My pal over on BampfBlog is ranting about AFI’s top 100 heroes and villains list, most of his comments are right on the mark. Overall this is a pretty piss poor list. Thelma and Louise as heroes? Travis Bickle as a villain? Yep, it’s the PC police at their worst. Who else would name the guy from To Kill a Mockingbird as the greatest movie hero of all time? Given that inexpicable inclusion I half expected to see Clarence Darrow from Inherit the Wind as the worst villain – since we all know those Bible-thumping creationists are absolute evil.
Bah, the challenge is to create our own list of the top ten heroes and villains of all time. I’m up to it;
Heroes
| Villains | | |
| 10. | Wild Bill Kelso – 1941 | Zorg – The Fifth Element |
| 9. | The TMNT – TMNT: The Movie | Ultimate Evil – Time Bandits |
| 8. | Bill and Ted – Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure | Mr. Blonde – Reservoir Dogs |
| 7. | Porter – Payback | Brick Top – Snatch |
| 6. | Ash – Army of Darkness | Agent Smith – The Matrix |
| 5. | Spider-Man – Spider-Man | The Nazis – Various Flicks |
| 4. | Jack – Fight Club | Tyler Durden – Fight Club |
| 3. | Indiana Jones – Raiders of the Lost Ark | The Sherriff of Nottingham – Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves |
| 2. | Han Solo – Star Wars | Carter J. Burke – Aliens |
| 1. | Superman – Superman | Darth Vader – Star Wars |
So that’s my rough list. It’s pretty tough to get it right when you’ve only got ten spots and I’m not even looking at my video collection. Problem is, lots of the movies we watch don’t have clearly defined heroes and villains. Makes it tough. Then again, you have a character who, on screen, is mostly just annoying and do-goodery like Superman but, it’s Superman fer chrissakes! How can you not put Superman at the top of the heroes list?
I can’t say I’m satisfied but there it is, for what it’s worth.
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