Why does Hollywood rehabilitate its best villains as watered- down heroes? Blame Arnold, writes Joe Griffin
THE craze for sequels (to make them, if not to see them) can have confusing results. It's bad enough when franchises barrel through the story without so much as a reminder of what happened in the last chapter. (Good luck to anyone who hasn't seen the first two Pirates of the Caribbean films, for example.) More bewildering are the changing allegiances of the main characters.
If it's a little jarring to watch the malevolent Benedict (Andy Garcia) form an uneasy alliance with the gang in Oceans 13, it's baffling to see Capt Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush, right) make an 180-degree turn in the Pirates films: wasn't he the merciless ghost-pirate of The Curse of the Black Pearl? What's he doing collaborating with Will, Elizabeth and Jack Sparrow?
The Spiderman franchise is guilty as well - after establishing Harry Osborne (played by James Franco), as a force of evil, director Sam Raimi chickened out and made him Spidey's ally in episode 3.
I blame The Terminator. James Cameron's homicidal cyborg in the 1984 classic was arguably the most ruthless, unstoppable killing machine of all time, impervious to everything from shotguns to speeding cars. What it wasn't immune to was Arnold Schwarzenegger's star power. Audiences loved his no-nonsense attitude and unflappable cool. Initially a figure of fear, the Terminator became positively iconic - a pop culture reference and Halloween costume. When the cyborg returned in Terminator 2, we were given the same cold performance from the Austrian oak. This time, however, he was on our side.
This kind of character rehabilitation might be acceptable in the world of wrestling (Dwayne Johnston, better known as The Rock is one of many wrestlers to be introduced as a villain, only to win the crowd and be rebranded as a hero) but why must cinema audiences endure it too?
The reason, I suspect, is that most modern cinematic leads are deadly dull. It seems an age ago that screens were filled with dark, ruthless anti-heroes, from James Cagney's Public Enemy to Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry. These days, while the occasional lovable rogue surfaces in smaller films such as The Matador, our anti-hero needs are not being met.
At this stage, even amoral supporting characters will do. Give me Han Solo over Luke Skywalker, Barbossa over Will, Hannibal over Clarice. This is why we didn't have Clarice Starling Rising, why Harrison Ford became a bigger star than Mark Hamill, and why Sarah Connor had to make do with a supporting role in two Terminator films before getting the star treatment (The Sarah Connor Chronicles is hitting TV screens soon.)
This isn't going to change any time soon. Studio filmmakers are handicapped by morality. Action movies used to be made by the likes of Walter Hill, William Friedken and Paul Verhoeven. Now, with films being pitched to younger and younger audiences, heroes are getting watered down: they can't smoke, swear or let themselves go.
But don't despair: next time you're watching a dreary lead opposite a fun villain, take comfort in the likelihood that Mr Goody Two-Shoes will probably be elbowed out of the sequel.
Loveable rogues
THE TERMINATOR:Audiences loved Arnold's merciless homicidal cyborg enough that the producers contived his return to the role - as a good homicidal cyborg!
HANNIBAL LECTER:Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter went from supporting villain (Brian Cox, Manhunter) to a more central role (Anthony Hopkins, The Silence of the Lambs) to bizarre romantic lead (Hopkins again in Hannibal) and, finally, to avenging angel (Gaspard Ulliel in Hannibal Rising).
STIFFLER:Seann William Scott was introduced as an alpha-bully in American Pie. By the third instalment, Scott's Steve Stiffler, the only funny character in the franchise, had become an audience favourite, even winning the girl from a geeky underdog.
CATHERINE TRAMELL:Basic Instinct was about an alcoholic cop (Michael Douglas). But it was Sharon Stone's star-making performance as the femme fatale that people responded to. She, not he, was the more interesting character, and she was always going to be the one with the sequel.
THE SHERIFF OF NOTTINGHAM:The quintessential villain (think Basil Rathbone, Peter Cushing, Alan Rickman) will get a reboot as a good guy in Ridley Scott's forthcoming Nottingham, with Scot regular Russell Crowe attached as the Sheriff.
