Villainous Breakdown/Film: Difference between revisions

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* [[The Shawshank Redemption]] has {{spoiler|warden Samuel Norton freaking out over Andy being missing from his prison cell. His rant doubles as [[Fridge Brilliance]] on the movie's part, as Norton's clearly [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection projecting] his corrupt nature onto everyone else.}} This is a special case, because what the villain's freaking out over happens BEFORE {{spoiler|he gets exposed as a crook}}, (and is somewhat mild in comparison) and likely before he has any reason to expect that to even happen.

* At the end of Disney's animated ''[[The Great Mouse Detective (Disney)|The Great Mouse Detective]]'' (see the image on the right), Ratigan goes from being a smarmy, smug intellectual [[One Winged Angel|to a feral, crazed rat]], savagely attacking Basil. Although he does have quick seconds of losing his cool throughout the film, he is just as quickly able to recollect himself as calm and collective. Until the end, when Basil saves the Flaversham clan, whom, thanks to Ratigan, had been kept separated from each other. But when Basil both humiliates Ratigan in front of dozens of aristocrats and saves and reunites Olivia and her father, Ratigan breaks down.

* At the end of Disney's animated ''[[The Great Mouse Detective (Disney)|The Great Mouse Detective]]'' (see the image on the right), Ratigan goes from being a smarmy, smug intellectual [[One-Winged Angel|to a feral, crazed rat]], savagely attacking Basil. Although he does have quick seconds of losing his cool throughout the film, he is just as quickly able to recollect himself as calm and collective. Until the end, when Basil saves the Flaversham clan, whom, thanks to Ratigan, had been kept separated from each other. But when Basil both humiliates Ratigan in front of dozens of aristocrats and saves and reunites Olivia and her father, Ratigan breaks down.

* In the [[The a Team (Film)|A-Team movie,]] {{spoiler|Lynch}} has one when he overhears that {{spoiler|The A-Team and General Morrison survived his bombing.}} He has a tantrum and repeatedly kicks in front of him like a kid.

* [[Pandorum]]: goes crazy with this trope. {{spoiler|It is revealed to the audience that Gallo is the one responsible for the malicious mutants and nightmarish madness on the ship. At one point, Payton locks Gallo in an escape pod, and he cracks, screaming/yelling and threatening to carve Payton up. He escapes, and attacks Payton. Payton's own sanity is questioned in this fight when he also threatens to carve Gallo up. After the fight, it's revealed that Gallo and Payton are the same person, with Gallo being the manifestation of a breakdown Payton had before the movie plot started. And yes, this reveal makes Gallo (Which is his real name) evil.}} So, just to sum it all up: The villainous breakdown ''itself'' has a villainous breakdown while fighting the villain, who has a breakdown during that fight without even knowing he was the villain. {{spoiler|Later in the movie, Gallo has a calm voice and demeanor...until Bower says Gallo is suffering from pandorum, which results in nihilistic rants, trying to kill Nadia, and [[Arson Murder and Jaywalking|a not-so-calm voice.]] }}

* [[Pandorum]]: goes crazy with this trope. {{spoiler|It is revealed to the audience that Gallo is the one responsible for the malicious mutants and nightmarish madness on the ship. At one point, Payton locks Gallo in an escape pod, and he cracks, screaming/yelling and threatening to carve Payton up. He escapes, and attacks Payton. Payton's own sanity is questioned in this fight when he also threatens to carve Gallo up. After the fight, it's revealed that Gallo and Payton are the same person, with Gallo being the manifestation of a breakdown Payton had before the movie plot started. And yes, this reveal makes Gallo (Which is his real name) evil.}} So, just to sum it all up: The villainous breakdown ''itself'' has a villainous breakdown while fighting the villain, who has a breakdown during that fight without even knowing he was the villain. {{spoiler|Later in the movie, Gallo has a calm voice and demeanor...until Bower says Gallo is suffering from pandorum, which results in nihilistic rants, trying to kill Nadia, and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|a not-so-calm voice.]] }}

* In ''[[Twelve Angry Men]]'', Juror #10 engages in a lengthy racist rant about how the defendant, a Latino immigrant kid, is scum from birth and is racially programmed to lie, steal and murder. It so offends and disgusts the other jurors, even the vindictive Juror #3, that all of them either walk away from the table or turn away from him in disgust until:

{{quote| '''Juror #10''': Listen to me. We're... This kid on trial here... his type, well, don't you know about them? There's a, there's a danger here. These people are dangerous. They're wild. Listen to me. Listen. <br />

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* Norman Stansfield from ''[[The Professional|Leon]]''.

* ''[[Rock and Rule]]''. Mok has a spectacular breakdown when his climactic demon-summoning plan goes badly awry:

{{quote| '''Mok:''' [[This Cannot Be|You can't do this to me!]] '''[[Punctuated for Emphasis|I! AM! MOK!]]'''<br />

{{quote| '''Mok:''' [[This Cannot Be!|You can't do this to me!]] '''[[Punctuated for Emphasis|I! AM! MOK!]]'''<br />

"The magic of ''one voice''!...of ''one soul''!...But there ''is''...''NO...ONE!...''" }}

** It's also foreshadowed in his crazed rampage after Angel comprehensively spurns his advances...

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{{quote| '''HAL:''' Look, Dave. I can see you're really upset about this. I honestly think you want to sit down calmly, take a stress pill and think things over. I know I've made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal. I've still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission, and I want to help you. Dave, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Dave. Will you stop, Dave? Stop, Dave. I'm afraid.}}

* Lord Cutler Beckett in ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]: At World's End'' has an unusually calm breakdown when {{spoiler|his flagship is being torn apart between two legendary ships, and he can't even give the order to abandon ship. Instead, he just says "It's just... good business" and walks down the stairs to his doom}}.

* "Baby" Jane Hudson, of ''[[What Ever Happened to Baby Jane (Film)|What Ever Happened to Baby Jane]]?'', goes completely insane upon learning in the end that the accident which crippled her sister, Blanche, was in fact caused by Blanche herself in an attempt to kill Jane, and not Jane in an alcoholic bender, and launches into her old song and dance routine, despite being 40-50 years too old.

* "Baby" Jane Hudson, of ''[[What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (Film)|What Ever Happened to Baby Jane]]?'', goes completely insane upon learning in the end that the accident which crippled her sister, Blanche, was in fact caused by Blanche herself in an attempt to kill Jane, and not Jane in an alcoholic bender, and launches into her old song and dance routine, despite being 40-50 years too old.

** Jane to Blanche: "You mean, all this time we coulda been ''friends''?"

* Tony Montana from ''[[Scarface]]'' wasn't usually a calm guy to begin with, but after having everything come crashing down and losing his sister Gina during [[The Siege|the final assault on his mansion by Sosa's killers]], Tony goes utterly ballistic, taking up an M-16 with an M-203 grenade launcher with the now-famous cry of "Say hello to my LITTLE FRIEND!" and going on a one-man cocaine-fueled rampage. He almost succeeds in taking every one of his attackers down.

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(He does so. There is a pause, and Murnau finally stops filming.)<br />

'''Murnau:''' Thank you. I think we have it. }}

* The Duke Brothers in ''[[Trading Places]]'' have a nice one after the heroes manipulate the <s>stock</s> Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice market and cause them to lose everything. Randolph has a heart attack, and Mortimer abandons all pretense of civility, declaring [[Precision F Strike|"Fuck him!"]] (re: his brother), and screaming for them to reopen trade:

* The Duke Brothers in ''[[Trading Places]]'' have a nice one after the heroes manipulate the <s>stock</s> Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice market and cause them to lose everything. Randolph has a heart attack, and Mortimer abandons all pretense of civility, declaring [[Precision F-Strike|"Fuck him!"]] (re: his brother), and screaming for them to reopen trade:

{{quote| "Turn those machines back on! (echoing throughout the Exchange) TURN THOSE MACHINES BACK ON!"}}

* Fritz Lang's movie ''[[Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (Film)|Dr. Mabuse the Gambler]]'' ends with the eponymous villain (played by Rudolf Klein-Rogge) suffering one of these, while being surrounded by the ghosts of all the people he had murdered earlier.

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** Well, that's not the ''last'' we see of Thade . . .

* [[President Evil]] Idi Amin in ''[[The Last King of Scotland]]''. Trying to track his Breakdowns can be... challenging.

* [[Osmosis Jones|Thrax]] has a subtle breakdown during his final confrontation with Osmosis. His normally slick dreadlocks fall out of place, his voice gets rougher, and his [[Evil Laugh]] gets [[Nightmare Fuel|creepier]]. It does escalate to a [[This Cannot Be]] moment {{spoiler|just before he falls into a beaker of alcohol}}.

* [[Osmosis Jones|Thrax]] has a subtle breakdown during his final confrontation with Osmosis. His normally slick dreadlocks fall out of place, his voice gets rougher, and his [[Evil Laugh]] gets [[Nightmare Fuel|creepier]]. It does escalate to a [[This Cannot Be!]] moment {{spoiler|just before he falls into a beaker of alcohol}}.

* Happens toward the end of ''[[Training Day]]'', when Alonzo Harris realizes that the neighborhood he used to run as a corrupt cop will no longer play along with his criminal enterprises after his partner Jake subdues him in the middle of the street.

** The exact same ending happens in ''Pride and Glory''!

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* Elle Driver from ''[[Kill Bill]]'', very much the [[Smug Snake]] during the course of the two movies, has a pretty epic one of these after {{spoiler|the Bride snatches out her remaining eye and crushes it underfoot}} in Volume 2, reducing her to little more than a wailing, screaming and thrashing lunatic.

** This performance was similar to Pris' death rages in ''[[Blade Runner]]''.

* Towards the end of ''[[Return to Oz]],'' the Nome King suffers a breakdown when Dorothy manages to finally beat him at his own game- three times in a row: for every victory, the King loses both his temper and a little of the humanity he'd gained from the contest, gradually transforming from an [[Affably Evil]] humanoid to a [[One Winged Angel|gigantic Earth Elemental]]. He even destroys his [[Good Smoking Evil Smoking|pipe]] with a blast of magic, ends the contest in a tantrum, and goes on to destroy his entire palace in his attempt to kill Dorothy- {{spoiler|which would have been successful had Billina not laid an egg.}}

* Towards the end of ''[[Return to Oz]],'' the Nome King suffers a breakdown when Dorothy manages to finally beat him at his own game- three times in a row: for every victory, the King loses both his temper and a little of the humanity he'd gained from the contest, gradually transforming from an [[Affably Evil]] humanoid to a [[One-Winged Angel|gigantic Earth Elemental]]. He even destroys his [[Good Smoking, Evil Smoking|pipe]] with a blast of magic, ends the contest in a tantrum, and goes on to destroy his entire palace in his attempt to kill Dorothy- {{spoiler|which would have been successful had Billina not laid an egg.}}

* ''[[Speed Racer (Film)|Speed Racer]]'': On the final lap of the Grand Prix...

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* ''[[Captain America the First Avenger]]'': "YOU ARE FAILING!!!!"

** A more subtle instance: Red Skull attempts to invoke his [[Hannibal Lecture]] about what Dr. Erskine stated to Steve Rogers about the formula, and how he was lied to, Captain America replies that the only thing Erskine ever told him about Red Skull was that Red Skull was insane. He is briefly seen irritated, but he regains his composure and deduces that he must have seen something inside him that Erskine believed deserved the formula far more, and asks what was special about him. Captain America doesn't give him the response he wants ("Nothing. I'm just a kid from Brooklyn."), and he breaks down completely, punching Captain America three times.

* Towards the end of ''[[The Avengers (Film)|The Avengers]]'', {{spoiler|Loki, after seeing his plans turning south, begins throwing a hissy fit at the approaching Hulk. [[Talk to The Fist|He doesn't]] [[Shut UP Hannibal|get far]]. His final reaction after the battle is much more composed, however.}}

* Towards the end of ''[[The Avengers (Film)|The Avengers]]'', {{spoiler|Loki, after seeing his plans turning south, begins throwing a hissy fit at the approaching Hulk. [[Talk to The Fist|He doesn't]] [[Shut UP, Hannibal|get far]]. His final reaction after the battle is much more composed, however.}}

{{quote| {{spoiler|"If it's all the same with you, [[I Need a Freaking Drink|I'll have that drink now]]."}}}}

* In ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'', Tai Lung's composure really starts to fall apart once he actually sees the Dragon Scroll he so coveted. Instead of fighting intelligently and using environment to his advantage, like he did in every fight before, he single-mindedly pursues the scroll, losing more and more of his cool, as Po starts to give him problems. After he obtains the Dragon Scroll and finds it to be blank, he suffers from this full out, and it just gets more intense after he discovers his pressure point technique to be ineffectual against Po, causing him to throw all semblance of strategy and martial arts mastery out the window, and after getting beaten and barely able to get up and stumble around, he just keeps rambling and trying to fight back.

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* Cal of ''[[Titanic]]'' on account of being such a [[Yandere]]. By the end of the scene, he's giggling when he realizes the irony of him losing the Heart of the Ocean.

* ''[[Orphan]]'': After failing to seduce John, Esther runs to her room, removes everything she uses to pass herself off as a nine-year-old, while throwing a screaming fit and wrecking the room.

* Hopper in ''[[A ~~Bugs~~ Life (Animation)|A Bugs Life]]'' has two: first, when the fake bird is exposed and the ants then stand up to the grasshoppers; second and more acutely, when his taking Flik hostage is thwarted by Atta and Hopper gives chase, viciously pursuing Flik {{spoiler|to an actual bird's nest, where Hopper doesn't think that the birds are real until it's too late}}.

* Hopper in ''[[A Bug's Life (Animation)|A Bugs Life]]'' has two: first, when the fake bird is exposed and the ants then stand up to the grasshoppers; second and more acutely, when his taking Flik hostage is thwarted by Atta and Hopper gives chase, viciously pursuing Flik {{spoiler|to an actual bird's nest, where Hopper doesn't think that the birds are real until it's too late}}.

* In the ''[[Sherlock Holmes]]'' film ''[[Sherlock Holmes (Film)|A Game Of Shadows]]'', the chess match between Moriarty and Holmes. It starts when Watson and Sim catch the assassin; Moriarty is slightly perturbed, but he quickly points out that all Holmes did was delay the inevitable, as Moriarty is banking on human nature to bring about his world war, which is something that Holmes can't stop. Then Holmes reveals that {{spoiler|he palmed Moriarty's little red book}} about halfway through the movie, and that {{spoiler|Scotland Yard and Watson's wife have been cheerfully decoding it and ripping apart Moriarty's entire criminal empire}} the whole time. Moriarty's breakdown and rage is subtle but clear, right up to the moment where he and Holmes have their climactic final brawl [[Awesomeness By Analysis|in their minds.]]

* In the final ''[[Harry Potter (Film)|Harry Potter]]'' movie Voldemort resorts to hitting and kicking Harry despite the fact that that sort of thing is for ''[[Fantastic Racism|Muggles]]'', and he's passing up an opportunity to kill him immediately. The implication presumably is that forget the practicalities, he wants to ''hurt'' Harry, and doing so with magic isn't satisfying enough.

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* In ''The Adventures Of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina'' the Mole King goes [[Ax Crazy]] when Thumbelina rejects him and chooses Tom instead and when Tom smashes his [[High Class Glass]] that allows him to see.

* Jafar has this after learning that ''[[Aladdin (Disney)|Aladdin]]'' took back the lamp at the cave of wonders. And then there's his [[Laughing Mad]] moment after the Prince Ali Reprise and his [[Big No]] when he realizes that he's a slave to the lamp after becoming an all powerful genie.

* A disturbing [[Up to Eleven]] version Judge Doom of ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit]]'' has not once, but twice at the climax, both involving his "deaths". He's normally quite composed but when he gets run over by a steamroller and reveals himself as a toon, he goes completely and openly [[Ax Crazy]]. Doom is very serious prior to being stuck with super glow to a steam roller, once he is caught, he immediately blows his cover through screaming gibberish, after being reduced to a card board cutout, casually remarks in a loud voice on how surprising it was for him to be a [[Toon]]. When met with sarcasm, he [[One Winged Angel|blows himself up to reveal he is a sick parody of a humanoid Toon with constantly warping eyes and a nightmarishly high pitched voice]] [[Nightmare Fuel|not only causing the normally cynical Eddie into a scared panic, but scaring half of the audience]]. From there, he is a silent, yet clearly devilishly sadistic monster who's only aim to bring Eddie despair as he takes away any hope of saving his friends and making him quiver in fear as he slowly moves toward him with a golden saw, with clear murderously gleeful intent as his eyes become more and more demented. This however is a [[Villain Ball]], as Eddie is able to escape and turn the Dip against Doom, reducing him to screaming "I'm melting" as he melts away to nothing, talk about two [[Family Unfriendly Deaths]]; not that he didn't deserve it [[Complete Monster|considering he was planning on mass-genocide on his own kind]].

* A disturbing [[Up to Eleven]] version Judge Doom of ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit]]'' has not once, but twice at the climax, both involving his "deaths". He's normally quite composed but when he gets run over by a steamroller and reveals himself as a toon, he goes completely and openly [[Ax Crazy]]. Doom is very serious prior to being stuck with super glow to a steam roller, once he is caught, he immediately blows his cover through screaming gibberish, after being reduced to a card board cutout, casually remarks in a loud voice on how surprising it was for him to be a [[Toon]]. When met with sarcasm, he [[One-Winged Angel|blows himself up to reveal he is a sick parody of a humanoid Toon with constantly warping eyes and a nightmarishly high pitched voice]] [[Nightmare Fuel|not only causing the normally cynical Eddie into a scared panic, but scaring half of the audience]]. From there, he is a silent, yet clearly devilishly sadistic monster who's only aim to bring Eddie despair as he takes away any hope of saving his friends and making him quiver in fear as he slowly moves toward him with a golden saw, with clear murderously gleeful intent as his eyes become more and more demented. This however is a [[Villain Ball]], as Eddie is able to escape and turn the Dip against Doom, reducing him to screaming "I'm melting" as he melts away to nothing, talk about two [[Family Unfriendly Deaths]]; not that he didn't deserve it [[Complete Monster|considering he was planning on mass-genocide on his own kind]].

* The [[Big Bad]] in ''All About Evil'' is already insane from the get-go, being an [[Ax Crazy]] [[Serial Killer]] who's dedicated to keeping her late father's movie theatre running by making "independent movies" of herself and her henchmen killing anyone she doesn't like. However, she completely falls apart during the film's climax -- the protagonist has prevented her "masterpiece" of slaughtering a packed audience, the police have arrived, and she's dragged the protagonist's mother up to the roof. She starts ranting, but the protagonist cuts her off, stating that her father would be ashamed of what she's become. This sets her off, and she starts screaming to the sky "Daddy, I did it for you!", then clutching her head and yelling at the protagonist to shut up... at which point {{spoiler|the protagonist's mother grabs her knife and stabs her in the neck, and she stumbles back off the roof.}}

* In [[Michael Clayton]], Karen freaks out the moment she's confronted by the presumed-dead Clayton (he escaped the car bomb she had her cronies plant), stammers and babbles her way through the conversation with him, and begins shaking when he reveals that she's been caught on tape. By the time she outright collapses to the floor as the cops close in on her, they're genuinely concerned that she needs medical care.