I must admit — I can’t stand how a lot of movies always have the usual good guy protagonist defeating the antagonist. This is unrelated to the phenomenon of morally grey anti-heroes and villains taking the spotlight. “The Joker” films are a recent example of this — considering how they attempt to humanize the iconic, chaotic DC comics. character. However, this is more than that — it’s about the villain being the “winner”.
I already miss the days when we had stories of heroes being heroes and villains being downright cruel villains. It’s almost as if audiences and critics forget that there are morals. We live in an age where the lines are blurring in morality. What might be bad is seen as good to others and vice versa. Still, that doesn’t necessarily mean that modern stories can’t show how people can be horrible and still succeed in their goals.
That viewpoint is depressing but it is needed. Movies such as “The Departed”, “Man on Fire”, “The Mist”, and “Leon” have dabbled in this philosophy of killing off the hero. Although cruel, it made sense for their respective storylines and thematic structures. Most modern films have a habit of doing the morally grey concept without depth or nuance to achieve that direction.
At some points, the hero has flaws. Even letting certain qualities of the villain go unpunished resulting in the “bad” ending. One where the villain takes control and has his empire erase the heroic faction’s efforts. Truthfully speaking, history is always written by the victors — and who’s to say that the victors were heroes or villains?
Overall, there needs to be a point where we embrace that logic of a clear villain killing the hero. It’s a great storytelling technique and it needs to be implemented in more films — albeit thoughtfully and convincingly.
