The Cliché: Whilst the hero will inevitably be as American as apple pie (even if they're played by Arnold Schwarzenegger), an action movie's chief antagonist will almost always be of European extraction. Said villain will preferably be played by an English actor, with facial hair an added bonus. Alan Rickman in Die Hard is the ultimate…
Examples: In the field of Brits playing Brits, we've got Steven Berkoff as Beverly Hills Cop baddie Victor Maitland, as well as Charles Dance's turn as an assassin in Last Action Hero. And then there was Alan Rickman repeating his Die Hard trick as the scenery-chewing Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves.
As for Eurobaddies, Jeremy Irons stepped into Rickman's shoes for Die Hard With A Vengeance, as another Brit playing a German. Ian McKellen does the same in the X-Men movies, while in Raiders Of The Lost Ark we had Paul Freeman playing the Frenchman, Belloq. And even though The Last Crusade's villain was American, he was played by Julian Glover, proving it's not just the accent that counts… we Brits just give off the essence of evil.
If It Was Real Life: We'd have conquered the world by now! Come to think of it, it's not too tricky to see where this cliché might have originated…
« Previous 3 of 10 Next »
© Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath BA1 2BW. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.
Try This...
Latest Reviews
The Last Exorcism Part II
The Iceman
The Hangover Part III
Comments
ASmileSoDevious
Apr 18th 2012, 7:34
Passenger 52? Is this a prequel to Passenger 57? lol :P
Alert a moderator
Hadouken76
Apr 18th 2012, 11:03
A villain will never shoot the unarmed hero immediately, even when the hero is at his mercy, but instead choose to start blathering on... Lucius summed in this up perfectly in the 'The Incredibles' : "Yammering! I mean, the guy has me on a platter and he won't shut up! " See : Cohagen in Total Recall; "Blow this thing and be back in time for cornflakes" and every Bond villain.
Alert a moderator
2Dglasses
Apr 18th 2012, 11:11
Obvious really, but another one is the 'usually office bound by the book j*****s boss', who hinders as much as he helps. Usually in cop movies -Lorenzo in die hard, the boss from lethal weapon..or just some weaselly politician who threatens to pull the plug on the whole thing or is universally hostile while being on the 'good' side.
Alert a moderator
2Dglasses
Apr 18th 2012, 11:14
"yippie kay ay motherf.......r" is printed, but "jack ss" gets asterisked. This is just bizarre. Its not even a swearword. What if i wanted to talk about breeds of penguin?
Alert a moderator
writerdave87
Apr 18th 2012, 13:09
To be fair, 'We were Soldiers' the guy that gets killed with the new baby was a real life person :p Ice Cube's speech in 21 Jump Street deconstructing the 'angry black police captain' stereotype is priceless.
Alert a moderator
Heisenberg
Apr 18th 2012, 14:56
A Cliche i've noticed, although not only in movies, but TV shows aswell, is that if someone falls down a set of stairs, they are immediately unconscious. No matter how they fall or land, unconscious.
Alert a moderator
2Dglasses
Apr 19th 2012, 9:06
if the brakes are cut-it only becomes apparent at the worst possible moment. Also no one ever shifts down a gear to use engine braking, the car just picks up even more speed.
Alert a moderator
FBFPerondi
Apr 19th 2012, 15:04
Hey! "Cool guys don't look at explosions, they walk away in slow motion..."
Alert a moderator
MrScary
Apr 19th 2012, 18:30
Similar to the Double Tap, but more of a genre cliche; how about the Killer in every horror movie jumping back up for one more scare?
Alert a moderator