violently crippling a man before gang-raping his wife.

Review: Hancock

This is a very adult superhero movie. And I don’t mean in that Will Smith finally shows us his penis (don’t worry we’ll get him someday), no I mean in the characters and problems everything is more mature than what we’ve seen in the superhero flicks of yore. Yes, yes, we’ve seen conflicted superheroes and ones with troubled pasts, but the entire tone of this movie is less sugary than even Batman Begins. Also there is a whole Hancock being an allegory for America or whatever.

So John Hancock (Will Smith) is a drunk, brazen, and careless superhero. When he is stopping crime and saving lives it is largely with a great amount of destruction and his people skills are unrefined to say the least. So the public is clamoring for him to straighten up or simply to just go away. These taunts and suggestions fell on the superhero’s deaf ears, that is until he saves the life of a public relations worker (Jason Bateman) who in return wants to help Hancock improve his public image, much of the chagrin of his wife (Charlize Theron, not mentally retarded this time) who holds the same view as the majority of the people. So Hancock tries to clean up his act all while dealing with his troubling mysterious past.

As I said this cape movie is more adult. Hancock’s, in fact all the character’s, actions and emotions are well crafted believable representations of who they are and what they feeling based on what’s happening to them. Hancock as an uncaring drunk, stemming from his pressure as a hero, alienation of his powers from the rest of the world, and uncertain past is I think a genius turn on the superhero story. Bateman’s character as a slightly naïve altruistic PR rep, works well with Smith’s cynicism and general id response. And it’s humorous to see this interplay of what is essentially the ability to do anything and doing the greater good for the world that these two characters can represent. And after this Freudian struggle the movie then delves into the problems of Hancock’s past. And this is where I feared the movie would become trite and unsatisfying, but it did not disappoint. It still chose to defy superhero conventions and bring about an unexpected road that provides, again, a real adult manifestation. Humor, drama, action, characters, especially characters, this movie has quite the tidy little package of entertainment.

Still, I have some qualms. I am theoretical about how his powers in relation to his past work, as it is not specifically stated. And there are parts that seem a tad contradictory because of this. Maybe more detail about this would solve the problem, and it’s not a huge detail without, but can be a little irksome and confusing. The only other issue is: boy does this director like close-ups. I mean at least half of the movie was Smith’s, Bateman’s, or Theron’s head taking up the entire movie screen. I haven’t seen this much huge face in frame since Hard Candy (that’s not really a joke, it’s just that Hard Candy also had a lot of headshots too).

So good, entertaining, and very, very smart. You’ll come for the Smith, you’ll stay for the character development.

Rating: 9/10

Review: WALL-E

I never thought a robot would give me so much enjoyment or pleasure. Least not until they perfect sexbots and they are out on the market long enough to be at an affordable price. I mean I’m not shilling out top dollar for complete anatomical correctness while my hand and five-dollar Mexican hookers work fine. Where was I? Ah, yes reviewing a children’s film. Anyway that lovable little titular robot has the ability to warm any icy heart with his antics.

WALL-E is a stupendous flick. It is one of the top Pixar flicks (right now I’m placing it behind Finding Nemo), which means it can hold its own against some the greatest of all time. Basically, WALL-E tells the story of WALL-E lonely robot, looking like a miniaturized Number 5 from Short Circuit, who is searching for companionship. But instead of putting the moves on Ally Sheady causing some weird robo/homo love triangle with Steve Gutenberg, he finds love in EVE, looking like what a penguin would look like if designed by Mac, who was built to find life on Earth if it should ever become suitable to sustain life again. Oh yeah now’s a good time to mention the B-plot. Apparently in the future we trash our planet so much we must abandon it by shipping out and cruising space in large space cruise ship, where we become morbidly obese and absorbed only our digital screens for entertainment (where do these writers come up with this fantastical stuff?) So EVE sees the plant that WALL-E discovered and returns it to the space cruise ship, but returning to Earth is not so easy. Apparently the CEO/President of Earth figured the planet was hopeless now and told the auto-pilot, played HAL 9000 in his big return to the screen, to disregard any return home. So EVE, WALL-E, and the captain, whom upon learning of the past splendors of Earth and the horrible state we left realizes we must return to fix, must overcome the odds and protect life on Earth as we know it.

Pixar really shows its strength in animation and storytelling here by its use of silent robots as characters and still being able to create recognizable characteristics. Even with small part robot characters you can easily describe what their personality is by the small dalliances in their actions. It’s a mark of their visual mastery and the ability to convey exactly what they need to, to the audience. Live action movies should make an attempt to prefect their character's like Pixar does. Along with that the animation is wonderful. Even the horrible, dank, dusty, rusty Earth that fills the first half-hour is splendidly crafted. As I’m sure you can tell by the trailer, WALL-E is adorable. He appeals to the lonely auto matron in all of us. His antics, selflessness, and desire for love is very reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin’s Tramp character. And they do a very good job of giving you a lesson and not being heavy handed about it all.

So yadda yadda yadda it’s a great flick and you should go see it. Though I’d imagine if you have kids or a girlfriend they’ll be dragging you to it. And if you don’t have either of them, then you might just consider just staying home and wait for those sexbots I mentioned (I know I will).

Rating: 8/10

Review: Wanted

Ok so I read the comic book that this film was based on. When I started looking into exactly what Wanted was about (other than the stupidity that is curving a bullet) and saw that the source material was about a pseudo amalgamation existence of Fight Club and The Matrix, where your life is shit and just go through with it and are noe satisfied and are dogged by the norms of society and are hoping and could even sense something greater out there (also known as your regualr pathetic existence), but instead of discovering everything is a computer program or that you are schizophrenic, you find out you have an awesome power and are destined to be a part of a group that does whatever they want, takes whatever they want, with no consequences and you are freed from your shitty life, and are also looking into who killed your father, it interested me. Basically a superhero origin story, but instead of saving people you do whatever it is you ever wanted. I mean even few villains are like that, they’re either fighting for a purpose or have a vendetta or something. So the character possibilities seemed interesting. Now admittedly the comic book couldn’t quite pull it off, but the idea was still interesting brain food. So naturally what the movie did was take all that was interesting about the book drop that and ending up with a flat idea that wasn’t pulled off very well.

As I sort of stated the plot is a about a guy who hates his shitty life, but then discovers he is super talented (in this case he has perfect aim and other stuff) and is destined to be a part of a group of assassins that his father belonged to before he was offed. So he does this and changes and stuff.

Ok so here’s where the movie sucks. Instead of s group of villains who secretly seized power to do whatever they WANTED (huh? huh? anyone know where that’s from? know what the title means, but is now pointless no that the plot was changed?) it’s a group of altruistic assassins who kill people based on what a loom tells them. Why? Who knows? It's fate that creates anomalies in the fabric as binary code that is then translated into names (of course this was discovered hundreds of years back when binary was really big). So the most interesting part is taken away, but that’s alright they changed it up a bit, whatever it could still work. No. No it can't. James McAvoy’s character (I forget his name) is a pussy, but when he is confronted by five trained killers with guns and is shown his power and offered a way out of the life he hates he decides to turn his gun on the them threatening them and escaping, but when he sees his father’s inheritance in his bank account (something the killers told him about) he suddenly becomes a man and tells off his boss and lays the smack down on his friend before going back to the league. Does this character change seem a bit odd? I guy who’s pissing his pants while riding in his car and can’t talk back to his boss suddenly decides to turn a gun on a room of assassins who know he is a pants-pissing pussy? And the moment he realizes he might prefer this new destined life his father had as opposed to being shit upon by his work and cheated on by his girlfriend is seeing the extra three million is father left him? I mean at that point it’s his anyway, so why change now? It’s just stupid (but not as stupid as curving bullets). But from there his training is pretty cool (except with curving bullets) sort of like La Femme Nikita, but not as cool. But soon there is some retarded plot twist and things sort of go bad as he hunts for his father’s killer (That’s not true! That’s impossible! [did you get the hint?]).

Now where I was looking for this film to be in any way good was in the action. But alas that even disappoints. It ranges from cool to mediocre to making no sense at all (but not as little sense as curving bullets). In fact the only truly awesome part was when Angelina Jolie spins a car around with the passenger’s door ajar and tucks McAvoy inside. And I’ll admit that was sweet, but that’s about it. And speaking about Jolie there is a part where she is on the hood of the car in a dress with her legs on either side of McAvoy’s head and we are not even serviced with a crotch shot. What is that about? And it’s not like it’s a gratuitous crotch shot, it would actually be applicable to story and scene.

So a lack luster comic with an awesome premise is hacked of its premise and transformed into a bad movie. Take a pass.

Rating: 4/10

Review: Get Smart

I never saw the TV show, but I definitely want to now. Especially now knowing it was the spawn of Mel Brooks and some other dude. But that has no bearing on the movie which is a clever spy movie with laughs. It never reaches hilarious comic levels and seems to lack satire that I’ve heard the original show had, but it’s still pretty good.

Maxwell Smart (Steve Carrell) is a analyst for a spy organization who desperately wants to be a field agent and when the evil equivalent of his agency compromises all other field agents he gets promoted and is partnered with Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) who just had cosmetic surgery and is therefore not compromised either. So they must stop the evil organization of its nefarious plot of terror and extortion all while having sexual tension.

This may be odd, but I felt Get Smart worked better as a clever spy flick than it did as a comedy. Not to say it failed in the comedy area, because it was indeed funny (though some of Steve Carrell’s “Yes. Yes. No.” sense of irony is a tad trying sometimes). It just seemed to be about the spying first and humor second. Maybe this how the show did it or whatever. And I’m not saying this is a bad thing because it still makes a good movie, but I was expecting it to be more satirical. In fact only the war room scene achieved this and it was certainly the funniest part of the flick.

But a humorous and clever spy flick aside, it still had its flaws mostly in writing. I may be nitpicking on a simple movie but Agent 99 not wanting to start a relationship because she’d been hurt before is a little easy, though the cosmetic surgery angle added an interesting subtext. Also jokes that Smart was once fat were sprinkled throughout, which were tiresome, because they weren’t funny. And there was a completely unnecessary double cross. But like I said I’m probably just nitpicking a simple film.

Some sort of conclusion where I say I wouldn’t mind recommending this movie.

Rating: 6.5/10