Voldemort is the number one Movie Villain of All Time according to a new list online from AOL Moviefone. Portrayed by actor Ralph Fiennes, Lord Voldemort came in at the number one spot, hexing out his fellow villainous rivals, which include the characters of Hannibal Lecter from “Silence of the Lambs,” Darth Vader from “Star Wars,” and Cruella De Vil from the Disney classic “101 Dalmatians.” Alan Rickman also makes the their list, not for his portrayal of Severus Snape, but for his role in the the 1988 film “Die Hard” where he played Hans Gruber. Moviefone says this of the Dark Lord from the Harry Potter films:
He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is the most powerful dark wizard to ever wave a wand, and he schemes to enslave the whole muggle world. His slithering presence has been minimal in the films so far, but we’ve all read the books, so we know how much more evil he’ll become.
Well deserved! I always get chills reading him, and watching a grown man, encircled by a bunch of other grown ups, torture and attempt to kill a 14 year old boy in GoF is one of the most vile, villainous things ever.
Oh scary. I don’t know about him enslaving the muggle world though. But he is still very mean and frightening. I gets the chills whenever he comes on screen. They did well with the special effects on his character.
im not sure that the film-voldemort is worse than hannibal lecter! i mean, he is barely in the movies! also, its hard to show his evil through films for some reason. it is better revealed through words written by a special someone! for example, i never feel the terror and the fear that i felt when voldy was chasing harry and hermione down in bathilda bagshot’s upstairs! the books make my heart beat a million miles per hour, and the movies can’t do that for me! the book-voldy could beat hannibal though!
I agree with you, Lucy. The chill of Anthony Hopkins’ performance is not even closely matched by Fiennes. Voldemort might by more evil in theory and in his overall goals, but anyone can SAY what evil things someone does. The real effectiveness is in the quality of the writing/performance of the villain, and therefore I just cannot agree with this rating at all. As big of Harry Potter fans as well all are, I think some fans would agree that although Jo is an amazing storyteller, she is not necessarily an amazing writer.
For me, Voldemort becomes QUITE stereotypical over the course of the series. Funnily enough, he is scariest in Half-Blood Prince, in which he is not even physically present. He is fine until Deathly Hallows, and by the time he morphs into Megaphone-Voldy, it is even comical for me to read. (“Lord Voldemort values bravery…one hour…one hour…you are mine…yada yada.”). And the dialogue from the locket: “I have seen your heart and it is mine!” I mean…that’s laughable.
I also take issue with the depth of Voldemort’s character and how he conveniently doesn’t understand or refuses to understand everything that matters in the series. Just to be clear, I DO comprehend that this is supposed to serve as a statement of morality in the books, but I just think it’s too convenient and a little lazy when it comes to the depth of the villain. It’s great that Jo comments on the importance of children’s tales and how Voldemort doesn’t understand them, but everything about accepting death is overused, in my honest opinion. Again, I understand why it is written in this manner; I just don’t agree.
