The Five Best Hero/Villain Movie Performances Of All Time
Greg Ehrhardt, OnScreen Blog Columnist
Roger Ebert was famously credited as saying, “Fundamentally, a movie is as good or bad as its villain”, which I would have agreed with until the MCU made approximately 8 trillion dollars over 20+ movies with maybe three noteworthy villain performances. Still, the better the movie, the more charmed audiences will be leaving the theatre, which is why it astounds me to this day that Hollywood is trending toward more sympathetic villains.
Nevertheless, the villain usually makes a popcorn movie memorable, which is why Google has thousands of results when you search “best movie villains ever”. But we can’t forget about the hero either. A great hero performance gives the audience someone to rally behind, laugh with, and hold up as a role model for their behavior.
The truth is, Roger Ebert was partially right. A good popcorn movie is good because of its villain. A great popcorn movie is great because of its hero and villain.
This is why I’ve decided to list the five best hero/villain performances in movie history.
What defines the best? For me, it’s not based on being iconic or popular, especially in the IP-centric we live in today, where mediocre movies make 500 million dollars. To me, the definition of “best” hero/villain performance is that the hero and villain actors have to give “1 of 1” performances: performances that are so good, enjoyable, and iconic that no other actor could replicate what they did.
Why five and not ten? All lists are at least ten strong. The reason is simple: it was hard to come up with five! Even looking at it from an Oscar POV, there are only two notable movies that had both the hero and a villain win an acting Oscar: One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest and Silence of the Lambs, for which you can make an argument Hannibal Lecter wasn’t a villain in that movie, and certainly not the lead villain.
The point is, it’s rarer than you think when the hero and villain bring their A++ game, especially to the point where you could only picture both actors doing the role.
Before we get to the list, here are a couple of things to remember:
a) These are not the 5 best movie villains or movie heroes of all time. It must be a duo. For example, Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter might be the best “1 of 1” acting performance for a villain. Still, Jodie Foster, as excellent as she was, gave a performance that could, in theory, be replicated by a few other talented actresses today (Cate Blanchett comes to mind).
b) As you will see, the quality of acting is only one component of the rankings. You can be a great villain without being a good actor. Being a memorable, iconic hero or villain or more about being fun to root for or against than anything else (that’s what sells tickets, Hollywood execs)
c) The movie needs to have the hero and the villain interact with each other in enough scenes to qualify for the list with unique banter. The performances can’t be in a silo; they have to banter with each other enough so the audience can see the contrasting performances at work. So sorry, Terminator 2 doesn’t qualify for the list, as Robert Patrick is mute almost the entire movie.
Without further ado, the five best hero/villain performances of all time:
5. The Shining (Jack Torrance, Wendy Torrance)
So, this selection is a bit of a cheat (I promise the rest of the list will play by the rules), because the villain of this movie is really the house, and Wendy is anything but a classic hero. But, there are no two actors you’d want in this adaptation by Stanley Kubrick other than Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall.
Jack Nicholson because he is as equally terrifying as he can be charismatic, and Shelley Duvall because the awkwardness and innocence that she brought to Wendy could never be authentically duplicated the way she played it.
Sure, other actors can be scary in this type of role, but no one can make you believe they are actually possessed like Nicholson and scared out of their mind like Duvall.
Best Scene
4. The Matrix (Neo, Agent Smith)
Long-time readers will laugh at this selection, knowing my disdain for the Keanu fanatics out there. But even I must admit Reeves was perfect for the role, embodying disbelief at the reveal of the AI-controlled world and working through his self-doubt while failing repeatedly throughout the movie, only to finally “get it” at the end.
As played by Hugo Weaving, Agent Smith is just the definition of an iconic “1 of 1” performance in the way he combined his voice modulations with his facial twitches and glares. While Weaving’s modulations could be imitated, as they were successful in Matrix Revolutions, the whole package, along with the quality of acting on display, could never be approached again, as Jonathan Groff, unfortunately, proved in Matrix Resurrections.
Best Scene
3. Face/Off (Sean Archer/Castor Troy)
This selection is how you know I created this list and didn’t rip off another website or ChatGPT. No, but seriously, Face/Off happens when you have two actors who decided to have a secret “who can overact more outrageously” competition and not tell anyone. We love to marvel at great acting, but sometimes we need to marvel at fun acting, and these two did it better than anyone else could have possibly done.
I’ve always wanted a remake of “Face/Off” every five years or so, partially because I want to see our top actors of the moment just have fun overacting for 2 hours (you’re telling me you wouldn’t want to see Ryan Reynolds square off against Chris Evans switching bodies?), but also because it would affirm that what we saw in 1997 was a two of a kind performance (exhibit A below)
Face/Off also is unique in how many scenes the hero and villain share together, so there are a lot of choices for the best scene. Still, the banter between Cage and Travolta is so deliciously entertaining, you just can’t help but smile (and for some people, laugh at them) even upon the 20th rewatch.
Best Scene
2. Gladiator(Maximus/Commodus)
The other movie on this list to get acting nominations for both the hero and the villain, and frankly, both Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix should have won instead of just Crowe
Commodus was the rare villain to be both as heinous as one could imagine for an emperor as well as sympathetic. It’s a challenging feat, and Phoenix made it look easy. Any actor trying to do Commodus in 2023 would either make him slimy or go the other way and make him a buffoon, but no one could make him sympathetic like Phoenix.
As for Crowe, he received his accolades at the time, but, as much as there was never a comedic side to his character the way most heroes would have today, Crowe gave Maximus a steadiness, gravitas, and authority in a unique blend that made it impossible for audiences to not root hard for. Honestly, this isn’t a perfect “1 of 1” performance because I could see someone like a Mel Gibson doing a similar performance, but it’s a great one and probably a “2 of 1” performance at worst.
Every scene with the two characters is fantastic. Still, their last dialogue is just something to behold, with Commodus mocking Maximus’s popularity and Maximus mocking, in turn, Commodus’s cowardice, ending on a final interlude about the love they shared for the former emperor making them brothers.
Best Scene
1. Die Hard (John McClane/Hans Gruber)
This is the GOAT, with Gladiator not particularly close. As embodied by Bruce Willis, John McClane personified coolness, both as a guy you’d want to have a beer with and coolness under pressure. The quips, combined with the everyman persona, combined with the on-screen toughness is a cocktail that many have tried, but no one can quite master (as Channing Tatum learned while leaning hard to doing a John McClane knock off character in “White House Down”)
Hans Gruber, what can you say that hasn’t been said a million times? Dapper, cunning, funny, sarcastic, nefarious, and an awful human being to top it all off? Easy to write, hard to act. And watch how these two play off each other in their best scene together, with McClane showing off his sarcastic wit and Gruber showcasing his slipperiness with his American accent. Sam Neil was supposedly up for the part of Hans Gruber first, and, I’ll admit, I think he would have been good, but there’s no one else you’d want for this role in the past, present, or future than Alan Rickman.
Best Scene
These were the 5 best hero/villain performances as a combo. They will never be replicated, but hopefully Hollywood will try to create more iconic pairings in the future. Who knows, it might bring audiences back to the theatres again.