Okay, we've seen our share of sympathetic villains, but Andrew Detmer takes the cake. I honestly related to him, his loneliness, his teenage angst, everything. In my honest opinion, he's the ultimate sympathetic villain.
shareI agree, however... isn't his story almost the exact same as Anakin Skywalker? Both grew up as outcasts, with no friends, didn't get much respect from their peers, and both snapped when their mothers died.
I was sympathetic then they made him go a bit too overboard quickly with him pulling some teeth out and then, even worse, having to show it off.
shareHonestly, no.
As a person who has had countless debates with himself over whether this movie is genius of tremendously flawed, I can say that Andrew's character is one of the reasons I lean towards flawed.
He starts off as a sympathetic character, but immediately becomes the exact opposite as soon as he gets those powers. He has the power to change the conditions of his life. Literally. His dad doesn't abuse a telekinetic. There are so many things he could do to help his mom out. His social status was shown to improve the moment he used his powers at school. He has an awesome friend in Steve, who's also popular. He has a cousin who has been there for him since before the power.
(Just in case there are people who actually didn't see the movie.)
Despite all of this, the first thing he does with the power is reckless abandon. Then, more reckless abandon. Then, throwing a truck off the road. Then, acquiring popularity. Then, killing a friend due to embarrassment. Then, robbing a bunch of guys instead of just GOING TO GET THE MEDICINE HIS MOM NEEDED. Then, killing plenty of people in a fight that never even needed to happen.
He did nothing with his power until it was FAR TOO LATE to even remotely make a difference. Plus, his has an alarming amount of ego for someone who doesn't excel at anything, gets abused by his father and has a terminally sick mother. And his self-importance literally killed someone. He was distorting facts SO HARD that it led him to kill Steve.
Nothing he did or experienced prior to getting the power made him sympathetic. It may have made him a bit misunderstood, but he essentially damned himself with all his actions.
Agree; as his cousin said, he was kind of moody, unfriendly and unresponsive. Mumbling short unfeeling answers and not really responding to people. Somebody tries telling him something and he shrugs and says "I don't know" before carrying on regardless.
I'm shy myself and I couldn't do what Steve does, but once you know people, you're fun, energetic and smart, no matter what's going on at home. More like how he starts to be once he got the power.
Also don't find people filming everything endearing. If Dane DeHaan wasn't good looking he probably wouldn't be so sympathetic (i.e. people like to see him get popular, before he goes off the rails).
Really liked his character in Lawless as well, so presumably it's written that way rather than acting not being up to scratch.
That’s unfortunately all too common in kids who are getting the hell beaten out of them at home, physically and/or emotionally. You’re trained to not know what the right thing to say is (because really nothing will be right), and Andrew’s persona is typical. Then he gets power and his dream of being able to stop his father came true and cracked him. Plus he lost his mother, who seems to have been the only one he had.
[quote]he was kind of moody, unfriendly and unresponsive. Mumbling short unfeeling answers and not really responding to people. Somebody tries telling him something and he shrugs and says "I don't know" before carrying on regardless.[quote]
Yes, motivation of teens in both this movie and "Carrie" (and maybe "The Prodigies") is close to life.
But the majority of superhero movies choose some idiotic villains who want to destroy the world, "send message" etc etc. It is cliched, it is stupid, it is so Hollywood-ish.
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OP must find school shooters sympathetic too as that's all this kid really is. He's angry at the world and kills random people over his circumstances even when he's literally been handed the world by way of the power to change his own life.
The only like able character was Steve. Both of the two d-bags were just reckless and inconsiderate of others when they gained power. The fact that people identify with either of them is scary. The only selfless person in the movie who didn't act only within his own interest was Steve.
Really does define this generation to see how many identify with the selfish wannabe superheroes/villains over the friendly and approachable person who only wanted to see others be happy and enjoy themselves.
I see Andrew as the dark alternate to Peter Parker - the outcast who got great power but instead of learning to use that power wisely he was consumed and ultimately destroyed by it.
shareI see Andrew as the dark alternate to Peter Parker - the outcast who got great power but instead of learning to use that power wisely he was consumed and ultimately destroyed by it.
He reminded me more of Magneto; a tragic backstory combined with a superiority complex.
Him thinking that he was an "apex predator" and superior to humanity reminded me of a certain master of magnetism.
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Actually as a villain, he's pretty run-of-the-mill standard. He's not the first and he's not the ultimate unless you're a teenage boy that gets bullied a lot. If you ever read good comic books (not Spiderman or Batman I mean), there's been a plethora of villains with a cause.
For every lie I unlearn I learn something new - Ani Difranco
Sympathetic? He was a fu-king looser. You sound like those kids from US that take a gun and go shoot people at school. I mean, wtf, everybody (almost) has a hard live but they don't start killing their best friends.
Raylan Givens: I'm going to need an ambulance, and a coroner.