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  1. Entertainment
  2. Movies

30 Movie Baddies Who Turned Good

Features
By Greg Wakeman
Published 2 October 2012

A film villain's prerogative… Warning, spoilers follow!

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Agent Zoil (Paul)

The Bad: Hot on the pursuit of Graeme Willy (Simon Pegg), Clive Gollings (Nick Frost) and their bubbly new alien ally Paul, Secret Service agent Lorenzo Zoil (Jason Bateman) doesn’t even bat an eyelid when his actions almost send Joe Lo Truglio’s ignorant local police officer to the big doughnut in the sky Ö

The Good: Zoil reveals that he’s been Paul’s man on the inside all along and then takes a bullet in the shoulder from 'The Big Guy,' aka Sigourney Weaver, for his troubles.

The Lovely: Apparently Paul introduced Zoil to his wife Karen.

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Plus he adoringly calls him Short Round. Awwww.

Inspector Gustav (Hugo)

The Bad: The ultimate jobsworth, Sacha Baron Cohen’s Station Inspector is constantly at odds with Asa Butterfield’s orphaned Hugo in Marty’s homage to early French cinema.

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All the little blighter is after is some food, supplies and hugs!

The Good: Hugo is moments away from being trampled by a train attempting to save his late father’s male automaton invention, but is saved by the Station Inspector yanking him to safety at the last moment.

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The Lovely: Allowing Hugo to go with Papa Georges (Ben Kingsley) rather than sending him off to an orphanage.

In the process, Lisette (Emily Mortimer) sees his lighter side and falls in love with him, leaving them to live happily ever after. Presumably.

Lord Moritsugu Katsumoto (The Last Samurai)

The Bad: Ed Zwick’s epic pits the traumatized American soldier Captain Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) against Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe), a samurai-wielding rebel who opposes the rising Western influence on his native land.

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Thank Christ he never had to set sights on the Kardashian clan then.

The Good: Captured after an ill-advised early start to a battle, Algren is taken in by Katsumoto who is impressed by the Yanks spirit and teaches him about the samurai’s way of life.

The Lovely: Katsumoto and Algren fight alongside each other as part of a measly samurai outfit against a mammoth imperial army.

The samurai perishes but still posthumously draws the respect of those who fought him.

Miranda Priestly (The Devil Wears Prada)

The Bad: Effortlessly scary, Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) is the editor in chief of Runway magazine and her new assistant, Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway), has to put up with her various humiliating and bizarre techniques whilst also constantly being ridiculed for her fashion sense.

The Good: After walking out of Runway Andy attends an interview for her dream position at a reputed newspaper, only to find out that Miranda has provided her with a sterling reference that helps her get the job.

The Lovely: After locking eyes with her former aide across a street Miranda pretends to ignore her, but then can’t help but smile when she is alone in her car recalling the times that she spent with her.

Biff Tannen (Back to the Future)

The Bad: As George McFly’s (Crispin Glover) boss, bully and all round Hill Valley miscreant, Biff (Thomas F. Wilson) has been asking for a good slap from the day he was born.

None more so than when he forces himself on Lorraine (Lea Thompson) and almost breaks George’s arm before he is finally walloped to the ground by the greatest left hook in cinematic history.

The Good: With the future having been altered by George’s showing of brute strength, Biff is no longer his boss and cites the McFlys as loyal customers to his business who he treats with the up most respect.

He even assists in the preparation of Marty’s car for his big fishing trip with Jennifer (Claudia Wells).

The Lovely: Biff and George partake in some light-hearted banter as Tannen looks to do as little work as possible and Lorraine even credits him with getting the duo together.

She must have forgotten about the whole attempted rape thing then.

Puss In Boots (Shrek 2)

The Bad: A feline assassin, Puss (Antonio Banderas) is hired by King Harold (John Cleese) to murder Shrek (Mike Myers) and Donkey (Eddie Murphy), wounding the duo in a forest with his deadly claws before succumbing to an untimely hairball mid-fight.

The Good: After confessing Harold’s plan to the ogre he accompanies Shrek and Donkey on their journey as his honour dictates that he must protect the big green beast.

The Lovely: Puss bountiful eyes beguile several guards looking to stop Shrek’s entrance to Harold’s castle, before mercilessly defeating them with ease.

Amy Archer (The Hudsucker Proxy)

The Bad: Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Amy Archer (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is hired by her paper to do an expos» on Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins), the new president of Hudsucker Industries.

Deploying a secret identity, she infiltrates Norv’s life and is hired as his secretary reporting her findings to her editor in due course.

The Good: Amy goes all-soft on the corn fed idiot and the two fall in love, with even his burgeoning arrogance and a slanderous story over the real inventor of his coveted hoop contraption failing to drive the pair apart.

The Lovely: After attempting suicide, Norville’s life is saved by his predecessor’s ghostly figure and he’s given a second chance, using it to run to Amy and planting a huge kiss on her.

Anton Ego (Ratatouille)

The Bad: A vicious food critic, Anton (Peter O’Toole) has ruined many a caterer’s career with his caustic words. Plus by downgrading Gusteau’s restaurant from a five to a four-star establishment he sent the portly chef to an early grave. Murderer.

The Good: After eating Remy’s (Patton Oswalt) ratatouille, Ego is instantly transported back to his youth by the vivacity of the dish and requests an audience with the culinary deity who created it.

The Lovely: Anton writes an exquisite review of Gusteau’s that critiques his own livelihood before embarking on a new friendship with the obscenely talented rodent.

Garland Greene (Con Air)

The Bad: A late addition to the C-123 roster, Greene (Steve Buscemi) is a mass murder that butchered 30 victims in his pomp.

His presence even provokes the respect of Con Air’s most feared passenger, Cyrus the Virus (John Malkovich).

The Good: Not attacking a small girl who he shares a tea party with, plus his acerbic witticisms about the rest of the travelers are also a constant source of delight.

Maybe serial killers aren’t so bad after all?

The Lovely: With all of the other convicts now either dead or recaptured, we last see Garland in a Vegas casino drinking a margarita.

Fingers crossed he’s a changed man.

Helen Harris III (Bridesmaids)

The Bad: The apparently flawless Helen weasels her way into the position of head Bridesmaid in place of the down on her luck Annie (Kristen Wiig), then has the gall to steal her bridal shower idea.

Oh yeah, she also loses the bride the night before the wedding too.

The Good: Coming to Annie for help and then revealing her own frailties to the wannabe chef, before ultimately locating Lillian (Maya Rudolph) and then making sure she’s at the altar in time.

The Lovely: Helen allows Annie to resume her place as maid of honour and organises one hell of a wedding bash too.

She even arranges for Annie to be picked up from the shindig by her blossoming beau Nathan (Chris O’Dowd). Bless.

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Greg Wakeman
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