Decades of predictable cinema after another where the hero faces challenges, overcomes adversity from an evil force and good triumphs over evil. BORING! Let’s explore some movies where the bad guys win!
Stepping away from the normal pattern and diving into films that challenge the traditional narrative which is becoming rarer and rarer with every passing year as production teams work to appease a softer viewing audience.
Diving into the world of movies where the villains win including one surprise addition where Marvel themselves, yes the company hellbent on telling the same story of good vs evil with the same outcome every time decided to change the narrative if only for one movie.
Surprising an audience is always an interesting angle for me, going against the grain is how I like to live my life and seeing the programmed norms challenged by these movies leaves a last impact forcing audiences to confront the unpredictability of life and the inherent complexities of morality.
With the films going against the usual copy-and-paste good vs evil stereotype they stay in your mind and that’s why the following movies where the bad guys win are all recognisable classics.
Seven (1995)
A chilling final scene immortalised in cinema history as the ‘WHAT’S IN THE BOX’ line echoes throughout the fabrics of filmmaking.
David Fincher’s Seven takes us all on a dark journey through the seven deadly sins and a serial killer hellbent on going against the norm and evading justice.
The climax is one of the most incredible and the film itself with its stacked cast and beautifully woven script makes Seven one of the best movies of all time.
The Usual Suspects (1995)
Bryan Singer features a mind-bending plot and one of the most iconic endings in cinematic history.
The notorious Keyser Söze orchestrates events, the film challenges viewers to reevaluate their assumptions about right and wrong.
The Usual Suspects is constantly ranked among the best mystery movies of all time and has amassed a worldwide gross of $67 million dollars further proving that bad guy wins movies are very profitable indeed!
A Kevin Spacey masterpiece that once again has the bad guy winning narrative revealed through very clever and beautifully orchestrated narrative twists.
Fight Club (1999)
I’m bending the rules a little bit here as the first rule of Fight Club is don’t talk about Fight Club.
David Fincher is certainly a director who loves his bad guy wins narrative, doesn’t he?
His second movie in this list this iconic Brad Pitt and Edward Norton classic explores the consequences of societal disillusionment.
Allured by anarchy another bad guy reveal twist is unmasked (so to speak) in a very unusual way as Fight Club is a movie you may need to watch more than once as you question the very fabric of reality and the definition of victory.
As far as what that twist may be, well.
Swordfish (2001)
Dominic Sena’s high-octane action thriller is another twist movie with a stacked cast including Hugh Jackman and John Travolta.
A talented hacker who gets entangled in a complex web of crime and espionage with some twists and turns that no regular audience ever expected.
Swordfish had me punching the sky for joy when the credits closed. I get such satisfaction seeing the bad guy win and I’m not sure what that says about me but the main reason is just because it’s different, it dares to be and I respect it more for that very reason.
The world isn’t always good and good doesn’t always win against evil as history has taught us and is still telling us today, Swordfish has a shocking reveal at the end and John Travolta’s badass character not only wins but does so in a manner that subverts expectations and adds an extra layer of complexity to the narrative.
American Psycho (2000)
Christian Bale’s chilling performance as Patrick Bateman has immortalised his character as one of the best horror movie icons of all time.
A wealthy New York investment banker with a dark secret and a lust for killing thrives in this 2000 feature directed by Mary Harron.
American Psycho leaves all of its audience with an ambiguous ending as we’re not quite sure if justice has prevailed or not of if Bateman himself continues his murderous spree.
I pray for the latter (in a cinematic realm of course) so that he can continue to go against the grain and give bad guys the cinematic credit they deserve.
Albeit he’s not Dexter (one serial killer whom many audiences side with as he kills bad guys only) but craft a character as beautifully as Patrick Bateman and it’s quite difficult not to love him.
Oldboy (2003)
South Korean director Park Chan-wook’s masterpiece is a tale of revenge with a shocking twist.
Oldboy is a film that shocked me as I just didn’t see the twist coming as the mystery of the protagonist’s captivity became clear.
A very dark turn as audiences scratch their head and wonder why they’ve been sticking up for the guy throughout the entire movie.
Bad guys rule!
You go, Glenn Coco!
Saw (2004)
With an ending as twisty and as good as Saw how could I not leave this film off the list as John Kramer’s twisted bathroom game is met with one of the best twist-ending reveals of recent memory.
Saw movies have this incredible way of throwing in twists and turns so cleverly thought about and so intricately executed that you can’t help but just admire the scriptwriters for conjuring up such an ending in the first place.
It’s not just Saw that has these twist endings, every single Saw film has a twist that for the majority of the franchise you just don’t see coming.
The original movie twist will always be the best for me and that’s why I’ll just include this one in this very article but there’s a massive respect for all of the subsequent movies thereafter.
No Country for Old Men (2007)
With tension dialled up to eleven, this Coen Brothers masterpiece challenges traditional notions of narrative closure.
Hop on board the neo-western crime thriller train and just embrace your inner bad self.
You’ll have a far better time viewing it, trust me.
Nightcrawler (2014)
I’m still adamant to this day that Loius Bloom is one of the most chillingly written characters of all time as Jake Gyllenhaal has us questioning our own moral compass from start to finish in this incredible film.
One of my favourite movies Louis Bloom is a morally ambiguous freelance videographer whose ruthless pursuit of success in his field has him orchestrating his very own footage to sell to news stations.
Capturing crimes to sell the best footage to news reporters to then orchestrating his own so he gets the best footage Nightcrawler is questioning the audience in a ‘what would you do?’ and ‘how far would you go?’ situation when chasing the American dream.
Whilst not always comfortable Nightcrawler is one film you’ll be talking about for long after those credits roll.
Infinity War (2018)
It was only after Infinity War did Marvel’s downward slide of creating mostly poor movies compared to solid narrative-led ones began.
Anthony and Joe Russo went against the grain with Infinity War and had the antagonist Thanos (played expertly by Josh Brolin) emerge victorious.
By collecting all six Infinity Stones Thanos gains the ultimate power of the universe and successfully defeats the Avengers with ease.
What made Infinity War so chilling and so powerful is the opening scene for me.
Within the first 10 minutes of the movie, Thanos isn’t even at full strength and manages to defeat the Hulk with ease and kill off a fan favourite and the film has only just begun!
As superhero fans watched on with terror and sadness I had a big gleaming smile on my face as these do-gooders were being laid to waste by a dominant force.
Usually, superhero movies introduce a big undefeatable foe and by the end of the movie, the undefeatable enemy has been vanquished.
Not in this movie.
It’s an absolute joy to watch and Thanos makes a lot of sense in his morality despite what many think.
Sadly, Thanos triumphs in Infinity War but in the sequel Endgame all of his incredible work is undone which kickstarts the downward spiral of 99% of Marvel slate thereafter.
If Infinity War had been the last film in the MCU it would stand as the best Marvel movie ever made in my opinion, so powerful and so incredible with catastrophic consequences for our fallen heroes.
