Movies where the "enemy" isn't actually bad.

[Synergy]

In our capitalistic world surely there have to be some movies where the so called "enemy" is actually fighting for the right reasons.

One that comes to mind is We Were Soldiers, in which our brave American heroes defeat the Vietnam people in a battle proving that war is hard on both sides but gosh darn it, we have to stop communism!

[Asero]

Green Lantern: First Flight

Sinistro did nothing wrong

[PhoenixAsh]

The Lion King.

The Wizard of Oz (original).

Little Mermaid.

James Bond

Etc. Etc. it is all a matter of pespective

[BIXX]

The dark knight

[Asero]

The dark knight

Tell me about Bane! Why does he wear the mask?

[Puzzled Left]

Tell me about Bane! Why does he wear the mask?

That's The Dark Knight Rises though

[Puzzled Left]

The Lion King.

The Wizard of Oz (original).

Little Mermaid.

James Bond

Etc. Etc. it is all a matter of pespective

You can argue that the good guys aren't good from purely a political point of view (which I don't recommend if you want to enjoy movies, Shakespeare, or any kind of art), but how's the bad guy in The Lion King actually good?

[Brandon's Impotent Rage]

Rocky IV.

I was actually kinda happy Apollo Creed was dead after that.

[Armchair Partisan]

You can argue that the good guys aren't good from purely a political point of view (which I don't recommend if you want to enjoy movies, Shakespeare, or any kind of art), but how's the bad guy in The Lion King actually good?

I guess someone had read a certain Cracked article. (http://www.cracked.com/article_18417_9-famous-movie-villains-who-were-right-all-along.html)

From that list, #1 is actually an interesting one. It's not what the article says, I mean, Sauron was pretty evil in the Lord of the Rings, but the orcs themselves were not. We were just told they were evil because they are ugly and speak a weird language. And also because they don't hug trees all day long.

[Counterculturalist]

I was 15 or so when the Lion King came out. The first thing I thought when I saw it was "this film is fascist, portraying lions as a 'master race' and hyenas as all inherently evil creatures who must be kept out of the 'pride lands' by force, whose mere presence brings ruin and famine." I figured I must not have been alone in that analysis.

Fast forward about 20 years and I'm taking a film studies course. The professor shows the Lion King and puts forth roughly that same analysis. The class - mostly people in their early 20s - goes ballistic. People are yelling at the professor, telling him he's "reading too much into it." This one guy is standing there repeating "it's a kid's movie! it's a kid's movie" as if that's an argument. What a weird experience.

[DDR]

I guess someone had read a certain Cracked article. (http://www.cracked.com/article_18417_9-famous-movie-villains-who-were-right-all-along.html)

From that list, #1 is actually an interesting one. It's not what the article says, I mean, Sauron was pretty evil in the Lord of the Rings, but the orcs themselves were not. We were just told they were evil because they are ugly and speak a weird language. And also because they don't hug trees all day long.


Sauron nor Melkor did nothing wrong. C'mon, "the armies of darkness" are a multicultural force, they have an industrial planned economy, and of course are more democratic thatn the "free peoples". Mordor is the burwalk of revolution in middle earth.

[A Revolutionary Tool]

I mentioned this movie in the last movie you watched thread the other day Cannibal Ferox. A group of three go to the Amazon to find out if rumors of cannibals were true and while they're in the forest they come across two other white dudes from NYC being chased by tribesmen. They tell them the tribesmen are just crazy cannibals but you later figure out they were friendly to them at first and we're trying to help them find gems. One of them gets annoyed they couldn't find any so he holds the tribe hostage, brutally tortures one of them, kills a few others (one of them later in the movie just for kicks) so the tribe gets mad and strikes back. The three main characters just get caught up being associated with the other two white guys but I'm not going to fault the tribe.

At the end of the movie the lone survivor writes her college paper saying cannibalism isn't real because she came to realize it was the civilized world which brought about the cannibalism, not uncivilized cultures so she tried to hide it.

[Counterculturalist]

I wonder who the real cannibals are.

(Wrong movie, I know, but I love saying that:laugh:)

[Philosopharis]

I think "Watchmen" by Zac Snyder is also one of these movies where the bad guy actually isn't that bad. He has a political vision and puts his idea through a plan. BTW a great movie and an even better comic.

[OnFire]

Red Dawn comes to mind...

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/red_dawn_movie_image_3684.jpg

[John Nada]

Rambo II and III. In Rambo II, Rambo massacres Vietnamese soldiers to break out war criminals. In Rambo III, he helps the proto-Taliban fight the Soviets.

Although in First Blood, Rambo was right on the money. He was suppose to die at the end, but they thought that would be too depressing for vets.

[Antiochus]

Not a movie but Dora the Explorer. Clearly Swiper the Fox is trying hard to re-distribute the wealth unscrupulously acquired by Dora and her monkey friend.

Also, when you say 'bad guys' do you mean them in general or simply how they are portrayed in the movie? What I mean by this is, for example, in Red Dawn the Soviets are absolute scum, they just execute people and the Americans are "fighting for their freedom", such a scenario would never have happened in real life, but nevertheless it is what is portrayed in the movie.

[PhoenixAsh]

I think it is more fun to think about it the other way around. Movies where the protagonist is actually the bad guy.

Again...the wizard of Ozz. Dorothy is quite clearly a murderer and a thief

[BIXX]

I think it is more fun to think about it the other way around. Movies where the protagonist is actually the bad guy.

Again...the wizard of Ozz. Dorothy is quite clearly a murderer and a thief

A murderer? Yes. A thief? Only if you accept property as valid!

[Synergy]

Our Brand is Crisis

"In 2002, Bolivian politician Pedro Gallo (a fictionalized version of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonzalo_S%C3%A1nchez_de_Lozada)) hires American James Carville (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Carville)'s political consulting firm, Greenberg Carville Shrum, to help him win the 2002 Bolivian presidential election (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivian_presidential_election,_2002). GCS brings in Jane Bodine (Sandra Bullock (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Bullock)) to manage the campaign in Bolivia. Battling her arch nemesis, the opposition's political consultant Pat Candy (Billy Bob Thornton (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Bob_Thornton)), Bodine successfully uses American political campaign strategies to lead Gallo to victory against Victor Rivera (a fictionalized version of socialist candidate Evo Morales (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evo_Morales))."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1018765/?ref_=vi_tt_t_hm_hp

Looks like fun.

[Bala Perdida]

That newest avengers movie that just came out. Did you see the capitalist iron man's at the beginning?

[LeninistIthink]

Star Wars, the Empire was elected!!!!!! :laugh: But seriously I would say The Dark Knight , a film I saw called like the enigma or something which was a horrible retelling of Alan Turing's life in which he is not gay and key for working out the enigma code, but a womaniser who catches those gosh darn evil soviets. A classic example is Romanov , If I remember the title correctly, which was AWFUL and portrayed the Tsar as the saviour of the earth.

[willowtooth]

Lord of War

based on the true stories of 3 russian black market arms dealers versus a hypothetical interpol agent

UTK8torOylM

[contracycle]

I'm also curious as to what "Bad Guy" is to mean for the purposes of the thread.

However in the light of Rambo and Red Dawn - and it's worth pointing out that the original Red Dawn did humanise the Russian and Cuban troops to a significant degree - the movie variously called The Beast or The Beast of War is worth a mention, if only for its historical relevance. It's about the crew of a Russian tank that gets lost in Afghanistan, and it was made at the time that the West was treating Afghan resistance fighters as heroes.

[Synergy]

I'm also curious as to what "Bad Guy" is to mean for the purposes of the thread.


It doesn't just have to be one person it can be a group or a whole country, etc. Basically, any film where the leftists or oppressed are portrayed as being evil.

[Luís Henrique]

The professor shows the Lion King and puts forth roughly that same analysis. The class - mostly people in their early 20s - goes ballistic. People are yelling at the professor, telling him he's "reading too much into it." This one guy is standing there repeating "it's a kid's movie! it's a kid's movie" as if that's an argument. What a weird experience.


AAAAHHH! You are making us THINK! That hurts! What do you think, that we are what, college students?! Stop it NOW! Stop the pain!

Luís Henrique

[Luís Henrique]

Sauron nor Melkor did nothing wrong. C'mon, "the armies of darkness" are a multicultural force, they have an industrial planned economy, and of course are more democratic thatn the "free peoples". Mordor is the burwalk of revolution in middle earth.

Nah, it is State capitalist. Or a deformed Orc State.

Luís Henrique

[Luís Henrique]

A movie where the bad guys are not necessarily good, but the good guys are insanely evil is Anastasia. Now figure you have a ten year old daughter and you have to explain her who the Romanovs where and why the film is lying.

Yes, just a kid's movie. That's what it makes it more awful: teaching kids to worship murderous royals.

Luís Henrique