Showing posts with label The Matrix. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Matrix. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

N is for Necessary Evil

Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about villains and how they interact with the hero. There are a few protagonists who wouldn’t be who they turned out to be without the antagonist. Can mediocre become courageous, or ordinary become extraordinary without evil? The short list below is of characters who I think became greater than they were because of the evil they faced.

 
The Following: Good—Ryan Hardy / Evil: Joe Carroll

Are you guys watching this show? It’s fan-freakin-tastic! I had to stop watching Criminal Minds because it just got too creepy, but for some reason, I love The Following. Ryan Hardy, the washed up FBI agent is brought back into the game to re-capture serial killer Joe Carroll who has an obsession with Edgar Allan Poe. As the season progressed, I realized that as dedicated and steadfast as Ryan Hardy is, he wouldn’t be who he is right now without the psychopath Joe Carroll. Ryan’s good, would not exist without Joe’s evil. Would Ryan still help old ladies across the street? Sure. But he was a barely functioning alcoholic before he was called back to recapture Joe. In a very sick way, they need each other.

 
The Terminator: Good—Sarah Connor / Evil: Terminator.

Sarah Connor is just minding her business, waiting tables. She has no idea a cyborg is on its way from the future to snuff out her family line before she can even conceive. This is a perfect example of evil bringing good out of a person. Who knows what Sarah Connor’s life would’ve been had it not been for the leather-clad Terminator who just kept coming. Would she have stayed a waitress? Maybe taken a correspondence course and became a paralegal? Who knows? But because of the necessary evil, she went on to be the woman who gave birth to the man who lead the resistance. She, herself, became a force to be reckoned with. She went from reactive to proactive. Awesome!

 

Harry Potter (The entire series): Good—Harry Potter / Evil: Lord Voldemort.

This is another brilliant example of something better coming from the appearance of something horrible. Do you think Harry Potter would’ve been anywhere near as great as he turned out to be had it not been for the evil that was Lord Voldemort? No. Aside from his horrid upbringing at the Dursley’s, Harry was an average student, an outstanding Seeker, and just a kind of nerdy kid. Had it not been for Voldemort, Harry probably would’ve made it on to a professional Quidditch team. But Voldemort did happened and forced Harry to become a hell of a lot more than he was.

 

Interview with a Vampire: Good—Louis de Pointe du Lac / Evil—Lestat de Lioncourt

Truly, I’m not sure that Lestat is all together “evil”. He just is what he is and doesn’t bother fighting his true nature. All poor Louis wanted to do was stop feeling the loss of his family…and maybe live forever. Louis didn’t really think it through—no duh. But had it not been for Lestat’s malevolent presence Louis was on the fast train to tavern suicide. Still, with his undead cravings and urges, Louis fought it as long as he could. The good in him managed to keep Lestat’s influence at bay so he be became a different kind of vampire. One that cries. L


The Matix: Good—Neo / Evil—The Architect

Neo was just a bored computer tech by day, hacker by night, but he knew something was wrong with the world. Then Morpheus shows up and tells Neo, ‘here take this pill and I’ll show you what the world really looks like!’ Neo takes the news so well he pukes. I’m right there with you, Neo. Although the Architect doesn’t appear until the last film, he is the one who built the Matrix. Neo was probably on the road to becoming a hermit/hoarder at best and in prison for hacking into the wrong system at worst. With his eyes open to the real world he literally became The One to put an end to the war.
 

I’m not saying bravery, courage and strength had nothing to do with all of these characters becoming who they eventually became, but without that evil force pushing them, it seems obvious their lives would’ve been a lot different. From this list, who do you think became much more than he or she was because of the evil faced? As always tell me who I missed. I’m dog tired now so I’m sure I missed a bunch!

Saturday, April 6, 2013

F is for Fantastic Fight Scenes!

Hi all,

While I'm not a violent person, I can appreciate the intricacies of pulling off the perfect fight scene. Some filmmakers make it look effortless. Here are some of my favorites.


The epic battle at Helm's Deep.

The precision of Kill Bill.

 
The masterful humor and timing of The Princess Bride.
 

The inspiration of The Karate Kid.

 
The awesomeness of The Matrix.


Vote for your favorite fantastic fight scene in the comments. As always, tell us what your favorite is if it isn’t up here!