Stupid Evil: Difference between revisions

missing word, corrected character names, grammar
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* Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg the [[Dragon-in-Chief]] of ''[[The Fifth Element]]'' was ''so'' stupid, he has under his belt a dubious achievement that no other science fiction villain had ever (or since) accomplished. But first, the reasons for it:
** First, his entire plan is stupid. A billionaire industrialist whose company is primarily into weapon dealing but has a hand in almost everything, he makes a deal with the [[Eldritch Abomination]] (the actual [[Big Bad]]) that intends to destroy the world, thinking there is profit in doing so. This being is [[Obviously Evil]], its voice [[Evil Sounds Deep| deeper than Darth Vader’s]], and simply talking to it causes Zorg to bleed from his forehead, yet he doesn’t get the hint that this cosmic demon is playing him for a sap.
** Second, he hires the MangalorsMangalores to steal the Stones needed to halt the destruction. The alien mercenaries have the [[Proud Warrior Race]] mentality of the Klingons (apparent because Zorg mocks such an honor code in an early scene), but [[Dumb Muscle| the mental capacity of a box of hammers]]. Their attempt to steal them results in them grabbing a box they ''think'' contains the Stones, but turns out to be empty. After chewing them out for not having the brains to open the box first (an action he did not instruct them to do), he seems to calm down and pay them anyway, giving them the crate of high-tech weapons he had promised. And then activates the self-destruct mechanism inside the crate. Seeing as he would have lost those weapons either way. he is, in effect, making enemies of the MangalorsMangalores [[Evil is Petty| to protect his pride]], which would come back to bite him later.
** Also, when his board of directors has “feelings” about budget concerns, he quickly decides to fire a million employees, including those in his taxi company. For one thing, this means Korben Dallas (the protagonist) is out of a job, leading to him reenlist in the Army, leading to him being the one to save humanity from the Great Evil. Granted, there is no way Zorg could have predicted this, but seriously, why axe the taxi company of all things? Transportation is an industry that, by design, will never lack demand, customers or profit, meaning getting rid of it will ensure Zorg losing profit in the long run. Even a [[Bad Boss]] with no concern for the welfare of his employees knows this is a boneheaded business decision, which he makes on a whim.
** Then he has [[Badass Preacher| Cornelius]] dragged into his office to integrate him on the true location of the Stones, implying he’s not going to let Cornelius leave alive. Zorg is having dinner during his villainous rant, and then starts choking as a result. Cornelius, being priest and a nice guy and all, [[Save the Villain| saves Zorg’s life]] with a swift blow to the back, and as a result, Zorg shows a small bit of decency and lets him go. Of course, now Cornelius ''seriously'' knows too much, and Zorg could have detained him, but hey, [[Honor Before Reason]] here.
** Briefly moving away from Zorg as far as this Trope is concerned, his second in command, [[The Dragon| Right Arm]] (who is slightly smarter than Zorg, but not much) finds out the Stones are on a luxury cruise spaceship. Shouldn’t be hard for a multi-billionaire like his boss to get tickets, right? Wrong. Right Arm has to swipe them from a passenger. But rather than target a lower-key passenger for this, Right Arm tries to impersonate Ruby RoseRhod, a drag queen and celebrity host of a talent show with at least 50 billion viewers. Naturally, Right Arm blows it badly and does not get on board.
** So, after killing Right Arm by detonating a bomb in the public phone Right Arm uses to to report his failure (because, you know, [[You Have Failed Me| that’s what stupid villains do]]) Zorg decides [[If You Want Something Done Right, Do it Yourself| to finally get involved himself]]. He sneaks onto the ship - where by now, the MangalorsMangalores are causing chaos trying to steal the Stones themselves as part of a revenge plan against Zorg - and covertly grabs a box he thinks has them [[Hypocrite| (making the same idiotic mistake he lambasted the MangalorsMangalores for)]] and then sets a bomb to go off when he’s in the clear. In case it didn’t sink in yet, this guy loves blowing things up [[For the Evulz]], but in this case, the ship has bomb detectors (even Ruby RoseRhod knows this) and the crew and guests evacuate with ample time to spare. Certainly, should Zorg survive, this will not go unnoticed and his business will likely suffer tremendously.
** But he does not. He finally decides to get a look inside the box, and upon realizing itsit's empty, returns to the now-empty luxury ship in a panicked attempt to stop the countdown. That’s right, this multi-billionaire [[Arms Dealer]] did not have the sense to include a remote kill-command on the bomb. He makes it with 10ten seconds to spare, but unfortunately for him, the Mangalores placed another bomb, and they ''did'' have the sense to include a remote detonation mechanism on it.
*** Which brings us to that dubious achievement that no other science fiction villain had ever (or since) accomplished: he is done in completely by his own stupidity, ''never once'' interacting with the hero in any way. In fact, the snafu with boarding the luxury liner is pretty much the only thing the good guys do that affects his plans at all.<ref>The original script did have one scene where this happens, but seeing as it would have consisted of Zorg getting the tar beaten out of him by Korben in a [[Curb Stomp Battle]], it would likely have just made him look ''stupider''.</ref>