Top 5 Movies That Help Explain Who the Most Compelling Movie Character of All Time Is

McBane here, stretching the format of the top five list well beyond the breaking point…

Religion is fascinating to me. I grew up Catholic, and as any Catholic will tell you, for you to be accepted by the church, Catholicism is not a trait that helps comprise your character so much as the central underpinning to your identity. (You can also watch the movie

5) Dogma

if you need help understanding this).

Anyway, growing up Catholic made me wonder: what were other religions like? Are all Judeo-Christian philosophies generally the same? How different is Islam, really? And how do we in the West even begin make sense of Eastern religions?

I’ve pored long hours of inquiry and study into this, and frankly, these answers could take all day. But probably the most useful thing I have learned is that there is only one long-time, established religion in the world no one has gone to war in the name of: Buddhism.

Though you may think you don’t know much about it, Buddhism has appeal to virtually us as Americans. Remember

4) Star Wars

and all that Jedi stuff? Essentially Jedi precepts are just a sci-fi reinterpretation of Buddhism according to Lucas. Simply put, Buddhist principles teach that the only way to achieve nirvana (inner bliss) is to renounce all human desires (which lead to attachment, loss and suffering), in order to reach an enlightened life that understands that we are all simply components of one larger reality. As a practical matter, this implies that the greatest satisfaction in life is to sort of be a warden of peace.

However, Lucas and his western predilection toward individualism seemed to suggest a possibility that Buddhism never took into account, which is this: when he invented the Sith, Lucas laid the groundwork for an individual enlightened by pure evil.

Unfortunately and unsurprisingly, Lucas wasn’t a savvy enough storyteller to see the possibility he had created. His Sith, despite all the window dressing, were really nothing more than tormented, greedy souls who simply lusted after power. To me, this always seemed like a philosophically wimpy approach. These are characters who are supposed to be able to mentally battle the selfless Jedi? Anakin Skywalker is the most powerful dude in the universe, but yet he somehow descended into the depths of philosophically bottomless evil through a simple series of playschool-variety temper tantrums?

This bogus character construction sort of makes the movies seem more ridiculous than they already are, and the unenlightened approach of the Sith meant that it was obvious that they would always self-destruct eventually, despite having a bazillion midi-chlorians or whatever bullshit was supposed to give them their power.

Frankly, a Sith, at the end of the day, is not a very compelling villain.

Consider, conversely, the scene from

3) The Matrix Reloaded

when The Architect is talking to Neo, who as it turns out is the villain (or at least he is to the machines and to the 99.9% of humanity willing to live in the matrix). The Architect explains to the stoic Mr. Anderson that, unchecked, even the most unlikely result from the most minor variable can (and will) lead to chaos over a long enough time horizon if it is not accounted for, which of course was also the point of

2) Jurassic Park

and (I think) the crappy sequels.

How does this have anything to do with reality? Well the way I see it, folks, with the rise of globalization and human interconnectivity (along with the scientific creation of weapons of mass destruction), it is increasingly easier than ever before for one bad apple to cause an extinction-level event for the human race.

The question is, though, who would that exploding needle in the gasoline haystack be? Who would be best equipped to pull off an extinction-level event?

The answer lies in

1) The Dark Knight

and Heath Ledger’s sociopathic Joker.

Here’s the thing about sociopaths; they’re hard to figure. Movies tend to paint them into a corner as being intrinsically evil and fiendish plotters and all this shit. But being a sociopath doesn’t necessarily make you a bad person. It just means you don’t have typical human feelings. However, many (most) sociopaths function in society; they don’t all become serial killers or whatnot. They are doctors and lawyers and nuns and hookers and rocket scientists and garbage men and maybe even your next-door-neighbors. (And Raptor.)

However, what makes the Joker so terrifying is that he is an enlightened sociopath who, for whatever reason (it doesn‘t matter - once you reach enlightenment, your past is no longer intrinsic to your being) is able to find joy in a few perverse things. (And I know, the idea of an enlightened sociopath is so shocking as to seem alien, but I mean odds are, there has to be one or two of them out there, right?)

The Joker never questions his desires in this movie, never has any self-doubt regarding them; he completely at peace with them, and himself. There are only a few things that affect him emotionally; sadism, for example, simply makes him happy. Chaos makes him happy as well.

And that’s about it for touchy-feely.

Now, his enlightenment (as a sociopath) basically means that unlike Buddhists, he is only capable of reaching nirvana through these few things that he can achieve true feelings for…and he has found that he has no reason not to continue to enjoy them.

What makes him even more frightening is that not only does he desire wanton chaos, he is incredibly smart and he takes joy in being a force multiplier when it comes to his destructive worldview. This, in combination with his other factors, is what makes him unlike any other villain; if you don’t fight him, you’ll lose, but fighting him will also make you lose as well. You can’t fight him and not get dirty.

In part, there is no way to dissuade him other than killing him; like an evil doppelganger to a Buddhist monk, he has no obvious character flaws that can be exploited, and the purity of his desires (notice how he burns the money he earns) gives him a kind of integrity and relentlessness that is impossible to overpower. In fact, he is so impervious to threats that he even looks forward to experiencing death, as evidenced several times throughout the movie; yet we also learn that he doesn’t have a death wish (or a desire for martyrdom - both of which could be used against him), but (as a sadist) instead simply looks forward to the physical sensation. Also, since he doesn’t have to follow Buddhist precepts, he can remain innovative, creative, crafty, cunning, and charismatic, all while being completely enlightened.

Yet at no moment is anything supernatural about him. He is, rather, a completely human character that represents the absolute worst threat to humanity another human could possibly be. And since we all know that the villains are more interesting than the heroes, this means Ledger’s Joker is the most compelling character in cinematic history.

It probably would have made more sense to post this when The Dark Knight came out, but I had to think about it.