Hollywood has conditioned its audiences to anticipate the fairy-tale finale, the little guy beating the big guy, or the boy getting the girl, hence the phrase “Hollywood ending,” a term of sentimental simplicity for the achievement of a narrative goal. While we all still, to some extent, harness this inner desire and yearning for a happy resolution, in the increasingly sadistic world in which we find ourselves, the demand for the picture-perfect conclusion has been swallowed up by the appetite for realism.
A common, frequently successful, albeit exhausting theme at times, is the zero-to-hero arc. The one where a bus driver becomes heavyweight champion of the world, or the homeless orphan lands themselves a record deal. When executed properly, these stories often make for excellent screenplays, and it is no wonder that they reap the rewards at the box office. However, accompanying these types of flicks is a certain air of predictability, so the zero-to-antihero narrative is one that plays well to those who may have grown tired of the formulaic and overused banalities of these stories. Instead, some may opt for a more cynical take on a zero-to-hero plot line. Here are some of the best zero-to-antihero movies…
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5 Joker
Warner Bros. Pictures
Todd Phillips’ Joker delivers a meticulously attentive, bordering on obsessive and compulsive performance from Joaquin Phoenix. Set against the backdrop of the dystopian, super-rat-ridden-realms of 1980s Gotham City, lives an overlooked failure: Arthur Fleck. Sad, lonesome, and tortured by his mental instability, governed by uncontrollable laughing-induced episodes alienating him further from the already divided city, the socioeconomic gap in Gotham between the rich and the poor expanding day on day.
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Filled with almost laughable irony (it’d be funny if it wasn’t so sorrowful), Arthur, a man hellbent on being a comedian and making audiences laugh for a living, simply cannot comprehend the art of comedy. Appearances from Robert De Niro as the narcissistic, virtue-signaling talk show host, Murray Franklin, characterizes the systematic capitalism within Gotham.
Joaquin Phoenix had established an irreproachable portfolio along the way to Joker-stardom. Yet, it is in this delicately composed motion picture that we can truly gauge the seriously subtle intricacy of his performance art, from every change of expression to every flick of the leg during the ‘that’s life’ waltzing scenes, Phoenix’s utter devotion to the role in itself is enchanting and so very captivating. So, predictably, the recent announcement of Joker: Foile a Deuxhas got fans of 2019’s film incredibly excited.
4 Wolf of Wall Street
Paramount Pictures
We often associate an impressionable nature with youth and one’s childhood, yet in the aftermath of Scorsese’s Wolf of Wall Street release, it was somewhat alarming to read that stockbroker job searches had skyrocketed. From the autobiographical account of former broker-turned-author Jordan Belfort, also known as “the Wolf of Wall Street” (in his book of the same name), the film stars Leonardo DiCaprio in one of his most commanding performances as Belfort. The screenplay details Belfort and his colleagues’ various escapades, which at times, border on the heinous. From ‘dwarf-tossing,’ vast Quaalude and alcohol consumption, to repeated acts of infidelity, Belfort was ever enshrouded in scandal.
Taking away the glossy exterior of the fast cars, bundles of cash, mansions, and life of luxurious excess, and of course, DiCaprio’s cheeky and charming portrayal, Jordan Belfort is ultimately the exemplification of a repugnant individual. A man that was fueled, drug intake aside, by this irrepressible greed to accumulate wealth by any means necessary, no matter how reprehensible the method, and also his insatiable appetite for debauchery. Regardless of his sinful nature, Scorsese, along with his long list of A-listers, help to dress Belfort’s endeavors up into a remarkably exciting, and enthralling tale.
3 Nightcrawler
Open Road Films
Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a down-on-his-luck Lou Bloom in the dark Nightcrawler, who after a life as a petty thief, seeks to conquer the crime scene footage industry for news channels. After selling stolen goods to a scrapyard foreman, Bloom pitches his credentials as a potential employee describing himself as “persistent,” foreshadowing what is to come from him in both his personal and professional life.
Lou Bloom is a complex character, motivated by his single-mindedness to achieve his ambition, refusal to deviate from his position, and his direct approach to conversation. Gyllenhaal plays the emotionally vacant, almost sociopathic Bloom with such certitude. As his career begins to build momentum, his unbending and frank tendencies seem to take on a life of their own, as his tunnel vision leads him to push himself and those around him beyond their limits to reach professional acclaim.
2 The Shining
Hawk Films
That infamous picture of Jack Nicholson’s Jack Torrance with his head gaping through a half-axed door with that characteristic grimace emblazoned across his face is a defining snapshot of cinema. The Shining follows the story of Torrance, a failed writer and abusive nobody who embarks on a caretaking job at a purportedly haunted Overlook Hotel in the Rocky Mountains. Arguably, Nicholson puts in a career-finest performance as the increasingly deranged Torrance, who after suffering from writers-block while being snowed in with his family, seems to develop a case of cabin fever. Either his deranged mind or the ghosts of the hotel itself are convincing Jack that he’s special and important, if only he kills.
Stephen King chastised Kubrick’s adaptation of his novel, labeling it “a fancy car with no engine,” as well as being heavily critical of Nicholson’s casting as the central character. Despite King’s criticisms, Kubrick’s picture has withstood the test of time and has remained one of the best and scariest horror movies of all time.
1 The Godfather Part 2
In Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 gangster epic, The Godfather Part II, Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone makes a transition that is both surprising and unexpected. Formerly a man of real integrity, reinforced by his moral compass and righteousness, Michael has no designs for the mantel of becoming the don of the crime family, headed by his father Vito (Marlon Brando). However, after an assassination attempt on his father, Michael’s hand is somewhat forced, and he descends into the depths of the depravity of organized crime.
Following Vito Corleone’s untimely death, Michael assumes his father’s role as don, and so the merciless cycle of gangsterhood continues. The position ostensibly consumes Michael, the irony being that his earlier self and his attempts to be an upstanding citizen were quashed by his undying loyalty and sense of duty to his family as the new patriarch, becoming a version of himself that his younger form had resisted arduously.
