I rank them as such because to me, the ones who actually did something physically impressive against Indy are more worthy. Elsa is off this list immediately because she never did anything menacing, let alone hold a weapon. Vogel, Mola Ram, and Spalko did some pretty impressive physical fighting. Donovan and Belloq at least held a weapon and were somewhat evil.
Mola Ram ran away when Indy tried to attack him in the temple and managed to kick him in the face and hit him only once. Indy owned Ram. Still I would place Ram first. Just because he's the coolest villain in Indy and than perhaps Vogel.
Mola Ram ran away when Indy tried to attack him in the temple and managed to kick him in the face and hit him only once. Indy owned Ram. Still I would place Ram first. Just because he's the coolest villain in Indy and than perhaps Vogel.
I've moved the above 3 posts to place them in a more general villain thread, rather than the Spalko thread from which they originated.
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Belloq's the gold standard, or at least one of them, for summer blockbuster villains, in my opinion. A nuanced, not particularly flashy performance, rendering a character just shades worse than the hero and with emotional responses that we can understand. Few villains get to be as legitimately charming as Belloq does in the scene in the tent, mirror trick notwithstanding.
I think what is interesting about the villains in the Indy movies is that they do not engage into physical contact with the hero. With exception of Mola Ram. Belloq and Donovan and even Spalko were all about business. They would pull a fast one on you once or twice maybe like in a game. They got a common goal and they would go after it. Indy doesn't go after the bad guys to get them, he's trying to be the first one to find the artefact. And I think Belloq is one of the rare kind of bad guys. I think the best way to have a bad guy is if he's a total opposite of the hero. Instead of the rough looking hero, he was the decent, clean, civilised version of Indy, except he was on the wrong side.
Mola Ram is the exception but that's what makes him so cool. He already had 3 of the 5 stones. So he was well on his way before he met Indy. They were all cool in their own. Belloq because he's a mirror image of Indy, Mola Ram because he was so different from Belloq and Donovan, I think he was evil because he was working with the Nazis.
I was thinking about Belloq today and something occurred to me
in Raiders
Belloq: You and I are very much alike. Archeology is our religion. Yet we have both fallen from the purer faith. Our methods have not differed as much as you pretend. I am a shadowy reflection of you. it would only take a nudge to make you like me, to push you out of the light.
Indy: Now you're getting nasty!
Belloq: You know it's true. How nice. Look at this (holds up a pocket watch) It's worthless. Ten dollars from a vendor in the street. But I take it, I bury it in the sand for a thousand years, it becomes priceless! Like the Ark. Men will kill for it! Men like you and me.
Indy: What about your boss? Der Furher...I thought he was waiting to take possession.
Belloq: All in good time. When I'm finished with it! Jones, do you realize what the Ark is?!? It's a transmitter! A radio for speaking to God!
Now maybe it's just me, but Belloq isn't really thinking this thing through. He's as much as admitted that he's the Bad guy and Indy's the good guy. (albeit a possibly corruptable one in Belloq's estimation) But he wants something that will allow him to communicate with God himself. Not something that will make him God, or even God-like, just a path to an audience with the almighty.
If I were an admitted Bad Guy, i'd be a little more reluctant about going so far out of my way to attract God's attention by using one of his toys in service to the opposition.
I was thinking about Belloq today and something occurred to me
in Raiders
Belloq: You and I are very much alike. Archeology is our religion. Yet we have both fallen from the purer faith. Our methods have not differed as much as you pretend. I am a shadowy reflection of you. it would only take a nudge to make you like me, to push you out of the light.
Indy: Now you're getting nasty!
Belloq: You know it's true. How nice. Look at this (holds up a pocket watch) It's worthless. Ten dollars from a vendor in the street. But I take it, I bury it in the sand for a thousand years, it becomes priceless! Like the Ark. Men will kill for it! Men like you and me.
Indy: What about your boss? Der Furher...I thought he was waiting to take possession.
Belloq: All in good time. When I'm finished with it! Jones, do you realize what the Ark is?!? It's a transmitter! A radio for speaking to God!
Now maybe it's just me, but Belloq isn't really thinking this thing through. He's as much as admitted that he's the Bad guy and Indy's the good guy. (albeit a possibly corruptable one in Belloq's estimation) But he wants something that will allow him to communicate with God himself. Not something that will make him God, or even God-like, just a path to an audience with the almighty.
If I were an admitted Bad Guy, i'd be a little more reluctant about going so far out of my way to attract God's attention by using one of his toys in service to the opposition.
Well I always thought of this like Belloq doesnt care about the means to achieve his goals. He's working with the Nazis because he sees it as the only way to get what he wants, and doesnt care about what they do. And unlike indy, he thinks that being able to talk with God means somehow that he can have any request of his granted...and yeah Belloq does see Indy as corruptible, as I think he was familiar with the Temple of Doom Indy who was more mercenary.
Well, definitely Belloq. But not in the term of a villain. More of the perfect antagonist in regard to Indy. I also don't think Belloq is an evil person. He just takes advantage in working with the Nazis to get what he wants.
Well, definitely Belloq. But not in the term of a villain. More of the perfect antagonist in regard to Indy. I also don't think Belloq is an evil person. He just takes advantage in working with the Nazis to get what he wants.
Yeah that was my analysis of him basically. He's like pragmatic in the extreme. Very ends justify the means guy. Basically what Temple of Doom Indy could have become with the whole 'mercenary' attitude.
Well, definitely Belloq. But not in the term of a villain. More of the perfect antagonist in regard to Indy. I also don't think Belloq is an evil person. He just takes advantage in working with the Nazis to get what he wants.
Yeah that was my analysis of him basically. He's like pragmatic in the extreme. Very ends justify the means guy. Basically what Temple of Doom Indy could have become with the whole 'mercenary' attitude.
He was quite intimidating somewhere in South America. On the other hand, I think Marion would've fell for him instead of Indy if the circumstances were right.
Belloq for me too, and it doesn’t really surprise me that he’s winning. The concept of “the dark Indiana Jones” is fascinating, and it’s somewhat annoying that his end is so—er—final in Raiders, as I think he’s the best Indy villain bar none. The doppelgänger motif is of course an old one in legend and mythology (and in literature and cinema), and Belloq and Indy are excellent shadows of each other. Also, Belloq’s a call-back to classic Hollywood’s charming, suave villain—a kind of insidious evil. Claude Rains could have played him if Raiders were released in the ‘40s.
the helpless puppets of the main villains can also be thought of.
BTW, Katie Leigh dubbed the Maharajah in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I feel sorry for Raj Singh. Enough people think the Maharajah is a girl cause of his outfit in the film.
see RotLA
