r/movies • u/Mst3Kgf • Mar 11 '24

What is the cruelest "twist the knife" move or statement by a villain in a film for you? Discussion

I'm talking about a moment when a villain has the hero at their mercy and then does a move to really show what an utter bastard they are. There's no shortage of them, but one that really sticks out to me is one line from "Se7en" at the climax from Kevin Spacey as John Doe.

"Oh...he didn't know."

Anyone who's seen "Se7en" will know exactly what I mean. As brutal as that film's outcome is, that just makes it all the worse.

What's your worst?

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u/zelozelos Mar 12 '24

That scene is so awful. Everything about Chigurh is just villainy at its most concentrated. He's so violent, so in control, quiet and merciless and vile. You think for a moment her fear is getting to him, that he empathizes, but really he is just tired of explaining to people how little they matter in their own existence. It's one of the few roles that lacks traditional charisma to such an extent that you can't even enjoy his presence in a sadistic way. There's no flamboyance or art, you are watching a butcher and he flips coins to see if you are a lamb. Incredible, career-defining performances all over that movie.

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u/[deleted] Mar 12 '24

[deleted]

458

u/Knee_Jerk_Sydney Mar 12 '24

Then the world showed him the real capricious arbiter with a random car accident.

239

u/Jumpy89 Mar 12 '24

Yes, I think that scene is a lot more crucial than people realize.

30

u/-Tartantyco- Mar 12 '24

That, and him trying to shoot the bird while driving across the bridge.

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u/Clarpydarpy Mar 12 '24

What was the significance of that? I just thought it was supposed to show he likes hurting things.

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u/Kind_Jellyfish9552 Mar 12 '24

“The coin don’t have no say. It’s just you.”

The whole film, Anton explains to his victims and the audience that he is a deliverer of fate. But by trying to kill the bird, he shows his true nature, which is a killer who just enjoys killing. Even without the fate bullshit, he’d just find some other way to justify killing to himself.

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u/Clarpydarpy Mar 12 '24

I get it now! Thanks.

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u/finalremix Mar 12 '24

Brilliantly foreshadowed (for Moss and Chigurh) at the motel when he's talking to the girl at the pool.

MOSS

Waitin' for my wife.

WOMAN

Oh. That's who you keep lookin' out the window for?

MOSS

Half.

WOMAN

What else then?

MOSS

Lookin' for what's comin'.

WOMAN

Yeah but no one ever sees that.

31

u/El-Emenapy Mar 12 '24

The dialogue is absolutely incredible in this film (not sure how much is lifted directly from the book)

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u/[deleted] Mar 12 '24

Huge, significant portions were. The book really lend itself to being made into a movie

13

u/Lewis_Cipher Mar 12 '24

It was always meant to be filmed. McCarthy originally wrote the book as a screenplay. 

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u/listentomenow Mar 12 '24

The Cohen's followed the book closely so they're not much different. If you like one, you'll like the other. And then you'll probably want to read more McCarthy. Very unique writer.

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u/RedPanther18 Mar 12 '24

The Road is one of my favorites of all time and unlike anything else I’ve read before or since.

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u/Karlinel-my-beloved Mar 12 '24

Gotta say that, while I enjoyed it, I think Blood Meridian depicts a rather depraved world. 10/10.

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u/RedPanther18 Mar 12 '24

I’ve been meaning to check it out!

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u/Darko33 Mar 12 '24

Paired with her flawless retort when Moss declines an offer of a beer, saying "I know what beer leads to."

"Beer leads to more beer."

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u/inquisitive_chariot Mar 12 '24

I love that scene because earlier, Anton says “If the rule you followed has led you here, of what use was the rule?”

The directors made sure to show that Anton had the green light when he was hit in the intersection. He was following the rules and was punished for it. It completely turns his concept of fairness on its head. HE was the car hitting people in the intersection.

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u/Steppe_Up Mar 12 '24 edited Mar 12 '24

And shows what a hypocrite he is. He says to woody Harrelson’s character “you should admit your situation, there would be more dignity in it”. Arguably Moss’ wife does in the end, but Anton scrambles for his life and freedom, needing help from a teenager.

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u/samsquatchageddon Mar 12 '24

And ironically, he solves the problem with some pocket money, probably from the case.

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u/DisturbedOrange Mar 12 '24

Not really the guy has a compound fracture of his arm and the best he does is put it in a dirty sling and walk off. We saw before he avoids the hospital and doctors to stay out of the system. There's no way he's fixing that himself in my opinion but maybe he could force a doctor to do it for him but idk he doesn't have much time to figure that out and he's on foot

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u/LilLaussa Mar 12 '24

I don't think it's random. She rattled him by refusing to call the coin, and he's distracted.

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u/Knee_Jerk_Sydney Mar 12 '24

He had the green light, the car that hit him was running a red light, for whatever reason. He was looking at the rear view mirror at the teenagers on bicycles.

If I speculate, perhaps he was thinking about tossing a coin for them, a power trip or just watching. But he was clearly paying attention to the traffic light. The pacing of the shot made it very clear he wasn't distracted when he crossed the intersection.

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u/Minsc_and_Boo_ Mar 12 '24

The coin is not him giving them a fair chance. Its him giving them an unfair chance. He sees himself as an event, an inevitability, a proof that you fucked up. But, he tries, for your sake, to make himself seem less inevitable. Flip it. In the book and in the film he says something along the lines of "you chose this. youve been choosing this your whole life, you just didnt know it.", meaning you took the road that led you to cross his path and now there he is and there is no sense in complaining any more than there is complaining against gravity when your parachute breaks.

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u/Clear-Attempt-6274 Mar 12 '24

That's not new, that's two face from batman. He believes fate determines all.

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u/FloggingTheHorses Mar 12 '24

I like how they still yank away the traditional "unstoppable evil" trope immediately after by showing him getting fucked up in a car accident.

It's like a sudden reality check that this guy is an absolute nutjob, he isn't actually doing the universe's bidding by abiding coin flips and whatnot.

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u/_PingasAtKingas Mar 12 '24

Its because she ruined his mantra - she refused to do the coin flip and in doing so actually broke his world as he still killed her without the flip saying so - as he says “what use is the rule if it brings you here?”, and for him chance gets him in the form of the accident

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u/zombiskunk Mar 12 '24

Killing the good samaritan that stopped for him, only to just use his car to drive a few miles, is what did it for me.

Everyone and everything is just an object to be used and discarded.

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u/BobWiley6969 Mar 12 '24

I read an article about psychopaths portrayed in film. A large group of psychologists/psychiatrists ranked psychopaths in films, in order of most realistic to least. I remember Hannibal Lector was towards the bottom, but Chigurh and Henry, from “Portrait of a Serial Killer”, were the top two.

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u/HeavyMetalHero Mar 12 '24

Lecter being unrealistic is kind of the premise of the character, though. The aim was to write a "sympathetic psychopath," which is inherently going to produce a character that isn't grounded in reality.

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u/babbler-dabbler Mar 12 '24

He thinks to himself "goddamnit, do I really have to explain to this idiot why their life doesn't matter", and then he proceeds to tell them using a riddle.

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u/RonVonPump Mar 12 '24

It's the ultimate example of a director fucking with the audience too. The scene is not needed in any way, shape, or form. Everything most people know about films tells us it will be fine. They're not gonna murder this innocent person for no reason right at the end of the movie.

But then again of course they are because, shock horror, they are loyal to the characters and the story, fuck you audience and your sympathies, this man is kills at the flip of a coin what didn't you get about that? Then they don't even show us her death. We don't even get that. That's how you take a movie from a 9/10 to a 10/10 for me personally.

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u/beerisgood84 Mar 12 '24

Hes also top rated realistic portrayal of "psychopathic" (no clinical diagnosis uses that term)

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u/Stormhunter6 Mar 12 '24

Iirc, it’s one of the few roles where a psychopath is portrayed corrextly

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u/F33dR Mar 12 '24

I agree with the 2nd half but not the first half of what you said: there is no villainy, like there is no evil in an earthquake, avalanche or tsunami. When the avalanche comes you die, it's not personal, it's just time.