Wednesday, January 17, 2018

The Movie Characters You Hate


 






Growing up as an only child, I watched many movies.  As an adult, I have watched many of these same movies time and time again.  This helps explain why I find myself quoting a line from a movie in response to a comment.  For some odd reason, I started thinking about movie characters I hated (or hate for the ones I still cannot stand).   If you have watched enough movies, you can identify at least one character you detest – even though you know he or she is a character from a movie.  For instance, the character “Mister” from the Color Purple comes to mind.  People still hate Danny Glover “TO THIS DAY.”
Bishop

If you have been hiding under a rock, Tupac played Bishop in the 1992 classic movie: Juice.  Bishop did not start off as a villain.  Bishop was a sympathetic character.  You felt kind of bad for him because he could not even walk down the street in his neighborhood without being assaulted by Radamez and his crew.  He had a strained relationship with his father who was a little weird to say the least.  However, once he had the chance to hold a gun, he went on one hell of a “f**kboy spree.  He killed old man Quilas.  We all know Quilas did not make a move.  He murdered Raheem, dog.  That was bad, but what he did next was even worse.  This guy stood in Raheem’s mother’s living room during the wake and consoled her as if he were not the killer.  He tried to kill his only friend, Steele.  Next, he framed Q for what he thought was Steele’s murder (Steele survived and told everything he knew to the cops).  In the end, he tried to kill Q, but Q was the only person strong enough to stop him.  Many people say this role changed Tupac as a person and led him down a destructive path. 

Cutty

Clifton Powell is like the uncle that is always around.  He played Cutty in Dead Presidents.  If you think about it, Clifton Powell has made appearances in many classic movies over the years.  He was the older brother of Sherayne in House Party.  He was Chauncey in Menace to Society.  He was Pinky in Friday.  I respect him as an actor, but when I tell you I hate the character he played in Dead Presidents.  Cutty was an older hustler, and when Larenz Tate’s character (Anthony) was deployed to the Vietnam War, Cutty “took care” of Anthony’s girlfriend and young daughter.  However, when Anthony returned from the war, Cutty made it clear that he was still interested in Anthony’s girl.  He continually offered her money and even offered to give money to Anthony when he was in between jobs.  In one scene, after hitting Anthony in the face with a pistol, he said one of the coldest lines ever: “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you, MF.”  Cutty was a coldhearted MF.

Rico

I did not have high expectations for Camron in Paid in Full.  I knew him as a rapper, but never as an actor.  I must admit he really did a great job in his portrayal of Rico.  Unlike Bishop, Rico was never a sympathetic character.  I suspected that he was a snake from his first interaction with Mitch in jail.  You could tell he was not a team player; he was all about himself. When Ace was seriously injured, Rico wanted Ace to introduce him to his drug connect.  Ace would not acquiesce, which infuriated Rico.  When Mitch’s brother was kidnapped, Ace provided Mitch with the name of the drug connect.  He likely did so for two reasons: (1) Mitch was Ace’s true friend, and (2) Mitch needed the connection so he could sell the drugs to get the ransom money for his brother.  When Rico learned that Mitch had 14 bricks of cocaine, he killed him in cold blood.  Although Rico is just a character from a movie, he epitomizes people in life who might be in your corner, but are not on your team (shout out to Fab).

 

Peace