Greetings, reader!
The 60th anniversary month of classic 007 flick Goldfinger continues, and so does my theme month of various James Bond rankings. Today I'm taking a look at the franchise's best villains - not an easy task, as there are so many classic ones to choose from. But after long consideration, these are the very best bad guys from the 007 franchise!
Here are my honorable mentions: Brad Whitaker (Joe Don Baker, The Living Daylights), Colonel Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya, From Russia with Love), Karl Stromberg (Curg Jürgens, The Spy Who Loved Me), Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen, Casino Royale), Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem, Skyfall).
10. Max Zorin (Christopher Walken, A View to a Kill)
Sometimes the actor just makes the role. On paper, the role of a tech billionaire who hatches a crazy scheme to destroy Silicon Valley would seem very standard and thus forgettable for a Bond film in the 80's - but alas, Christopher Walken was cast in the role, and he is responsible for approximately 97% of the character's greatness and for about 83% of the film's success in general (its other aspects are unremarkable, as even the late great Sir Roger Moore was growing tired in what ended up being his final outing as Bond).
Walken brings his trademark brand of absolutely bonkers chaos into the role, making Zorin into a dangerous and unhinged foe for 007 to go up against. Up until the final fight on the Golden Gate Bridge, this guy keeps the film entertaining and the viewer on their toes.
9. Jaws (Richard Kiel, The Spy Who Loved Me / Moonraker)
While the henchmen of the main villains are a classic staple of the franchise, not many made it onto today's list - who can really remember which one was Oddjob and which one was Nick Nack at the end of the day? However, the sole henchman who stands tall (very tall, that is) in the company of 'big bad' antagonists in my top 10 is none other than the beloved Jaws.
The wonderfully menacing goon was such a popular character in The Spy Who Loved Me that he was brought back for Moonraker - one of the worst overall Bond films no matter what my fiancée says, but Jaws is the saving grace of that otherwise shark-jumping instalment. He even gets a touching redemption arch at the end, which makes him into one of the franchise's more sympathetic villains, one who probably was in the bad guy business simply because he didn't know any better.
8. Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi, Thunderball)
I enjoy the villains of every Bond era in their own way. I often use types of Bond villains as metaphors for U.S. politicians (a great sign of where we're at with the world, am I right?). Ron DeSantis, being all passionate about his supposedly righteous cause with his tortured soul, is a textbook Craig-era villain. Stephen Miller, pulling the strings in the background with a frighteningly calm demeanor, is an archetypical Roger Moore villain. And here's the easiest one of all - Donald John Trump, with his downright cartoonish over-the-top villain antics, is without the shred of a doubt a Sean Connery villain.
There is a peculiar charm to the bad guys of the Connery era - while there's a lot to be said for the modern villains with actual backstories, fleshed-out motives and complex morals, there's also something inherently enjoyable about Bond going up against just the most black-and-white old-school evil antagonist you can imagine. Emilio Largo is a prime example - we don't know who he is, where he came from or why he is this way, but we do know what he wants: to blow up some major world cities with stolen nuclear bombs. And that is why Bond must stop him, and he does it with style.
7. Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek, No Time to Die)
Remember what I said earlier about an exceptionally good actor being able to carry even a poorly written role? Because this just might be the greatest example of that in cinematic history.
While I like No Time to Die a great deal as a whole, Lyutsifer Safin is not a well-written villain. And yet he is my all-time seventh favorite Bond villain, because yes, Rami Malek is that great of an actor. While much of the dialogue written for Safin leaves a lot to be desired, Malek makes every line and every moment interesting with his delivery, his facial expressions, every little nuance. I'm convinced that Malek could play a villain whose only lines are repeating the phrase "Must kill hero because evil" and win an Oscar for it. Seriously, what he does with what is given to him is divine, and his acting carries Safin to be an against-all-odds unforgettable antagonist.
6. Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe, Goldfinger)
This one is a classic. Like many of the great old-school Bond villains, Goldfinger doesn't have a rich backstory or fleshed-out motives, nor does he need to. He's just a thoroughly evil, greedy and irredeemable bastard, brought to life by the towering presence of Gert Fröbe.
Today we're used to antiheroes so complex that you don't know if you should root for them and villains with such humane motivations that you might see their point, but in the genre of old-school spy action, it's just buckets of fun to watch the charming main hero go up against a truly vile piece of shit, enjoying the inevitable moment of triumph when it happens. And in that category, Goldfinger (or, as Shirley Bassey puts it in the theme song, "GOLDFINGUHHHH") has what it takes.
5. Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman, Dr. No)
Many fans don't rank the original Bond film's villain quite this highly, with his legacy being largely "Dr. No walked so Blofeld / Goldfinger / Largo etc. could run". But I disagree - in many ways, the simple perfection of Dr. No sets the standard for the franchise's villains in a manner so legendary, that even when many later villains would have more interesting motives or even greater actors bringing them to life, they still wouldn't be as unforgettable as the original unhinged war-monger that Bond faces off against.
Joseph Wiseman's role performance is as cheesy and corny from a modern perspective as it surely has been badass and frightening for the time, which just goes to show how much of an impact the character had on action cinema as a whole. There have been many copycats since him, and that influence deserves serious praise. One of the greats.
4. Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee, The Man with the Golden Gun)
Few years ago, I wrote a post about the best villain archetypes in fiction. The Bond franchise has its version of pretty much every one (the greedy criminal = Goldfinger, the fallen hero = 006, the pure evil = most of the Connery-era villains, the vengeful = Raoul Silva, et cetera). One of the very best archetypes, most popular in superhero fiction, is 'The Equal' - an antagonist who is, in some way or another, an 'evil twin' of the protagonist. Whether it's due to a similar skillset, similar backgrounds or any number of ways, this often makes for a fascinating match-up, and it was a matter of time before the producers of the Bond franchise realized that "James Bond, but evil" was a recipe for magnificence.
Furthermore, they got Christopher Lee - between his turns as Dracula, Saruman, Count Dooku and this guy here, I don't think I'm out of line when straight-up calling him the greatest villain actor in cinematic history. Getting such a prolific Hollywood bad guy to play the character dubbed as the villainous version of James Bond was guaranteed to succeed, and Scaramanga indeed remains one of the most iconic and celebrated big bads in the 25-film franchise.
3. Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce, Tomorrow Never Dies)
Now this guy sticks out of the crowd. The CEO of a media conglomerate, Elliot Carver seems to be more or less inspired by FOX chairman Rupert Murdoch, truly one of the most striking real-life supervillains in modern history. Whereas most of the Bond villains before him wanted to blow a big chunk of the world up simply for the reason of being evil, and most of the ones after him had some grand Thanosian vision of ultimately making the world better via war crimes, this guy had one of the most frightening (and depressingly realistic) motives seen in the franchise: he wanted to blow chunks of the world up for ratings.
Knowing that a mega-rich megalomaniac like himself would stay unharmed even in the face of a world war, Carver figures that a war between the U.K. and China would make him a ton of money, and in the modern world, a major news influence like him might just have the power to provoke such a war into action. Jonathan Pryce is amazing in the role, and the character is a brilliant commentary on many worrying aspects of the post-information age. A truly underrated villain, this one.
2. Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Anthony Dawson / Eric Pohlmann / Donald Pleasance / Telly Savalas / Charles Gray / Robert Rietty / Christoph Waltz, From Russia with Love / Thunderball / You Only Live Twice / On Her Majesty's Secret Service / Diamonds Are Forever / For Your Eyes Only / Spectre / No Time to Die)
This dude is in second place in a similar manner to Sean Connery's second place in my ranking of James Bond actors - while there is one other that I subjectively appreciate even more, I do get calling this one the GOAT. Blofeld is the franchise's most iconic, most recognizable and most re-cast role (I shit you not, there have been more different Blofelds than there have James Bonds).
Originally hyped up as the mysterious big bad of evil organization S.P.E.C.T.R.E., he is only seen in short flashes during most of Sean Connery's flicks, usually sitting in a chair, stroking his cat, and giving some nefarious instructions. When he finally does take center stage, Blofeld ends up being a bit silly and not that menacing - a more takes-itself-seriously franchise would've unveiled their villain in a manner of gravitas that fits all the build-up (see Thanos in the MCU), but the early Bond films pride themselves in not being too serious, so the comedic Blofeld actually works.
After being the center-stage villain for three consecutive films, Blofeld isn't heard from for a long time - except for a brief moment of vengeful closure in the opening moments of For Your Eyes Only. That remains his only appearance in the Moore era, and as he didn't appear in Dalton or Brosnan's films either, it seemed that the character was retired and would remain a Connery villain.
But that was not to be - several films into the Daniel Craig era, the character is brought back in dramatic fashion, this time played by two-time Oscar winner Christoph Waltz. Considering that even Dr. No worked for this guy and Waltz's small role in No Time to Die, it is fitting to think that in a way, Blofeld was intertwined in Bond's story from the very beginning and until the very end (if No Time to Die is the end, that is).
1. Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean, GoldenEye)
Being the debut of my favorite James Bond, the debut of my favorite M and featuring one of my top 5 favorite Bond theme songs would be reason enough to have GoldenEye as my all-time favorite Bond film. But, furthering my case, the 1995 flick has the franchise's best villain as well!
The character's motives originate from a gripping place - formerly known as Special Agent 006 of MI6, Trevelyan turns against the organization in a gripping manner, betraying them and faking his own death, only to return later with a brutal plan of vengeance. This was just at a time when Hollywood was starting to get into villains with slightly more sympathetic-to-a-degree motivations as opposed to pure evil, and at a time when people were slowly starting to question the ethics of organizations like MI6 and how the British Empire still conducts itself around the world - so for that time, a character who honestly turns against the organization and wants to exact revenge was a perfect fit.
Mind you, you won't be rooting for him as he goes too far as villains tend to do, but just the bit of understanding that the viewer will gain towards the character makes it all more gripping. Also, Sean Bean plays the hell out of the role, from the character's cold-blooded introduction all the way to his - well, I won't spoil how it all ends, but remember, it's Sean Bean...
Thank you for reading! Tune in next week as I continue the theme month with its most ambitious post yet - a ranking of the theme songs from all 25 Bond flicks.
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