Random 27 Oct 2003 11:05 pm
Bad guys
So I went to the theatre yesterday to watch “Matchstick Men”, where Nicolas Cage plays a, well, how can I say it… a really nice con-artist, who, while being great at his job, has some quirks on his personal life.
The week before I watched “The Italian Job”, a 2003 remake of a 1969 movie about a bunch of guys who steal a lot of money in Italy, get screwed by one of their own and decide to get back at him. I read somewhere that the 1969 version, starring Michael Caine, is much better, but the new one has Charlize Theron. Also, I’m pretty sure that the first version made no reference whatsoever to Napster, so, choose wisely.
But, going to the point of this post, one thing in common about these two movies is that both get us to like characters who, technically, are bad guys. The Italian Job crew are thiefs, and so are the Matchstick Men. However, we want them to succeed, at that’s not just because of Charlize’s looks or because Edward Norton’s character is much worse. So, why is it ?
My guess is that this is because they are shown as “likable”, gentle, even sweet people who just happen to have a different way of life. The Italian crew are not violent, they are very smart, and get screwed. Nicolas Cage’s character is seriously in need of a shrink, is not violent, and is smart. Is that enough to get us to like criminals ? Apparently yes, at least in the movies, as there are quite a lot of movies out there where they get people to cheer for the “bad” guys, usually thieves. “Ocean’s Eleven”, for example. Or “Lock, Stock an Two Smoking Barrels”. Or “Snatch”. Hell, even the guys in “Office Space” are thieves.
Is Hollywood making us, as a society, lenient towards thievery ?
