Somehow I think the 'Titan' character ruined the comic tone toward the film's climax. Although Megamind was always up to mischief (sort of like a 'Wizard of Oz' charged as Youthful Offender), he never had murderous intentions (remember how surprised he was, when he thought he had killed Metroman). Titan, on the other hand, was one step away from killing Roxie, when he hurled the bus at her.
Before Hal was transformed into Titan, he was just a pathetic nerd, who said a few nasty things, after being rejected by Roxie. But once he became Titan, first he became a stalker and then eventually proclaimed that he was over his infatuation and was out to kill her. I realize that once he was injected, all of Hal's bad points were magnified to the point where he became a psychopath. But why was that? Why couldn't Hal remain the goofy nerd, even after Megamind injected him? Everything else in the movie was FUN, but once Titan turned into who he was, things weren't much fun anymore.
There needed to be an explanation in the script as to WHY Titan became a psychopath. Perhaps he encountered some kryptonite type substance that made him act that way or perhaps Minion used the wrong DNA when the formula was being prepared.
Ultimately, I think Hal got the short end of the stick here. Since Megamind was now in charge and could explain to everybody that HE was responsible for Hal's transformation, why should Hal end up in prison? It wasn't his fault that he was transformed into Titan.
Don't get me wrong, I liked 'Megamind' quite a bit, but psycho Titan just didn't fit in, without a better explanation!
"Before Hal was transformed into Titan, he was just a pathetic nerd, who said a few nasty things, after being rejected by Roxie. But once he became Titan, first he became a stalker and then eventually proclaimed that he was over his infatuation and was out to kill her. I realize that once he was injected, all of Hal's bad points were magnified to the point where he became a psychopath. But why was that? Why couldn't Hal remain the goofy nerd, even after Megamind injected him? Everything else in the movie was FUN, but once Titan turned into who he was, things weren't much fun anymore."
I think there are a lot of sad/dark undertones in this movie that we may not catch, what about when Megamind gives up with stopping Titan and says "I'm going home." but is actually putting himself in prison? Hal is the nerd who just needed the guidance, but from what I see, he is just using Roxanne as an excuse. He´s always trying to impress her by making stuff up, like when he said he beat up like 50 ninjas, the guy was ALWAYS neurotic, the thing is, and I kinda like the movie more so now that I've thought of this, Hal is that nerd who is secretly a psychopath but we just don't see it, to paraphrase Jack Nicholson in Anger Management:
There are 2 kinds of angry people, one is the customer shouting at the cashier for messing up, the other is the cashier who takes insults and comments day in and day out until, finally, he shoots everyone in the store.
Now I know Hal isn't that guy that gets beat up all the time (he looks like it, but we never see it and I don't think its ever brought up.) but Hal believes the world works a certain way, he probably always knew Roxanne would never go for him the way he is, so when he gets superpowers, he really believes Roxanne will fall for him, but when that doesn't happen, he thinks Roxanne is being a bitch and doesn't take no for an answer, it weren't the powers that set Hal over the edge, it was being rejected by Roxanne, but Roxanne isn't the pretty girl who rejects him for shallow reasons, Hal was a nice guy, he just was too clumsy and full of himself to get any girl, so when he first got superpowers he tried to act like Romeo appearing before her in on her balcony, but since he is still that clumsy guy, everything he does now is dangerous. Roxanne was frightened by him, and also Hal didn't even give her a chance to talk. The moment she said no was the moment he freaked out, and then when he sees Roxanne with Bernard/Megamind, he chooses to steal. Here Hal's cards are finally on the table, he never cared about people, he just wanted to score with Roxanne because that to him was the only good reason to be a superhero.
>>Here Hal's cards are finally on the table, he never cared about people, he just wanted to score with Roxanne because that to him was the only good reason to be a superhero.<<
I think your analysis of Hal/Titan is a good one. But somehow I wanted the character to have either more charm or more dimension (or both). He really seems pretty much like a stock villain. Could they have fleshed the character out a bit more? As it stands now, Hal/Titan moves the story along, but it's all rather predictable at the end.
I can understand your point, though I disagree with it. If I'm not mistaken, Megamind trained Titan to be a hero, but that's not what Titan wanted, sure, let's say he had explained if it weren't for him Hal would have never gotten superpowers and attacked the city, the point is Hal made the choice of becoming a villain all by himself. Sure that's like giving a troubled teen (without knowing he's troubled) a gun, having that kid go on a killing spree and then stopping him, now would you be held responsible because you gave him the gun? Of course you would be but you also would be condoned for stopping him, and if it was your gun that allowed him to do said atrocities, does that make the teen any less responsible for his crimes? No, he chose to use that gun for that purpose and must face the full repercussions of his actions.
This is adressed between Megamind and Titan:
Titan (about to kill Megamind): this is for space dad making a fool out of me.
Megamind: I made you a hero, you did the fool thing, all by yourself.
Megamind took responsibility by being the one to stop Titan, after all with out Metroman, who else was there? But I also think that you're wrong about Megamind's villainy when compairing it to Titan's. 1. Megamind believe he was a villain simply because that's all he knew, he was never given the chance to prove himself to the world, but the point of the story is that deep down he always wanted to be a hero, or at least accepted. 2. Megamind was surprised about killing Metroman, not because he didn't want to kill him, but because Metroman had escaped his traps so many times that it became routine, and he was just surprised it actually worked, in fact, wasn't he celebrating after it all sinked it?
And I also don't think the Titan formula changed his personality, like I said, at first he was the same goofy guy, but he was out of his mind the whole time, I don't think there should be some substance to turns him evil, like I said, he's just the guy that could snap and kill everybody if pushed one more time, that's simply how I see Hal.
From a psychological point of view, titan is pretty easy to explain. A great philospher named nietzsche once said "Verily I have often laughed at weaklings who thought themselves good because they had no claws"
in other words....Hal was only "good" because he was too much of a wimp to be bad.
He had always wanted the girl and was extremely jealous of metroman--and he thought the only reason she liked metroman was his powers...and when he finally got powers and she STILL didn't want him, it basically drove him insane
PS: A lot of the "you don't know me. You've never even had a real conversation with me!" was actually unpleasant.....but only because maybe it hit too close to home. Sometimes women have a way of ignoring nice guys that adore them simply because they don't have enough charisma or whatever, or just are not attractive.
Edit: Also I have to mention, I've seen you say a few times that Hal becoming bad doesn't make sense and is 1 note and all that but really it all comes down to this old saying of "Power corrupts--and absolute power corrupts absoltely"
A lot of people in this world are only nice because society forces them to be, if suddenly any average human we're given superman like powers...you'd be surprised how many of them would abuse the hell out of it and make themselves king of the world.
Sometimes women have a way of ignoring nice guys that adore them simply because they don't have enough charisma or whatever, or just are not attractive.
Although lack of charisma is a fairly good reason to not fancy someone (and lack of attractiveness is a tautological reason not to fancy someone). In Hal's case, it was also fairly deserved (he wasn't a nice guy).
It's made fairly clear that Roxanne isn't shallow. She likes Bernard, who has a 'geeky intellectual' thing going on, and then she likes Megamind, despite being unusual looking. She's someone that seems to care primarily about character and behaviour.
Hal just never delivered, neither as an awkward geek or an over-confident superhero. reply share
at the end when megamind is falling to his death he could've just used his watch to turn to metro man again and fly. then they make him the defender of metro city even though he has 88 life sentences. and the hot girl gets with the blue alien.
The watch didn't make him fly, just disguise his appearance. He was using other gadgets to replicate the powers of metroman, which I think were broken earlier.
I know this is an exceedingly late reply but I want to say something - though I personally didn't find Titan's crazy to be out-of-the-blue I can see how someone else could, and won't fight you on that; however, I COMPLETELY disagree with the idea that Hal as a villain is one-dimensional.
The idea that Hal was inherently bad from the start is, you're right, not a good explanation. And, to be fair to the film, it isn't really the explanation given. Though Hal was giving off creeper vibes from the start ("I'll be watching you like a dingo watches a human baby"/"And I hired a wedding photographer [for the party], y'know, in case anything happens" etc.) he was always portrayed as harmless and lovelorn, and I'll admit that for the first bit of the movie I felt kinda bad for him. Like the rest of Western society I have been conditioned to view slightly-creepy-geeks in the media as cute and endearing, since they only want to "romance" the girl of their dreams and don't know how to go about it. The "dogged nice guy geek" is a very prominent archetype in the media and has been so for decades. That's why Hal as the villain is so perfect, in my opinion--the movie sets him up to BE this "dogged nice guy geek" archetype we all know so well. We know he isn't going to get the girl, because Megamind shows an interest in Roxanne pretty early on (though it's subtle) and starts off the movie by mentioning "the girl of [his] dreams". So we laugh at Hal's slapsticky antics and his goofiness, become somewhat endeared to him, and feel a little sad that he's going to be going home empty-handed and broken-hearted.
Then the injection happens. Hal continues to be a bit creepy and possessive of Roxanne and though the audience may cringe or giggle at this we don't think much of his behaviour. We, like Megamind, think that this is the opportunity for Hal to become more, to be given the chance to rise up and be a hero, to get attention, to get the girl (though by this point I think we're all hoping it's a girl who isn't Roxanne). But what's the first thing out of Hal's mouth when "Space Dad" comes a-knocking and he assumes he's there to rob him? "The lady across the hall has WAY better stuff than me!!!"
That line may be shrugged off as a joke, but in the end THIS is the moment that the audience realizes that Hal is NOT entirely a good guy. Sure, he may be sympathetic, harmless, a bit geeky, and seemingly nice to people he likes (Roxanne), but he has been shown throughout the film to also be possessive, entitled, and cowardly. This in and of itself doesn't make him a bad person--flawed, maybe, but not BAD. It's with the "Lady across the hall" line that we see the first hint of his true colours; when the chips are down, he has no qualms about doing whatever it takes to save his own hide, and clearly couldn't care less about the well-being of others. He is, on top of being creepy and possessive, incredibly selfish and self-absorbed. This a good hero does not make.
From the start of the Space Dad training montage, Hal makes it clear from his gaze down at the picture of Roxanne that winning her via his powers is the only reason he wants to be superhuman. He doesn't care about being a hero, or using his powers for good--he only cares about using them for his own ends, and at that moment, Roxanne is the end he wants. To cap this all off, he doesn't seem to care about what she wants or what she's like; he's attracted to her, but just as she doesn't know him very well outside of being her cameraman, whose to say he knows her any better? He wants her, because he wants her, not because he knows or loves her. During the scene where Roxanne rejects his invite to his "party for two", he shows that he has a great capacity for anger and self-loathing, which is pitiable but also pathetic, and shows why he doesn't really actively pursue Roxy outside of a few creepy come-ons. Before the injection he was simply a slightly creepy "dogged nice guy geek" pining after a pretty girl. Once he gets his powers, not only does he assume that he is suddenly worthy of Roxanne, he feels like he DESERVES her.
To go back to his selfishness, once he is rejected by Roxanne (while he has powers) he decides to take out his anger by engaging in villainy. He does this because he was spurned by a woman, not because he fell into a vat of acid and was horribly scarred, not because he watched his family killed, or because he was tortured and spurred towards revenge, or any of the "cliched" villain backstories--no, he was simply rejected by ONE woman, a woman who had never at any point shown any romantic interest in him. This goes back to his self-loathing, anger, and sense of entitlement--he saw Metroman get everything he wanted, seemingly because of his powers. Presumably, he also saw (in the media) the "nice guy" finish first by virtue of being "nice" and geeky. He thinks he is now entitled to do whatever he wants due to his new abilities. His anger and his newfound ability to take it out in whatever way he pleases is what leads him to hurl the bus at Roxanne, who is, in his mind, the cause of all his anguish. And if you look at the path that drove him there, it isn't really that much of a stretch.
Hal is hardly a one-dimensional character--from the way you phrase it, you seem to mean one-dimensional in the sense that he doesn't appear to have any good in him by the end. But his character arc clearly shows his humanity leaving him and his negative traits encompassing more of him through the process of the plot. It's true that he isn't fun or funny once we see what he's truly capable of, and this is because of the way the film plays on our expectations and our preconceived archetype of the "dogged nice guy geek". We laugh at him when he is weak and pathetic, we sympathize with him when he doesn't get the girl, but it isn't until rewatching the film or analyzing what you just saw that you can really see the hints as to his negative side. He let his anger and frustration at the world get the better of him. Hal, like anybody, is probably redeemable, but as it stands nobody really tried to redeem him, because nobody (including the audience) saw any reason for him to be redeemed... until it was far too late.
I don't disagree with your analysis, except for your conclusion. I don't agree that Titan/Hal is "redeemable". You let him off the hook when you say "his anger and frustration at the world get the better of him". From your point of view, it's as if the 'world' is responsible for his anger and frustration and not the other way around. Simply put, Tital/Hal is a psychopath. He has no charm, unlike Megamind. He's a stock villain who turns Megamind (the film) into a melodrama and not a comedy. What's funny about Titan/Hal throwing the bus at Roxanne? NOTHING WHATSOEVER! If you read some of my earlier posts, I was trying to come up with some way the film's scenarists could have salvaged the Hal/Titan character. Somehow his cruel behavior could have been rationalized by the suggestion that he was not in possession of his faculties--that the demented behavior was not simply a natural extension of an overreaching geekiness. Rather, it was the injection itself that somehow altered his biochemistry and affected him in such a way that he was no longer responsible for his actions--that he could no longer appreciate the difference between right and wrong. Perhaps this new 'crazed' Hal/Titan could have been somewhat humorous--as opposed to the arrogant and cruel character served up here. Personally, I would have liked to see the transformed Hal/Titan more like Megamind--an out of control juvenile, perhaps outdoing Megamind's 'bad boy' persona ever so slightly. That way the film could have remained a comedy throughout and not lost points for the sudden shift in tone at film's end.
Well, I wouldn't say that the world is responsible for his actions. I wasn't trying to let him off the hook, as you said, but rather offer an explanation as to why he did what he did. He was completely responsible for his own anger and frustration and letting it overwhelm him to the point where he threw what was, in essence, a superpowered tantrum - but the fact remains it was directed at Megs, Roxy, and the world at large.
This is NOT a rebuttal to your point about the tonal shift - I disagree with that point, since I liked the threat of Crazy Hal, but it is a valid complaint and I can't really argue with it since there WAS a tonal shift. This is a response to your earlier assumption that Hal going from loser cameraman to psychopathic villain was completely the injection's fault, and rebuttals to other posters which dismiss their claims that Hal wasn't a good guy to begin with.
My analysis wasn't just to prove that Hal wasn't one-dimensional by the end. It was also trying to prove that there was more "bad" to Hal to start with than simple creeper tendencies. Your attempts to rationalize his jump from geek to psychopath involve the DNA taking over his body and turning him into a different person, which makes some sense, I suppose - and a lot of people on this thread haven't used much to prove that Hal was a jerk before the transformation than simply stating "he was creepy towards Roxanne so he was evil all along" which isn't much of an argument, so your point is still somewhat valid. However, you can't overlook the fact that BEFORE he was changed, he still was incredibly selfish (being possessive of Roxy despite her not showing an interest), possessed a lot of pent-up anger (beating up on his truck after being rejected), and wasn't above putting other people in harm's way for his own ends (the "lady across the hall" thing from my previous post, which happens after the injection but before the serum takes effect). He was a jerk, but didn't possess the physical prowess, bravery, or motivation to act on that. The injection gave him powers which acted as an outlet for all his pent-up anger and bully tendencies.
I do understand your point. I don't agree with it, but I get it.
I'm not disagreeing with you that Hal was a jerk even before he was injected. But remember, before he becomes Titan, he's not the antagonist. The antagonist is actually Megamind's juvenile alter ego until Titan takes over. The thing about Megamind is that he manages to charm despite all his bad boy antics. With Titan, there is only unpleasantness and since he grabs centerstage at film's end, we need him to be as cool a villain Megamind was earlier in the film. The "threat of Crazy Hal" (as you put it) is all wrong. Where's the fun in the character? When Megamind ends up taking him down in the end, the story devolves into a standard action thriller. It's not that Titan/Hal is just 'crazy', he's also 'cruel'--and again, such a character has no place in a comedy. In other words, Megamind needs a worthy adversary. Titan isn't it!
Well, again, I can't argue that there isn't a tonal shift - but I don't think that Hal would've worked as a "fun" villain.
Megamind was a cool supervillain because he wasn't really evil - as he (well, Minion) says in the finale, for him it's all about the presentation. Because of this even though Megamind is the main antagonist of the film like you said, he is not the villain. He's a FUN antagonist because even before he embraces his good heart he is never threatening nor is he cruel. He's a good guy acting bad for the hell of it.
Hal CAN'T be as cool as Megamind because for Megamind to become a hero, he has to defeat a real villain. There needs to be a difference between Megs and this villain - it can't just be cool non-threatening supervillain versus cool non-threatening ex-supervillain. That's boring. Hal's cruelty, simply put, raises the stakes. If Hal were more like Megamind he'd hardly be threatening. He'd just take over the city without bloodshed (like Megs), declare himself Supreme Overlord of the Metro Losers, settle into the cushy mayor's chair and demand that someone bring him his gaming console. Again, boring climax. We saw Megamind's version of "evil" play out for the majority of the film. Having Hal emulate him would only make the climax more of the same.
Think of Despicable Me. I didn't particularly care for that film, but even it, with it's weaksauce antagonist and emphasis on the cute kids, had the sense to actually put the girls in mortal danger at the end so that Gru could save them and show his character growth. If they weren't in that much danger, saving them wouldn't mean so much. Just like here with Megamind; if Hal wasn't dangerous and cruel, what would Megamind be saving the city (and Roxanne) from? Just a stupider, less good version of himself.
I agree with you that the stakes needed to be raised with Megamind's opponent. But somehow, throwing a bus at the girl, isn't very charming. He becomes a caricature of a villain. I guess that's what they were aiming for but by doing that, the film becomes an ordinary morality play. I prefer villains with more shades of grade: Tony Soprano or Biff Tanner (from 'Back to the Future) for example. Now those are charming villains. Hal/Titan lacks subtlety as a villain. That's my objection.
YES! Ridiculonius! You see Hal like how I do! I am generally annoyed when people 'pimp' their own threads, but I wrote one a few weeks ago "Am I the only one who liked Hal?" that you might enjoy reading, basically my own analysis and advocation of him being a complex character, not one-dimensional at all. (and also very entertaining).
Anyway, yes. I agree with all you said here.
This is key, too, like you said:
"That line may be shrugged off as a joke, but in the end THIS is the moment that the audience realizes that Hal is NOT entirely a good guy. Sure, he may be sympathetic, harmless, a bit geeky, and seemingly nice to people he likes (Roxanne), but he has been shown throughout the film to also be possessive, entitled, and cowardly. This in and of itself doesn't make him a bad person--flawed, maybe, but not BAD. It's with the "Lady across the hall" line that we see the first hint of his true colours; when the chips are down, he has no qualms about doing whatever it takes to save his own hide, and clearly couldn't care less about the well-being of others. He is, on top of being creepy and possessive, incredibly selfish and self-absorbed. This a good hero does not make. "
Exaaactly. Megamind and Minion intended to give the superhero powers to someone who "is of noble heart, putting others before themselves" etc. Hal is NOT this. He's your average weirdo/loser kinda type. Not strong willed. Cowardly, lazy, fairly passive, and also quick to blame others for his failures. (I think another telling line is when he punched the van after Roxanne turned him down...blaming the 'bouncy house' choice instead of admitting that she just plain doesn't like him...and THEN blaming the "stupid van" for breaking his finger...after HE punched it!) It's no stretch at all for me to think that, once given super powers, he'd use it completely selfishly.
He was more complex too in that...Megamind was a "villain" but he was easily lovable, misunderstood, outcast -- all that, and was the movie's protagonist. Hal, the undesirable one -- less easy to like, as a film's true villain/antagonist should be, right? I did have moments of pity and "well, he's got a point" with Hal even though it felt wrong to be feeling them, in some way. And I have to say, Megamind kinda pissed me off too with the way he basically used Hal just because he was feeling purposeless. Of course, Megamind didn't really intend for anyone to get hurt and was just not thinking of the consequences...that's generally how he rolled. Buuut I understood Hal's anger there, being tricked into thinking he was special, trusting this 'space dad' figure only to find it was all a ploy to get him to fight Megamind.
I also agree it was a very clever choice for the moviemakers to make a "hal type" end up as the antagonist. The concept of "what WOULD happen if we were to give super powers to the average joe, the one everyone easily overlooks..."
Another way to look at it is if you gave superpowers to a child, what would happen? Hal was physically an adult, but emotionally a child. It turned out like that Twilight Zone episode, where the little boy had powers, and he basically sent anyone he didn't like "to the cornfield". Apparently, all of the world except for the town he lived in got sent to the cornfield.
Let me see if this helps you out. Lots of times in this world, people will not show their true colors, not until they have the upper hand on a situation. Once given an opening they feel comfortable with, that's when they strike! As for Hal, he never really felt like he could do anything about his plight in life, until Megamind accidentally gave him super powers. Then he felt he could do anything he wanted and act any way he wanted, with no repercussions.
Example: It's the same way with airline highjackers. You never know their true intention until they have the perfect opening and they take over the plane. Then they are in control.
Same with Minion. You never really knew how he felt about being treated poorly by Megamind, until he had the upper hand posing as the warden.
The whole point was to see a person such as a harmless Hal evolve into someone sinister right before your eyes, unexpectedly. I mean, look at the Sandy Hook school mass murderer if you need a real life example.
I skipped a few pages, but will just chip in to disagree with the OP. I think maybe some social misfits/not-good-with-women types might have identified with the Hal character early on and were upset when he turns out to be the worst kind of villain, murderous, petty, power-crazed - and they want to believe this is some side-effect of the transformation? That there must be something poor about the writing, because he was a likeable guy, right? In that he reminded them of themselves, maybe?
Well, whatever, the movie knew exactly what it was doing - showing that guy is not a 'nice guy' is only harmless because he's powerless, he blames everyone else for his failures - he accepts he is a schlub because he has no choice, and it dictates how he has to act with people, and how he never learns to better himself. Any compassion or niceness is fake, it's what he did to get by. And there are many many people like this.
Given sudden massive power, he would just end up torturing and killing people because there was never anything good or noble there - the opposite of Megamind.