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Jack Grimaldi
The Antihero: A crooked cop who contiually manages to justify himself throughout a series of truly heinous actions. Who cares about giving away a few witnesses to the mob when you’ve got a wife and a mistress to support?
Effortless Cool: Gary Oldman has rarely bettered his performance in Romeo Is Bleeding , ensuring we continue to root for Grimaldi even as his actions spin further and further out of control.
Riddick
The Antihero: A vicious and unpredictable criminal, Riddick is on his way to a long spell in prison before his ride is attacked by a host of alien beasties. Suddenly, having a psychotically violent individual on board isn’t such a bad thing after all…
Effortless Cool: Once upon a time, Vin Diesel was a mean and moody screen icon. These were the days before The Pacifier , you see…
Big Chris
The Antihero: Hatchet Harry’s no-nonsense debt collector. Don’t get between him and his son if you value the structural integrity of your skull.
Effortless Cool: It actually looked as if a fair bit of effort went into that car door scene, although that is undoubtedly the character’s most effective moment. Emotional indeed.
Jim Stark
The Antihero: James Dean became an antihero icon when he took on the role of troubled teen Jim Stark in Rebel Without A Cause . Having left a difficult past in order to start afresh, Stark wastes little time making new enemies in Los Angeles…
Effortless Cool: There’s a reason why “James Dean” is a byword for rule-breaking rebellion, and this is it.
Rorschach
The Antihero: A relentless and violent cleaner of the city’s filthy streets, Rorschach will dish out as much pain as is necessary to get what he wants. As he points out to the misguided prison inmates who fancy their chances of hurting him, “None of you seem to understand. I'm not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with me!”
Effortless Cool: The mask maketh the man. We’re knocking one of those up next Halloween.
Charles Bronson
The Antihero: A mentally unhinged hooligan he might be, but there’s no doubting Bronson’s qualities as showman…
Effortless Cool: Not many people could pull off that ‘tache with a straight face. But then again, not many people would strip naked, cover themselves in paint and invite a scrap with a roomful of prison guards. It takes all sorts.
The Driver
The Antihero: Ryan Gosling does the strong but silent routine as head-stomping getaway merchant The Driver. Never has one man despatched so many henchmen in so gruesome a fashion.
Effortless Cool: Satin driving jacket, leather gloves, toothpick. Done.
Tom Ripley
The Antihero: A social-climbing malcontent of the most despicable kind, Ripley can’t abide seeing other people with things that he wants. His solution? He kills them of course! Nice chap.
Effortless Cool: Ripley is the sort of backstabbing no-goodnik that looks utterly irredeemable on paper, only to win you over with his sickly charm. He does wear silly swimming shorts though.
Leon
The Antihero: He’s a ruthless killer, but then again, he has a soft-spot for vulnerable children. Oh, we just don’t know what to think!
Effortless Cool: Those sunglasses added to that accent multiplied by those firearm skills equal a very cool character indeed.
Ed Exley
The Antihero: This career-obsessed, self-serving turncoat is one of the less shady characters knocking about the LAPD in Curtis Hanson’s excellent LA Confidential . Says it all, really.
Effortless Cool: He might not be as smooth as Spacey or as badass as Crowe, but Guy Pearce’s Exley is a man who knows how to get ahead. And it gets him a lot further than either of his colleagues…
