With Spectre featuring the return of Ernst Stavro Blofeld to the 007 fold, I figured it would be fun to do a Top 10 of the Greatest Bond Villains of All-Time. There are few movie franchises with as many memorable bad guys as the Bond franchise and after seeing Spectre I really thought long and hard about which bad guy is the best. Is it Le Chiffre? Or is it Dr. No? Is it Blofeld? Or is it Goldfinger? I quickly realized that I couldn't quickly come up with which villain from the Bond franchise is the definitive Bond villain, so I've decided to brush up on my Bond lore and pick the Top 10 Bond Villains.
When I began to actually break each Bond villain down, I discovered that the best ones all had three things in common, and so I decided that my list should be based on those three things: cool factor (aka what makes them memorable), evil plot, and the impact they had on James Bond personally. With those three things in place, I was quickly able to compile my list by ranking each of the three factors on a scale of 1 to 10, with henchmen getting the same amount of points for evil plot as whoever their boss was. So without any further ado, here are who I think the 10 Greatest Bond Villains of All-Time are:
10. Emilio LargoCool Factor - 8 out of 10
Evil Plot - 6 out of 10
Impact on Bond - 5 out of 10
Total Score - 19 out of 30
The baddie from Thunderball, Largo was a worthy adversary for Bond. While he is not physically imposing, his awesome eye patch and no tolerance policy that results in the deaths of even his devoted henchmen if they fail, earned him some cool points. As for his evil plot, it's fairly simple, but still threatening. As a high-ranking member of SPECTRE, Largo is tasked with acquiring nuclear warheads to extort money from world governments via threats of annihilation. However, with there really being no ticking clock on Largo's plot, it doesn't feel as if there needs to be any urgency in Bond stopping it. Also, Largo had very little impact on Bond personally. Truly, if Largo weren't so cool in appearance and attitude, he wouldn't have beaten out so many of the other Bond villains.
Cool Factor - 5 out of 10
Evil Plot - 8 out of 10
Impact on Bond - 8 out of 10
Total Score - 21 out of 30
The titular villain from Goldfinger, Goldfinger makes up for what he lacks in coolness in his fiendishly clever plot to contaminate all of the gold in Fort Knox with radiation, allowing his gold supply's value to skyrocket. Also, Goldfinger killed not just one, but two Bond girls in the same movie, right under Bond's nose at that, thus giving Bond an anger that really made his taking down Goldfinger even more important to him. While visually Goldfinger is squat and not that imposing, the thing that really got him on this list was his famous response to Bond that saved him any cool points that he got. "Do you expect me to talk?" "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!"
Cool Factor - 8 out of 10
Evil Plot - 5 out of 10
Impact on Bond - 9 out of 10
Total Score - 22 out of 30
Casino Royale's big bad guy, Le Chiffre won many cool points simply because of that awesome scar over his eye that causes it to weep blood. On top of that, his cold, calculating persona really made him a very worthy adversary, sadly his plot is really complicated and not all that exciting -- having lost all of his money playing the stock market thanks to Bond stopping a terrorist attack that Le Chiffre orchestrated, the only hope he has is to win back the money he owes in a high stakes poker game. While this plot led to some highly intense moments, all of those moments came purely form Le Chiffre's cool factor and not his evil plot itself. Still, he made Bond go into cardiac arrest and also gruesomely tortured him, so his impact is definitely felt.
Cool Factor - 10 out of 10
Evil Plot - 6 out of 10
Impact on Bond - 6 out of 10
Total Score - 22 out of 10
Cornball name aside, Goldeneye's Xenia Onatopp is one of the finest henchmen in the Bond franchise (excuse me, henchwoman). With her super strong legs that nearly squeeze Bond in two, and her equal parts cold, yet playful personality, makes her a truly cool Bond villain. As for her impact on Bond, that's very minimal, even though it always rattles Bond a bit when a lovely woman turns out to be bad. Also, a thing that drags her down is the fact that the evil plot of her boss, Alec Trevelyan, is not all that strong. Even still, Xenia is Onatopp of many of the Bond villains just because actress Famke Janssen really made her so awesome (yes, I went there with that pun).
Cool Factor - 7 out of 10
Evil Plot - 6 out of 10
Impact on Bond - 10 out of 10
Total Score - 23 out of 30
With a half-scarred face and a checkered past, Trevelyan already hits many of the right notes to be a classic Bond villain, but what takes him over the top is his closeness to Bond. Formerly 006 and James's friend, Trevelyan was believed to be dead only to have survived with a hatred of James and MI6. As played by Sean Bean, Trevelyan is calculating and suave, like James, but with much more darkness to him, really helping his cool factor. The big thing that drags Trevelyan down is really his evil plot, with it simply being a heist job -- Trevelyan steals the Goldeneye satellite to send an EMP that will allow him to cover up his theft from the Bank of England. While his endgame is rather weak, Trevelyan as a character is so strong, and his impact on Bond is so pronounced, that he is one of the finest Bond villains ever.
Cool Factor - 10 out of 10
Evil Plot - 8 out of 10
Impact on Bond - 4 out of 10
Total Score - 23 out of 10
Where Goldfinger lacks in coolness, his henchman Oddjob makes up for it. With a bowler hat that can literally cut your head off if thrown, to the imposing physical frame of Olympic weightlifting silver medalist Harold Sakata who never utters a single line, Oddjob is perhaps the most iconic henchman in Bond lore. While his character really doesn't impact Bond all that much in the course of the story, he gets some added kudos thanks to Goldfinger's evil plot and just how cool he is.
Cool Factor - 10 out of 10
Evil Plot - 7 out of 10
Impact on Bond - 6 out of 10
Total Score - 23 out of 10
What marks Jaws as one of the greatest villains in Bond history is simply the fact that he is the only henchman to have ever returned for a second go. Featuring in both The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker, Jaws makes his mark on Bond because he kind of is the definition of the great Bond henchman. With his metallic teeth that can chew through anything, to his simple minded devotion to his bosses (unless a girl is involved), all the way to actor Richard Kiel's almost giant-sized frame, Jaws is perhaps the most physically taxing opponent Bond has ever faced. You can't kill this guy, he just keeps coming back and that is why Jaws is so awesome, which is why it's a shame his antics against Bond never really made much of an impact, as well the evil plots of both of his bosses -- Karl Stromberg and Hugo Drax -- are pretty dull (however Drax does help up the score a little due to the absurdly fun nature of his plan to destroy Earth's population and repopulate via a space station with only the best looking citizens allowed).
Cool Factor - 10 out of 10
Evil Plot - 8 out of 10
Impact on Bond - 6 out of 10
Total Score - 24 out of 10
From Russia With Love's Red Grant (played by Robert Shaw) ranks so high because of one scene primarily, the fight scene between him and Bond in the claustrophobic train car. This is one of the finest fight scenes ever in movie history, but it wouldn't work if Red Grant wasn't such a cool, mysterious character. He is a SPECTRE agent/assassin who is calculating and completely devoid of emotion, his one goal... to kill James Bond. His evil plot is simple, but it works. He manipulates all of the events in From Russia With Love to basically bring about the end of 007, and while he ultimately fails in his goal, Red Grant will forever be remembered as one of Bond's most mysterious and deadly villains.
Cool Factor - 8 out of 10
Evil Plot - 10 out of 10
Impact on Bond - 10 out of 10
Total Score - 28 out of 10
Every good hero needs an archnemesis. For Batman it's the Joker, for Superman it's Lex Luthor, for James Bond it's Ernst Stavro Blofeld. The head of the evil criminal organization SPECTRE, Blofeld has been featured in more Bond films than in any other. Most of the times he has just been a manipulator in the shadows stroking the white pussy cat in his lap, but whenever he does reveal his face to Bond, it is worth it. His evil plots are always fiendishly clever and he plays with Bond as much as he tries to kill him, making him a unique villain -- cerebral, playful, but also homicidal. Of course what makes Blofeld such a memorable villain is not necessarily anything about the character himself. Sure, the white cat and the scar over his eye have become trademarks of villainy, but in truth, Blofeld's look changed so much (especially in his early appearances) that his cool factor was always changing (also partially to do with the campiness some actors brought to the role), however what makes Blofeld stand out is the impact his character has had on Bond. This one man orchestrated all of the greatest pain in Bond's life. The deaths of Vesper Lynd, Tracy di Vicenzo (Bond's wife), and countless other Bond girls can all be traced back to Blofeld. Then there's the recent revelation from Spectre that Blofeld and Bond actually grew up together. Blofeld's real name was Franz Oberhauser, and after Bond's parents died, Franz's Father took James in as another son, but Franz's jealousy led to him murdering his Father and faking his own death to rechristen himself Blofeld. After that, Blofeld began his reign of terror on James's life. That is quite a bit of impact for one character to have had.
Cool Factor - 9 out of 10
Evil Plot - 10 out of 10
Impact on Bond - 10 out of 10
Total Score - 29 out of 30
Edging out Blofeld just a teeny bit is Javier Bardem's Skyfall villain, Silva. Here's the thing that gives Silva the number one spot, he's just flat-out crazy. Silva is like the Joker, he is super smart with no care for human life, but he is also widely unpredictable and yet all of his plans are intricately designed to the teeth (which he is missing half of, by the way). With all this said, had anyone else played Silva, he'd probably have come off as campy, but in the hands of Javier Bardem, he just works. There is a flamboyance to Silva that makes you unable to take your eyes off of him whenever he's onscreen, you just can't wait to see what he does next. One moment he's hitting on James Bond and the next he's making out with Severine, the Bond girl. There feels like there is no rhyme or reason to Silva and his actions, and yet there is. Everything Silva does is to get back at MI6 (where he was once an agent), and most importantly Judi Dench's M, for leaving him to die on a mission when captured. Silva took his cyanide capsule in his molar, but it didn't kill him, it just eroded half of his jaw (which is quite ghoulish when he takes out his mouth piece to show M). His similarities to Bond in that he was a 00 at one time, coupled with his utter hatred for M, would mark him as a stellar Bond villain regardless, but it's his final act that makes Silva the number one Bond villain. Silva killed Judi Dench's M, Bond's surrogate Mother figure, rocking 007 in a way that I am not sure any other death has ever rocked him before. All of this added together makes Silva the best Bond villain of all-time!
No comments:
Post a Comment