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18th Apr '13 2:58:12 PM helterskelter

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No first person.

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26th Feb '13 5:40:54 PM mlsmithca

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Replacing with re-written entry from the Complete Monster discussion thread.

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* CompleteMonster: Captain Vidal from ''PansLabyrinth'' might be one of the worst and most despicable examples in recent cinema(or best, depending on how you look at it). The captain dwarfs the film's [[TheFairFolk various fantastical monsters]] in his atrocities. For one particularly graphic example, when two people are captured on his estate, they are accused of being spies, but repeatedly claim to be innocent rabbit hunters and begged for their lives. A moment after seemingly accepting their excuse, Vidal smashes the son's face with a wine bottle until the whole skull caves in a gruesome way. Vidal then shoots both him and his father with a mixture of vague boredom and pleasure. When the soldiers turn out the men's bags, they find a rabbit, proving the men's story, so Vidal yells at them for wasting his time and eats the rabbit for dinner. He knew they were innocent the whole time and killed them anyway, just because. Perhaps his most memorable act would be the torture scene, where the sadistic Vidal shows his array of torture tools to a tied-up, stuttering rebel soldier, promising he will release the stutterer if he can count to "three" loud and clear. Guess if he can. Less dramatic yet still notable aspect of him is having married a woman solely for her to bear his son. He explicitly advises the doctor caring for her during childbirth to save the child over his wife. As it so happens, this decision, usually made with at least some anguish after being steered towards it, is the only way from the start for Vidal, who is not bothered by it in the slightest. It's telling that the man's humanizing moment is realizing he's a bastard and, instead of thinking of reforming, simply fantasizing about suicide for a moment before going back to his horrifically evil ways. Perhaps his worst act: he shoots Ofelia, his own 13-year old stepdaughter, in the end, purely because she attempts to save her newborn brother from Vidal. Viewers probably view it as a fitting demise that the rebels, while shooting Vidal dead, refuse to even tell his son about him. Sergi López himself thinks this on his character: "Vidal is the most evil character I've ever played in my career. It is impossible to improve upon it; the character is so solid and so well written. Vidal is deranged, a psychopath who is impossible [[DracoInLeatherPants to defend]]. Even though his father's personality marked his existence — and is certainly one of the reasons for his mental disorder — [[FreudianExcuse that cannot be an excuse]]." This may well have been the best thing about his character. His very powerful, human motive doesn't justify his actions, which any sane, morally adjusted person would not do. What it does, however, is make all of his actions seem like something that someone would actually do; rather than just [[ForTheEvulz evil for the pleasure of it]], his actions come off as something that a violent and uncaring person could be driven to do, keeping WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief entirely intact and making him seem quite real and thus [[NightmareFuel frightening]]. He's quite possibly one of the quintessential examples of how to do a CompleteMonster-character well.

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* CompleteMonster: Captain Vidal is far more terrifying than the fantastical monsters in the same work. Vidal first shows his nastiness when two poachers, a father and son, are brought to him in the dead of night, his men suspecting them of being rebels against the regime. He beats the younger man's face in with a bottle simply for defending his father against Vidal's accusations before shooting them both with a vague air of boredom and pleasure. When the men are proven not to be rebels, Vidal shows no remorse. At one point, Vidal captures a rebel with a horrible stutter and cheerfully shows the man his torture instruments before offering to let him go if he can clearly count to three. He fails. Vidal is married to the young heroine's mother solely so she'll bear him an heir, and shows no concern over the possible death of his wife in childbirth. When the doctor attending her gives the aforementioned stuttering torture victim a mercy kill, Vidal coldly guns him down. At the film's end, Vidal's stepdaughter Ofelia tries to rescue her baby brother, but Vidal catches her and promptly shoots her fatally. After all this, he's caught by the rebels and is summarily executed, dying with the knowledge his son, whom he cares about only as a continuation of himself, will never even know his name.

26th Feb '13 1:40:35 PM TVRulezAgain

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18th Feb '13 6:20:06 AM ACW

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17th Feb '13 9:16:35 PM mlsmithca

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Correcting the formatting for now, but this entry is in DIRE need of trimming.

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* CompleteMonster: * Captain Vidal from ''PansLabyrinth'' might be one of the worst and most despicable examples in recent cinema(or best, depending on how you look at it). The captain dwarfs the film's [[TheFairFolk various fantastical monsters]] in his atrocities. For one particularly graphic example, when two people are captured on his estate, they are accused of being spies, but repeatedly claim to be innocent rabbit hunters and begged for their lives. A moment after seemingly accepting their excuse, Vidal smashes the son's face with a wine bottle until the whole skull caves in a gruesome way. Vidal then shoots both him and his father with a mixture of vague boredom and pleasure. When the soldiers turn out the men's bags, they find a rabbit, proving the men's story, so Vidal yells at them for wasting his time and eats the rabbit for dinner. He knew they were innocent the whole time and killed them anyway, just because. Perhaps his most memorable act would be the torture scene, where the sadistic Vidal shows his array of torture tools to a tied-up, stuttering rebel soldier, promising he will release the stutterer if he can count to "three" loud and clear. Guess if he can. Less dramatic yet still notable aspect of him is having married a woman solely for her to bear his son. He explicitly advises the doctor caring for her during childbirth to save the child over his wife. As it so happens, this decision, usually made with at least some anguish after being steered towards it, is the only way from the start for Vidal, who is not bothered by it in the slightest. It's telling that the man's humanizing moment is realizing he's a bastard and, instead of thinking of reforming, simply fantasizing about suicide for a moment before going back to his horrifically evil ways. Perhaps his worst act: he shoots Ofelia, his own 13-year old stepdaughter, in the end, purely because she attempts to save her newborn brother from Vidal. Viewers probably view it as a fitting demise that the rebels, while shooting Vidal dead, refuse to even tell his son about him. Sergi López himself thinks this on his character: "Vidal is the most evil character I've ever played in my career. It is impossible to improve upon it; the character is so solid and so well written. Vidal is deranged, a psychopath who is impossible [[DracoInLeatherPants to defend]]. Even though his father's personality marked his existence — and is certainly one of the reasons for his mental disorder — [[FreudianExcuse that cannot be an excuse]]." This may well have been the best thing about his character. His very powerful, human motive doesn't justify his actions, which any sane, morally adjusted person would not do. What it does, however, is make all of his actions seem like something that someone would actually do; rather than just [[ForTheEvulz evil for the pleasure of it]], his actions come off as something that a violent and uncaring person could be driven to do, keeping WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief entirely intact and making him seem quite real and thus [[NightmareFuel frightening]]. He's quite possibly one of the quintessential examples of how to do a CompleteMonster-character well.

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17th Feb '13 2:37:31 AM ACW

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21st Nov '12 10:19:50 PM Tuckerscreator

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21st Nov '12 10:15:56 PM Tuckerscreator

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