Anyone else wish the bad guys were a bit more successful?

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Bob Sanchezel

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Obviously in real life you want the good guys to win but a film is a film and there is a creative licence to you know......... make stuff up.

In general things tend to fall nicely into place at just the right time in the end for the goodies. Or if someones going to die on the good team it is because they have some defect or have done something bad in the past that means it is kind of ok that they die ahead of others on the good side.

Or the bad guy just never quite makes it. I was watching "The taking of Pelham 123" today and I was thinking to myself "Go on, let him get away with it just this once.


I know there are films where the bad guys win or things go seriously wrong (so no need to list films where the bad guy wins as I know there are a few out there) but I was wondering...



If anyone else feels that the bad guys should be successful a bit more often or if things shouldn't always fall into place so well for the goodies? (for example, have Tom Cruises son have died in War of the WorlRAB).


I don't know why they always do things the way they do but I am sure if someone hijacks a building and actually gets away with the money despite the best and most exciting efforts of the law enforcers that it won't inspire people to do it in real life.


Plus if hollywood starting leaking more "bad guy wins" films into the mix then it will make films (particularly action films) less predictable when they come out which is only a good thing.



Thoughts?
 
I think it would be better if the baddie got away with it, especially when they have done something quite brilliant. The obvious example is The Itallian Job. I think everyone was willing them on to get away with it.

When it comes to the horror/slasher films, I almost always think thank god you killed him/her they're annoying. What you did was actually a good thing not bad.
 
I agree. It's quite unfortunate that the story remains the same for all types of film's that feature a protagonist - They always win. Just for once why can't a film end with bad guy actually achiving his goal of world dominatin and enslaving human kind.
 
I don't mind as long as they are smart. It's no fun watching stupid people fail because they are stupid. This applies to both good and bad - there are films where the bad guys only have a chance because the good guy decided to do something dumb, like not call for backup as soon as they noticed something was wrong.

Also, part of why the good guys seem to win is that their failures get conveniently ignored. For example, a film about catching a serial killer will become all about stopping him before he kills his current victim, and yes, usually the good guys will succeed in doing that. However, the bad guy will have a dozen previous victims whom he did kill. The good guys failed for those. Or, as you mention, Tom Cruises son: he survived, and that's supposed to make it alright that lots of other sons didn't?
 
In Hollywood films, even if the bad guys wins there is always some underlying moral victory for the good side.

I want a film where the good side simply lose it all! Quite depressing, a bit of a change to the norm and more realistic.

Let's face it, in reality good gets you nowhere. Being manipulative gets you everywhere.
 
I really wanted De Niro to get away in Heat.

Why didn't he just escape with his girlfriend, and come back once the "heat" had died down to finish off the last guy (if felt he really he needed to).
 
I always think of this film as an example and I love it! :D

The Creeper wins in Jeepers Creepers too.

I always wanted Annie Wilkes to get her Misery novel too...:o
 
Totally agree I have always hated the ending of Heat and think it ruined the movie IMO the best ending would have been just at the moment where De Niro and Pacino see each other in the crowd and then De Niro should just walk away.
 
I don't like horror films where someone is being terrorized by some nutcase(s), and the ending is them finally getting killed. It's like - 'And what was the point in that?'
 
Yes, the protagonists are normally bland and/or boring characters.

Not a movie but the most boring protagonist I can think of is Meredith from Grey's Anatomy... she's like watching paint dry.
 
The mysterious masked figures win in the end in The Strangers! Hmmmm, I'm sure there are lots of other films!

I know what you mean though, OP. The first film that came to mind was Die Hard - what a shock it would have been if the evil man in the building (Alan Rickman) killed Bruce Willis (and his wife) & got away with it? What a shock! :D
 
LOL. I was just thinking of Die Hard. There is the scene at the very end where the 'baddie we thought was dead' comes back and tries to kill John, just to get shot by the policeman dude.

Now wouldn't have it been better if John had been killed?!
 
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