He's also the epitome of the little shit who gets away with everything because of connections.
"Old Percy called his aunt at the governor's mansion and squealed like a schoolyard sissy."
It's because they're the kind of people who want to control others and tell them what to do but lack the competence and ambition to earn that privilege without working up to a leadership position.
I'm a doctor and I've seen the glee with which they try to order us around at the hospital. It gives them a sense of power they otherwise would never experience in their otherwise unremarkable lives. I tell them to suck it and have had to take matters all the way to the medical superintendent sometimes because they wouldn't stop power tripping.
It's like asking why doctors hate disease, or why engineers hate it when bridges fall down
You may see HR's job as facilitating others or keeping things running smoothly or whatever. Some people see HR's job as fixing what's wrong with people. Hating the status quo (i.e. people living their lives unaccosted) is a good motivator to take on that job
I've always said Cruella should have just gone to a place where dogs are eaten for meat and she would then be helping use the whole animal and preventing waste.
This was my list for a long time too. Then I finally got around to watching Outlander, and Tobias Menzies character (Black Jack Randall) has made me re-rank.
Now ask me this as much as most people can’t stand, ruthless, immature, or selfish characters like these people would you say we need hated characters for a conflict?
Dolores Umbridge in particular was a perfect representation of government overreach and hubris in the face of crisis. We hated her because we could see how blind and petulant she was instead of being attentive and effective.
She was the equivalent of that terrible authority figure we all had at some point in our life that lived by the mantra "because I said so"
Joffrey was a spoiled bitch, but he too was a necessary and realistic part of the story. You're not supposed to like them, because they're mirrors of the worst kind of people that we've all met.
Umbridge in particular became so memorably hateable because, as you said, we've all encountered someone like her in our lives. Voldemort is a murderous maniac and, God willing, most of us won't encounter someone like that in our lives. But people like Umbridge are inevitable.
Imagine being such a cruel coward and insufferable twat that your name always comes first, and then people are like « no, wait, there was Ramsay Bolton, too, in that show ».
Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The English Colonel from The Patriot (don't remember his name but it's peak sneer Jason Isaacs)
Mr Potter from It's a Wonderful Life
Count Adhemar from A Knight's Tale (not as extreme but boy oh boy did my preteen self *hate* him)
Ugh Adhemar.
"How would you beat him?"
"While he slept, with a stick. But on a horse, with a lance? That man is unbeatable."
Or something like that. Cba to look it up.
I don't think he's worthy of much respect, but he falls, to me, short of hateable. We're not meant to like him, but he isn't really malevolent. Just not a good boss, and kind of a weirdo of a person, as if he was raised by robots and didn't know how to relate to people.
So many of the characters who are part of a love triangle, ie “the boyfriend of the woman the protagonist is pining for”. One example off the top of my head being Bradley Cooper in Wedding Crashers but truly this is such a common, overdone trope.
That’s part of the reason (among many other reasons) I love Casablanca. What a refreshing love triangle. Her estranged husband isn’t a jerk. In fact, he’s wonderful. It doesn’t make Ingrid Bergman evil that she nonetheless fell in love with Bogey, nor does it diminish their love story.
>So many of the characters who are part of a love triangle, ie “the boyfriend of the woman the protagonist is pining for”. One example off the top of my head being Bradley Cooper in Wedding Crashers but truly this is such a common, overdone trope.
Like Jed Mosley in The Wedding Bride!
Funny People does a great job of flipping this trope on its head.
Adam Sandlers character isn't such an amazing and perfect guy the more she gets to know him, and her husband played by Eric Bana is actually a really nice guy who maybe just hasn't been connecting with her as well lately. Plus she isn't exactly perfection either.
Lol you're right he is. There's a lot I figure I was omitting from the list those are just 2 that immediately popped in my head. Yes for some reason a Pup named Scooby Doo was in the 'Stay Puft' front-of-the-line section of my brain.
Technically Ghostbusters 3 times (two movies and a game).
For me it’s Real Genius. “I hate popcorn.”
I saw an interview with William Atherton and he said at some point he realized he was good at playing assholes so he just leaned into it.
The Child Catcher there are others of course but its right there in his name. I know its silly 35 years later but he terrified me in a way that Jason never did.
Is there a trend in fiction recently that all characters are unlikable? I'm reading books or watching shows or movies lately and constantly finding myself thinking that I either hate every one of the characters or at least just don't care what happens to them.
It's independent of genre too. SciFi, thriller, mystery, comedy, action, it doesn't matter. Everyone sucks.
Leo Beebe from Ford v Ferrari. Even though the story is mostly true, Beebe was made-up, probably to keep Henry Ford II from looking like too much of an incompetent meddling egomaniacal asshole.
Lucius Malfoy, in the Harry Potter series, was a real jerk in the movies and was played brilliantly to make him a racist, ignorant, and hateful guy that everyone wanted to sucker punch in the face.
My favorite thing is in the movie, right after Harry tricks him into giving Dobby the sock, he pulls out his cane wand, which is already amazing, and says "avada" before Dobby blasts him. Guy was gonna kill Harry goddamn Potter right outside Dumbledore's office for getting his butler out of a contract.
He's definitely the (a?) bad guy, but he's rather relatable and amusing. He casually fires thousands up on thousands, but he's banally evil, not specifically monstrous in any unusual way. He's a bad guy in the service of a true evil, though.
No. Absolutely not. Not even close.
Fifth Element didn't cash in on a quarter of Gary Oldman's villain credentials. Go watch Air Force One and then we can talk.
Slovik is also a hate-able, contemptible asshat. He’s just so small and pointless. He’s doing elaborate murder as middle aged temper tantrum.
But then everyone in that film is some form of unlikeable that it blunts that hate. They’re all shit in a way that is not engaging but also not so bad that it make the murders justified. They’re just unappealing. There is no one to root for, a dickhead is going to murder some people who while not as bad as him aren’t great. So who cares? There’s no conflict there, nothing to invest in. The victims themselves don’t seem that bothered.
Cal Hockley in Titanic. Basically had no redeeming value.
He did seem rather one dimensional as a character, but unfortunately Rose's plight has been a very real situation for so many women that his role was pretty necessary.
I think he was *written* that way, but Billy Zane has some hilarious line delivery moments and is so Billy Zane-y that it makes Cal more of an entertaining asshole. It's such soapy melodrama and so over the top that his cruelty doesn't really stick.
Byrce from 13 Reasons Why. He is the catalyst for a lot of drama in that show and yes we need bad guys to stir stuff up in our stories. Unrepentant, sympathetic, it doesn't matter just as long as people love to hate them
Snarf from (the original) Thundercats. Perhaps(?) he wasn’t made to be hated, but could’ve fooled me. Part of the reason I prefer the 2011 version is Snarf is cute and doesn’t talk, he just makes little noises. Hell, he even saves Lion-o’s life in battle as opposed to the worthless, whiny, unfunny shitbag from the original. Also 2011 Cheetara is hotter than the 80’s version. I said what I said.
I’m surprised that nobody mentioned Jeffrey Baratheon! The character was conceived to be hated big time and people did, indeed, hate him.
So much that people started hating the actor who played him, Jack Gleeson. The kid eventually quit acting altogether because of the overwhelming hatred directed towards him.
Less obvious answer, but as it's one of my favorite movies: Romero's Day of the Dead. Captain Rhodes is truly one of the most loathsome people I can think of, which is what makes his final comeuppance so deeply satisfying for me, and topped off with Bub gives him the most sarcastic salute a member of the undead could give.
I know it’s not a movie, but Micah Bell from RDR2 is so utterly hatable and that’s the point. His role is the story is to show how deluded Dutch is to trust him, not to be a well rounded character.
The Gang from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. They are all designed to be awful. But also appealing. We should hate them, but we may not because they are also so entertaining.
that used to be one of my answers until you realize that his reaction is a genuine reaction. We are so conditioned to see soldiers in movies be captain America when in reality there are probably tons of military personnel like upham that didn't know what to do and probably would freeze. we get to see lot of emotions in that movie and showing his reactions and how war changed him, albeit too little too late, were perfect
Percy, from the Green Mile. He played that part so well, I really wanted to punch his punchable face.
He's also the epitome of the little shit who gets away with everything because of connections. "Old Percy called his aunt at the governor's mansion and squealed like a schoolyard sissy."
He really was a scumbag. The actor married a teenager.
With her PARENTS permission too. Shits fucked.
You can watch him get eaten by the escalator at my local mall in an old xfiles episode.
Is that the one with the mole man who made a nest under the escalator? That one freaked me out when I was a kid.
So he's not just playing a creep on the x files then? I wonder if he eats liver irl too
Oh so that’s why I haven’t seen him in anything since then. He did a great job, but yeah fucking sick thing to do
My first thought. Wild Bill too. Shout-out to Doug Hutchison and Sam Rockwell for portraying such a-holes in this movie
Rockwell crushed it
Came here to say the same -- happy it's the top comment! Eff that guy.
Came here to say Percy.
* Dolores Umbridge * Joffrey Baratheon * Cruella de Vil
Umbridge was the best villain in the series. Voldemort is a fantasy character, but *everyone* has had an Umbridge in their life at some point.
Voldemort is an immortal, psycopathic, genocidal supervillain. Umbridge works in HR.
WHY does HR atract people who HATE people? lol
It's because they're the kind of people who want to control others and tell them what to do but lack the competence and ambition to earn that privilege without working up to a leadership position. I'm a doctor and I've seen the glee with which they try to order us around at the hospital. It gives them a sense of power they otherwise would never experience in their otherwise unremarkable lives. I tell them to suck it and have had to take matters all the way to the medical superintendent sometimes because they wouldn't stop power tripping.
It's like asking why doctors hate disease, or why engineers hate it when bridges fall down You may see HR's job as facilitating others or keeping things running smoothly or whatever. Some people see HR's job as fixing what's wrong with people. Hating the status quo (i.e. people living their lives unaccosted) is a good motivator to take on that job
I've always said Cruella should have just gone to a place where dogs are eaten for meat and she would then be helping use the whole animal and preventing waste.
I imagine Dalmatians are a rare breed so they wouldn't easily land in a dog meat market.
Then breed them specifically for meat over there.
My mother has been watching The Crown lately and I'm all, "Wait a minute, it's THAT bitch!"
I almost quit watching GOT fairly early on because I wanted to smack Joffrey through the screen too much lol
Jeffrey is stunning and holds my place as the #2 best villain of ALL TIME, after Homelander. Vader third.
This was my list for a long time too. Then I finally got around to watching Outlander, and Tobias Menzies character (Black Jack Randall) has made me re-rank.
For me he was a bit too weirdly, comically sexual and a caricature. Wow that series is better rated than I thought after quitting in season 2 or so.
I really hate how it autocorrects to Jeffrey; I sound like a well-meaning grandparent.
Upvoted for 2, but Cruella had a point in that they could barely afford to feed themselves, let alone 15 puppies!
Cruella De Vill especially Literally in the name
Now ask me this as much as most people can’t stand, ruthless, immature, or selfish characters like these people would you say we need hated characters for a conflict?
Dolores Umbridge in particular was a perfect representation of government overreach and hubris in the face of crisis. We hated her because we could see how blind and petulant she was instead of being attentive and effective. She was the equivalent of that terrible authority figure we all had at some point in our life that lived by the mantra "because I said so" Joffrey was a spoiled bitch, but he too was a necessary and realistic part of the story. You're not supposed to like them, because they're mirrors of the worst kind of people that we've all met.
Umbridge in particular became so memorably hateable because, as you said, we've all encountered someone like her in our lives. Voldemort is a murderous maniac and, God willing, most of us won't encounter someone like that in our lives. But people like Umbridge are inevitable.
Not only that, I daresay we've all had a *teacher* like that, sometime in our lives.
Biff Tannen
Should be WAY higher
Whatever. Why don’t you make like a tree and get outta here?
That's about as funny as a screen door on a battleship.
Ramsay Bolton
Imagine being such a cruel coward and insufferable twat that your name always comes first, and then people are like « no, wait, there was Ramsay Bolton, too, in that show ».
Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest The English Colonel from The Patriot (don't remember his name but it's peak sneer Jason Isaacs) Mr Potter from It's a Wonderful Life Count Adhemar from A Knight's Tale (not as extreme but boy oh boy did my preteen self *hate* him)
Before the war is over, I'm going to kill you. Why wait? I love that exchange.
Colonel Tavington is the name you're thinking of, and Mr Potter is an excellent inclusion.
I hate that Mr. Potter completely got away with it…
Fortunately the lost ending fixes that: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vw89o0afb2A
Don't need to click to know it.
Yeah, but that’s life, ain’t it?
Ugh Adhemar. "How would you beat him?" "While he slept, with a stick. But on a horse, with a lance? That man is unbeatable." Or something like that. Cba to look it up.
Jason Isaacs is excellent at playing hatetable characters.
Louise Fletcher won an academy award for Nurse Ratched. She also played the best character to hate in all of Star Trek.
Uncle Frank from Home Alone. my God, I always want to hit that guy lol
He's the one that should have gotten a paint can to the head.
him and Buzz haha. Would have felt so good to watch that
"Look what you did, you little jerk!" "If it makes you feel any better, I forgot my reading glasses."
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At some point you’ll have a boss like Bill Lumbergh and it sucks, but it makes Office Space that more funny.
Lumburgh fucked her?
Hell, Lumberg fucked her.
"Say hello to Lumbergh for me!!"
Ooh, yeah. Just a little to left, great. Peter, what's happening? Can you get those TPS Reports to me ASAP? Thanks.
I don't think he's worthy of much respect, but he falls, to me, short of hateable. We're not meant to like him, but he isn't really malevolent. Just not a good boss, and kind of a weirdo of a person, as if he was raised by robots and didn't know how to relate to people.
He's pretty mean to Milton.
He was a douche, but I think the restaurant manager and that smarmy waiter were much more hateable (while still being funny)
Ricky Spanish
The best joke involving Ricky is that him not holding the elevator doors open is put on the same level as all the other horrible shit he has done.
That's like shooting someone aligator skin suitcases: just MEAN!
Baron Harkonnen (Dune) Repellent in every way.
So many of the characters who are part of a love triangle, ie “the boyfriend of the woman the protagonist is pining for”. One example off the top of my head being Bradley Cooper in Wedding Crashers but truly this is such a common, overdone trope. That’s part of the reason (among many other reasons) I love Casablanca. What a refreshing love triangle. Her estranged husband isn’t a jerk. In fact, he’s wonderful. It doesn’t make Ingrid Bergman evil that she nonetheless fell in love with Bogey, nor does it diminish their love story.
I agree and also felt the same way about The Notebook.
>So many of the characters who are part of a love triangle, ie “the boyfriend of the woman the protagonist is pining for”. One example off the top of my head being Bradley Cooper in Wedding Crashers but truly this is such a common, overdone trope. Like Jed Mosley in The Wedding Bride!
No can-dos-ville babydoll
He’s not even estranged. He was in prison and presumed dead. When she found out he was alive, she went back to him.
Funny People does a great job of flipping this trope on its head. Adam Sandlers character isn't such an amazing and perfect guy the more she gets to know him, and her husband played by Eric Bana is actually a really nice guy who maybe just hasn't been connecting with her as well lately. Plus she isn't exactly perfection either.
Red Herring from A Pup Named Scooby Doo Noober from Baldur's Gate
Scrappy-Doo is worse.
Scrappy Doo wasn’t actually created with the intent for the audience to hate him, he was supposed to appeal to the children watching the show.
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Lol you're right he is. There's a lot I figure I was omitting from the list those are just 2 that immediately popped in my head. Yes for some reason a Pup named Scooby Doo was in the 'Stay Puft' front-of-the-line section of my brain.
As long as you despise Scrappy-Doo from the very fiber of your soul, you're ok in my book
Yeah who thought that fucken thing was a good idea? Cousin Oliver ass mofo.
HEYA!
Fuck yeah noober represent. That reputation boost is worth not throwing rocks at him
###Clarence Boddiker, 'Robocop' (1987) (Played by Kurtwood Larson Smith)
At least he let the bitches leave
Let or commanded?
Bitches leave
Bitches. Leave. FTFY
The performance was the perfect "real asshole," like that might be the most 3-dimensional character ever put to film.
I used to work with a guy that looked and sounded exactly like him about a decade ago. He really was white-collar crime Boddiker.
Can you fly, Bobby?
The “this man has no dick” guy from ghostbusters Bradley Cooper’s character in Wedding Crashers Paul Reiser’s character in Aliens 2
Walter Peck?
Fucking Carter Burke
First one that came to my mind. Made me hate Paul Reiser so much that I've never been able to see him as anyone else.
William Atherton, in Ghostbusters. And in Die Hard. And Biodome.
I did root for him in Biodome.
He is really good at playing the person you cannot stand. That's why he's such a good actor.
Technically Ghostbusters 3 times (two movies and a game). For me it’s Real Genius. “I hate popcorn.” I saw an interview with William Atherton and he said at some point he realized he was good at playing assholes so he just leaned into it.
And Real Genius.
Walter Peck had some legitimate concerns about an unlicensed nuclear device in a rundown building in Manhattan
Yeah, sure, but he had no dick.
Aliens 2?
Alien 2, also known as Aliens.
Tony Clifton
The Child Catcher there are others of course but its right there in his name. I know its silly 35 years later but he terrified me in a way that Jason never did.
Like, from, chitty chitty bang bang?
right.
Emperor Commodus, played masterfully by Joachim Phoenix
Shooter McGavin. Just the perfect rich dickhead.
His actor is really good at playing that type of character.
Plus he eats pieces of shit for breakfast.
…… NO! ……..
Erebus
And fantasy's Erebus: Mannfred
Steff from Pretty in Pink
Prince Humperdinck
Is there a trend in fiction recently that all characters are unlikable? I'm reading books or watching shows or movies lately and constantly finding myself thinking that I either hate every one of the characters or at least just don't care what happens to them. It's independent of genre too. SciFi, thriller, mystery, comedy, action, it doesn't matter. Everyone sucks.
Indeed, this character who sucks is killing this other character who sucks. Oh, right. Ok. Cool.
That weaselly guy from the corporation in Aliens. What was his name? Burke?
Paul Reiser played the part so well.
Randall Flagg
He's worse in the books.....
Hey, you leave that poor, interdimensional wizard alone.
Walter Peck - Dickless
Elijah Wood in Eternal Sunshine...
Homelander
Most of the characters are pretty miserable in some way or another. Except Kimiko of course.
Cinderella's whole family
Captain from Cool Hand Luke (the failure to communicate guy)
Leo Beebe from Ford v Ferrari. Even though the story is mostly true, Beebe was made-up, probably to keep Henry Ford II from looking like too much of an incompetent meddling egomaniacal asshole.
Lucius Malfoy, in the Harry Potter series, was a real jerk in the movies and was played brilliantly to make him a racist, ignorant, and hateful guy that everyone wanted to sucker punch in the face.
My favorite thing is in the movie, right after Harry tricks him into giving Dobby the sock, he pulls out his cane wand, which is already amazing, and says "avada" before Dobby blasts him. Guy was gonna kill Harry goddamn Potter right outside Dumbledore's office for getting his butler out of a contract.
Grima Wormtongue Dolores Umbridge
Zorg from The Fifth Element.
They did a bad job of making me hate him, then
I hope you found something for your horrible diarrhea.
He's definitely the (a?) bad guy, but he's rather relatable and amusing. He casually fires thousands up on thousands, but he's banally evil, not specifically monstrous in any unusual way. He's a bad guy in the service of a true evil, though.
I honestly think this is directly because of Gary Oldman’s portrayal, and much less to do with how Zorg is written. And it helps make the movie.
He also gives a classic "evil is good" speech. I love a good over the top "evil is good" speech.
No. Absolutely not. Not even close. Fifth Element didn't cash in on a quarter of Gary Oldman's villain credentials. Go watch Air Force One and then we can talk.
"You're a monster, Zorg." >I know.
Lord Farquad (sounds like Fuckwad)
Paul in the current Spider-Man run only exists to stop MJ and Peter from being together. I don't know anyone who likes Paul
You mean Muad'Dib?
Ned in Jurassic Park.
Tyler from The Menu
Slovik is also a hate-able, contemptible asshat. He’s just so small and pointless. He’s doing elaborate murder as middle aged temper tantrum. But then everyone in that film is some form of unlikeable that it blunts that hate. They’re all shit in a way that is not engaging but also not so bad that it make the murders justified. They’re just unappealing. There is no one to root for, a dickhead is going to murder some people who while not as bad as him aren’t great. So who cares? There’s no conflict there, nothing to invest in. The victims themselves don’t seem that bothered.
Cal Hockley in Titanic. Basically had no redeeming value. He did seem rather one dimensional as a character, but unfortunately Rose's plight has been a very real situation for so many women that his role was pretty necessary.
I think he was *written* that way, but Billy Zane has some hilarious line delivery moments and is so Billy Zane-y that it makes Cal more of an entertaining asshole. It's such soapy melodrama and so over the top that his cruelty doesn't really stick.
Cal with the kid at the end is high camp
“I Have A CHILd”
Percy Wetmore
Becky Sharp from Vanity Fair.
Claude Frolo
But he did get the best song in the movie.
Bill Sykes in Oliver Twist Shylock in Merchant of Venice (plus anti-semitic overtones)
Byrce from 13 Reasons Why. He is the catalyst for a lot of drama in that show and yes we need bad guys to stir stuff up in our stories. Unrepentant, sympathetic, it doesn't matter just as long as people love to hate them
Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore
Snarf from (the original) Thundercats. Perhaps(?) he wasn’t made to be hated, but could’ve fooled me. Part of the reason I prefer the 2011 version is Snarf is cute and doesn’t talk, he just makes little noises. Hell, he even saves Lion-o’s life in battle as opposed to the worthless, whiny, unfunny shitbag from the original. Also 2011 Cheetara is hotter than the 80’s version. I said what I said.
Most of the people in Slytherin.
I’m surprised that nobody mentioned Jeffrey Baratheon! The character was conceived to be hated big time and people did, indeed, hate him. So much that people started hating the actor who played him, Jack Gleeson. The kid eventually quit acting altogether because of the overwhelming hatred directed towards him.
Ramsay Bolton
Less obvious answer, but as it's one of my favorite movies: Romero's Day of the Dead. Captain Rhodes is truly one of the most loathsome people I can think of, which is what makes his final comeuppance so deeply satisfying for me, and topped off with Bub gives him the most sarcastic salute a member of the undead could give.
Dio
Donald trump
Yeah the real villain of Home Alone 2.
Captain Hadley and bogs from the Shaw shank redemption.
Hadley was my pick. The warden, too.
I know it’s not a movie, but Micah Bell from RDR2 is so utterly hatable and that’s the point. His role is the story is to show how deluded Dutch is to trust him, not to be a well rounded character.
Chris
Micah from Red Dead Redemption 2
Calvin Candie
Derek huff, Adam Scott, from step brothers. They literally did everything they could to make him look like an absolute douche.
Adam Scott plays a great jerk!
In Leap Year too. Exact opposite of Ben Wyatt.
And in The Vicious Kind with J.K. Simmons and Brittany Snow!
Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes in Misery (1990), is pretty high on the list of people you absolutely hate on screen.
I despise her in the book, but I just feel sorry for her in the film.
Binky the Clown - Shakes the Clown
Cypher from the Matrix.
Dolores Umbridge
The Gang from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. They are all designed to be awful. But also appealing. We should hate them, but we may not because they are also so entertaining.
Annie Wilkes
Walter Peck, Ghostbusters and Richard Thornberg, Diehard. Both played by William Atherton.
Nelly from Little House on the Prairie. She was the WORST. Hated her as a kid. That poor actress never really did anything else
Joffrey!
The Patriot - the guy who kills Mel Gibson's son (Ledger) that character reeks of asshole.
Ivan Drago
The Comedian from Watchmen.
Draco Malfoy.
Nah Draco is just the victim of a terrible father
At first, he was made to be hated. The terrible father wasn’t till later.
You mean like the second book?
Maybe, but he’s still a little shit.
Not as bad as Umbridge
Biff Tannen. IYKYK
I hate that redhead kid even more.
Emma Stone’s female friend in **Crazy Stupid Love**.
Timothy Upham Or maybe I'm the only one who hates him with a passion.
that used to be one of my answers until you realize that his reaction is a genuine reaction. We are so conditioned to see soldiers in movies be captain America when in reality there are probably tons of military personnel like upham that didn't know what to do and probably would freeze. we get to see lot of emotions in that movie and showing his reactions and how war changed him, albeit too little too late, were perfect