I sometimes think it would be really cool for Hollywood to break with tradition and give the bad guys a break for a change. Even in the most exciting movie storylines, there's always this background feeling that you know the good guys are going to win through in the end.
But has this actually ever been done in a big movie before? Have the baddies ever really won the day?
The only sort-of-example I can think of is the Usual Suspects, but that's really just a baddie "getting away with it." And I can think of a few films where the "bad guy" does succeed, but isn't really a bad guy - more of a loveable rogue. Also, if a bad guy does appear to be on top at the end of a movie, there's always a sequal in the pipeline where the good guys will set things back to normal.
Wouldn't it be cool for the James Bond villain to succeed in his evil masterplan just once? Or for the evil terrorists to kill all the guys who are sent to take them down? Or for the bank robbers to get away with the cash?
Why can't evil succeed, just once?!