Trouble with bad guys

[BrendaSmith]

Tips on writing the bad guy mines sounds like a punk/thug I want a Darth Vader.

[Yammeryammeryammer]

If you're going to write a bad guy, I think he needs a history of some sort. Like Darth Vader had 3 movies worth of junk. Also need to be scary, and that is usually like a confidence thing, maintaining control in any situation. But most important to a good villian in my opinion is that he is complimentary to the hero in a large respect, not just the run of the mill Columbian drug lord or something lame like that.

[Alex]

I recommend a movie like Spiderman. All the bad guys had a good side.

Sometimes you discover they go bad because a good guy f'd em over.

[SoulJacker]

The best baddies have many of the same qualities as the heroes because the bad dude is merely a character whose goal is opposite to that of the hero...As much effort should be put into the villain as the hero, because this is where the major conflict is coming from.

One thing that I like about a good villain is showing their dark side. Now, by dark side I mean the "hidden" side of them. In a villain, that's the good side. For example, in DUEL (I assume you know that flick?), the super-evil truck driver stops to help jump start the school bus full of whiney children before turning his attention back to running Dennis Weaver off the road...

By doing little things like this, you make your villains much more dimensional and give them 'subtext'...

Also, a good villain has to have a thin, dark mustache with little swirly curls at the end, so that he may pull them and laugh evilly (MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA)at the hero/hero's love interest - whilst their shaggin'.

[Gurdeep Samra]

I was always under the impression that in Duel the truck driver went back to help the children so he could get one up on Dennis Weaver?

[SoulJacker]

Erm, exactly...

Also, when we can see the dark side of ourselves in the villain that will also make him more effective...And maybe...just maybe -- in the furthest recess of our minds -- we could see ourselves doing the same extreme things if we were in that given situation...

That?s scary...Kinda...Maybe not...

(That?s enough from me - back to flaming!)

[img]graemlins/devil.gif[/img]

[Gurdeep Samra]

Just think about it, the guy in Duel was quite simply crazy. I don't think that scene was in there to show he had a good side. It was in there to show he was an arse.

[SoulJacker]

WTF?

Go away you fool.

[Gurdeep Samra]

I'm sorry to say but I think your view of the scene and the purpose of it being in there is f*cked up.

You should feel grateful however as I don't normally reply to idiots. [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]

[Gurdeep Samra]

Okay so I wanted to stay away from this thread but I'm back in a space of a few moments. Why? Because I found a review on imdb.com that puts across my opinion on this more clearly.

"He comes and knocks the bus out so that he and the car can engage in battle. It's all battle now the trucker has decided to take it to the finish."

I think that sais it all. If you still believe Spielberg put it in there to show that the trucker had a good side then maybe you should go back and watch the film again. In case you didn't figure it out the first time the truck driver is a psychopath and he for whatever reason believes that Weaver doesn't deserve to live and isn't going to let him use a schoolbus as an excuse to fall behind.