Character arcs are somewhat of an unspoken aspect of movies. If we ask someone how they feel about a movie, normally they respond about the thrilling action, or crazy twist, or comedy stunts. We may talk about the characters being funny or badass, but the whole arc is an underrated aspect of a movie. Characters often interplay with a movie’s theme, and a character’s path is often what makes the story go.
There are multiple ways these arcs can be carried out. Someone can become a hero, become a villain, they can go back and forth, and there are different paces or narrative devices to communicate a character’s journey.
SPOILERS, of course. If we’re talking about someone’s whole journey, it’ll be hard not to comment on where they end up, since that is the completion of their arc.
To the list!
Most honored of honorable mentions: It was hard for me to classify whether or not this counted as an actual arc, but Verbal Kint’s story arc in The Usual Suspects is quite interesting. He’s being interrogated as the lone survivor of a drug deal gone bad on a boat. He’s presented as a low level scam artist, physically disabled and easily manipulated.
Over the course of his stories, we see him playfully tell the legend of Keyser Soze, we see him kill someone during a job, but he also breaks down crying at the suggestion that one of the other criminals he worked with was using him.
Of course, there’s the ending, which suggested he was a different person altogether. If someone isn’t who they claim to be, does that count as a character arc?
10). Neo – The Matrix; portrayed by Keanu Reeves
Neo is on the hero’s journey. He starts out as a hacker in a world where the human race is in a simulated reality created by superior machines (personified as Agents) who use them as an energy source. He eventually joins up with another group of humans in a rebellion.
The leader of this rebellion, Morpheus, believes that Neo is “The One” of prophecy, the person who can takeover as leader of the rebellion against the machines and save the human race from their unknowing enslavement. Morpheus trains Neo who repeatedly has trouble believing the “truth” he has been told. Even when he believes the truth about the world, he can’t believe he is The One.
There is a particular training simulation where Morpheus runs and jumps from the top of one skyscraper to another. The whole point is that Morpheus knows he will land on the other side. Neo has to do it next, but is filled with doubt, and ends up falling short. Each training exercise is designed to boost Neo’s skills, but also to change his perspective about what’s possible. This is a wonderful detail to help us understands the transformation the character will ultimately make.
Eventually, Neo goes to The Oracle and learns that either he or Morpheus will die, and the choice will be his. Sure enough, the Agents attack the group and Morpheus sacrifices himself to save Neo, and is captured by Agents. In the above clip, the crew is about to pull the plug on Morpheus so that the Agents can’t access his mind, but Neo finally accepts his role as a hero. He goes back in the Matrix, and he, to quote Cameron Poe, “…saves the fuckin’ day.”
9) Alex DeLarge – A Clockwork Orange; portrayed by Malcolm McDowell
Alex’s arc isn’t especially common in mainstream U.S. movies, and certainly the way it is carried out is unlike any other movie. He ends the movie just as he started it, though he doesn’t stay the same throughout the course of the story. A Clockwork Orange focuses on a gang of hoodlums, led by Alex. They fight, rob, and rape their way around dystopian London. It’s rare that there would be this kind of focus on such bad people.
Eventually, there’s discord in the gang, and Alex gets screwed over by his mates, and ends up in prison. Alex is actually a model prisoner, and a couple of years into his sentence, he volunteers to take part in an experimental new crime aversion therapy from the Minister of the Interior, called the Ludovico Technique. The therapy basically conditions Alex to become ill at the thought of violence or sex, and unfortunately, while hearing the music of his beloved Ludwig van Beethoven.
Upon being cured, Alex is released from prison where he ends up being forced to confront a few people he’d wronged in the past. Now that Alex has been “cured” he can’t fight back, think about sex, or listen to Beethoven without getting sick. After getting beaten and left in the middle of nowhere by two of his old mates, who are now cops, Alex crawls to the nearest house and is taken in by a man who his gang once attacked and crippled. Alex has no recollection of this, but once the man figures it out, he traps him in his attic, and blasts Beethoven, which of course, drives Alex crazy, and after a while, he attempts suicide.
The Minister, who was running for reelection, feared bad publicity from this outcome of the new technique, and offered Alex a deal. They reversed the Ludovico Technique, and offered him a job once he recovered. Gotta love politics. The movie ends with Alex saying, “I was cured, all right!”, while imagining a raucous public sex scene. Even though Alex ended exactly where he started, he had a wild arc where he went from one extreme form of behavior to another, and then back to his original state.
8). James Bond – Casino Royale; portrayed by Daniel Craig
I noted in a previous post that James Bond would be a surprise on a list like this because the vast majority of the movies are popcorn spy flicks. There is no character development, just a bad guy with an evil plan, and suave spy with charisma and gadgets who saves the day. However, the Daniel Craig movies are different from typical Bond fare. They served as a reboot of the franchise, starting with 2006’s Casino Royale.
In Royale, Bond starts off as a “blunt instrument”, seemingly more concerned with killing a target than using them to gather intelligence to catch the bigger fish. Craig is demonstrably more physical than all previous versions of Bond. His kills are more violent than usual Bond fare, he bleeds more than Bond usually does, and his hair even gets messed up a few times. All of this sets up his change to the Bond we’ve grown familiar with.
Bond is partnered with Vesper, who is cold and disinterested at first, but eventually falls for 007. The difference is, their mutual feelings develop more gradually. Around the midpoint, Bond comforts Vesper as she is a bit traumatized after having to get involved in a physical confrontation. He is not in love yet, but I don’t think we ever see Bond comfort anyone in any of the other movies.
Although he can still perform his duties, Bond is softening. After an ordeal where they’re both captured and tortured, they admit their feelings for one another. 007 actually falls in love, and retires from MI6. Eventually, it is revealed that Vesper betrayed them and made-off with Bond’s poker winnings. When she dies, Bond is heartbroken, and filled with rage. He ultimately finds and captures Mr. White, with the intent to bring him in for questioning.
Bond starts out as a killing machine with little tact or feelings. He develops feelings for Vesper, falls in love, only to lose out in a horrible way. Despite his rage, he does the smart thing and captures Mr. White, rather than just killing him immediately. He has grown as an agent, while also softening and then hardening emotionally. Bond’s arc features more personal and professional change than all of the previous Bond movies put together.
7). Leonard – Memento; portrayed by Guy Pierce
Similar to the entry for A Clockwork Orange, Leonard ends the movie exactly where he started it, but for an entirely different reason. The catch with this character, of course, is that he has amnesia, specifically, he is unable to form new memories.
The movie has two plot lines, one is moving forward, as we’re with Leonard on his journey through life with amnesia. He is on the hunt for his wife’s killer, which is of course difficult, because he can’t form new memories and at some point he wakes up trying to figure out where he left off and what he has learned.
The other plot line goes backward, and we get to see how Leonard got to where he is. It becomes clear that Leonard has done some bad things while searching for his wife’s killer. John G, the cop, used him to clean up the streets by telling Leonard that various criminals were his wife’s killer.
Leonard seems to have manifested the “wife’s killer” angle in order to cope with his own guilt about how his wife actually died. Even after John G tells him the truth (we think), Leonard can’t accept it. His progress as a person is always stunted because at some point he will pass out and wake up, starting anew, with no memory of what just happened. “Now where was I…?”
6). Detective Somerset – Se7en; portrayed by Morgan Freeman
I had Red from Shawshank here for a while – how many movies have a better ending than Shawshank? However, upon reexamination, I like Morgan Freeman’s arc in Se7en a bit more. The two are similar: one man has no hope for the future after years in prison, the other has grown apathetic to the state of the world after years as a detective. Both movies, characters and character arcs are phenomenal. So why Somerset over Red? I like how the darkness of the events shake Somerset from his apathy, and actually make him join the fight.
In terms of movie endings, there may not be two more polar opposites than Shawshank and Se7en. One is a cathartic, long-awaited reunion where our main character finally feels hopeful and optimistic. The other reveals a stunning murder from a brutally violent serial killer that makes everyone feel sick the first time they see it. I choose Se7en because the final impetus to change is stronger, driving Somerset to change in the opposite way than the audience.
Se7en is actually an optimistic story! Somerset is an apathetic detective who’s great at his job, but no longer feels like he can continue doing it. He doesn’t think people are worth saving. He’s retiring at the end of the week, but ends up being pulled into one last case featuring savage murders that appear to be the manifesto of a serial killer. He has to partner with a younger cop (Mills) who has half of Somerset’s brains but is still feels like he can make a difference in the world. Mills confronts Somerset about his pessimism and how he thinks Somerset is full of it. This starts to get to Somerset, and then they meet John Doe.
Doe’s point of view is in line with Somerset’s, people are garbage, and not worth saving, though rather than fade away by himself, like a mentally balanced person would do, Doe doubles down and decides to commit a series of murders to teach the world a lesson.
For Somerset, it’s hearing his own world view echoed back to him by an absolute savage that starts to make him feel as though most people are worth saving. The level of savagery, psychopathy, and of course the gut punch at the very end, are enough to make Somerset realize that he still has to fight because despite seeing some terrible things that have made him lose faith in humanity, most of the general public are not as bad as John Doe. There are people like Doe out there who enjoy hurting others and others need to be protected from people like that. So, he rejoins the fight.
5). Miles – Sideways; portrayed by Paul Giamatti
Miles is the most subtle entry on this list. On the surface, he’s a bit of a loser, stuck in a rut, maybe a bit depressed. He’s a teacher who is working on a novel that’s a bit all over the place. He’s broken up about his divorce. He takes money from his own mother in order to finance his best friend Jack’s bachelor party.
There isn’t much Miles feels good about, except maybe his knowledge of wine. We see him wade through the first half of the movie letting his insecurities get the best of him. When his philandering friend Jack wants a final fling before his wedding, Miles reluctantly goes along with him. They hang out with Maya and Stephanie, and Jack goes to work quickly, leaving Miles alone with Maya. He’s clearly uncomfortable, he wants it to work out, but he spends most of the time oscillating between his fear of having his heart broken again and his insecurity that Maya doesn’t like him back.
Slowly but surely, Maya and Miles begin connecting, over wine, of course. Of the many finer points, he mentions that he has a special bottle of wine that he’s saving for the most special of occasions.
Miles misses his moment to kiss her, which leads to self-hatred, but Jack’s persistence in seeing Stephanie allows Miles another opportunity. He’s nervous, but is actually looking forward to the meeting. It’s going really well until Miles accidentally reveals that Jack is getting married, which ruins everything. Stephanie is obviously mad, and Maya hates Miles for being an accomplice. He is a liar by omission.
This is a new low feeling for Miles and he starts to spiral with his behavior, getting kicked out of restaurants in Napa Valley and even drinking from the spit bucket. The bachelor party ends and he has to crash his car in order to cover up for Jack’s broken nose (an injury he sustained when Stephanie hit him after finding out the truth).
Miles feels dirty and is beside himself for how he ruined his chance with Maya. He is even worse off than he was when they left for the trip. Ultimately, he ends up at the wedding and runs into his ex-wife, who is now remarried and expecting a child. This is a gut punch. One of the reasons his marriage fell apart was that they were having trouble conceiving. Just the worst possible news at the worst possible time.
And Miles snaps, though, not in the way that we think. He doesn’t make a scene, yell or cry. He leaves the wedding and goes to a burger joint, where he eats a hamburger while drinking his prized wine bottle that was supposed to be for a special occasion. He stops waiting for the big moment to happen and just enjoys the wine. The movie ends with him going to visit Maya. We don’t know if she takes him back, but the fact that even goes to see her is proof enough that he’s become a new man.
4). Derek Vineyard – American History X; portrayed by Edward Norton
I haven’t seen Life is Beautiful, I’ve heard it’s very good, but I have a hard time believing Roberto Benigni should’ve won Best Actor in 1998 over Edward Norton in this absolute tour de force. The character arc is Derek going from an angry racist to a more tolerant person. It seems straightforward, but this story is told through a combination of viewpoints and it’s not exactly in chronological order.
There’s a present-day third person timeline following Derek as he’s released from prison and reuniting with his family. He’s tolerant at this point, so we know where his personal journey is going to end up. However, he may not be safe after his release, so the drama comes in watching him as he tries to avoid trouble. He’s also trying to keep his younger brother, Danny (Edward Furlong), from going full tilt down the same path.
Then there’s the viewpoint of his younger brother, who’s forced to write a paper about the racism surrounding Derek’s incarceration in order to avoid being expelled for writing an essay on Mein Kampf. Danny’s flashbacks reveal all of the pre-prison events, including how racist seeds were planted for Derek, the traumatic event that likely pushed him over the edge, his time as the #2 in a white power gang and up through the heinous events of his arrest.
Finally, the two brothers sit down and Derek tells Danny, and the audience, about his time in prison, which serve as a bridge between the events of the story. Derek details what happened on the inside, and why he no longer subscribes to the white power values that led to his arrest.
The story feels different from many others on this topic because it feels like a longer span of time showing how racism can be born, how it can worsen, and, to a certain degree, what it would take to reverse that mindset. Movies like Remember the Titans or Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, also feature characters that grow from racist to more open-minded. However, these two movies take place in the present timeline, and therefore don’t really look at how racism could start, as well as what it might actually take to rewire someone’s brain. American History X gives a more nuanced character study.
3). Travis Bickle – Taxi Driver; portrayed by Robert Deniro
Here’s another one, I don’t know how Deniro doesn’t win this Oscar in ’76 (Peter Finch won for Network). Network is a great movie, but you could easily argue Peter Finch was a supporting character. Also, while it’s a great performance in a wonderful movie, I think there’s clearly more nuance and depth to what Deniro does in Taxi Driver.
It’s an intense movie. We’re with Travis in nearly every scene, and as Quentin Tarantino says, the movie basically serves as a first-person character study of this one man. Travis is a racist who looks down on “low life” types of people, but desperately wants to connect with others. He’s an Army vet back from Vietnam who is suffering from PTSD, though it seems highly likely he’s always had trouble fitting in.
We’re watching a lonely, disturbed man go insane. Oddly, he starts off as (kind of) innocent. He tries desperately to connect with people. He seems a little off, but not like a malicious person. He meets a woman named Betsy. They go on a date and he takes her to a porno theater, but he actually seems surprised she’s so put off by it, like he wouldn’t have done it if he had known better. He tries to connect with the other cab drivers. He tries to save Iris from being a prostitute.
Between Betsy’s rejection, his loneliness, and the low quality of people that Travis often comes into contact with at night while driving his cab, he becomes convinced that the world needs to be cleaned out. His focus turns to assassinating Charles Palantine, a presidential candidate whom Betsy works for. Similar to John Doe from Se7en, it seems likely that Travis expects this to be his final act while alive. He goes to a rally in New York, but is spotted before he can go through with it, and runs away. That night, he decides his final act will be killing Iris’s pimp, and her clients so that she can go free. He achieves this and attempts to shoot himself, but runs out of bullets. He’s hailed as a hero vigilante rather than a murderer, and even receives a ‘thank you’ letter from Iris’s parents.
I think the interesting thing about Travis Bickle’s arc is that ultimately it’s not clear how to feel about him. Some people consider him a villain, some people say an anti-hero. He goes insane, but happens to use his psychotic violence “for good”, murdering a pimp and some others. Is it a positive change? A negative change? Or is he just mentally ill?
2). Jake LaMotta – Raging Bull; portrayed by Robert Deniro
Back-to-back Deniro’s! I’ll be honest, I haven’t watched Raging Bull in a long time. It’s not a comfortable viewing experience.
The character arc in-question is the very popular “rise and fall” trajectory. Many an Oscar has been won for a character hitting his peak and losing it all. Obviously that structure sets up an arc for the character that is filled with meaningful drama. We see LaMotta’s rise as a boxer through the middleweight division, managed by his brother, and supported by a beautiful wife and family. Then we see it all go away. More specifically, he pushes it all away.
There are many great characters that follow this type of arc: Charles Foster Kane, Henry Hill, Tony Montana, to name a few. I think what I like most about LaMotta’s particular version of this arc is that the same traits that helped him rise to greatness ultimately doom him. This is often the case with these arcs, but many times the downfall starts due to excess; for example, Jordan Belfort wants to be rich, and becomes rich, but his continual greed leads to his downfall. Tony Montana, wants to be powerful, but once he achieves power and success, he starts brandishing power in his personal relationships, ruining all of them.
While those two examples surrounding ambition feel very real, there’s just something that hits home to me as a sports fan about an athlete whose violence, toughness and rage are celebrated his whole life on the field or in the ring, and then we’re left wondering why that’s his method of dealing with problems in his personal life. The scenes during the “fall” portion of Raging Bull are ugly. The sheer force of LaMotta’s personality is felt the whole way through.
The arc is also aided by Deniro’s physical transformation. I don’t know if that’s cheating, but Deniro set the standard both for getting in shape and putting on weight to become almost unrecognizable as Jake LaMotta in his later years. It’s another way for the character’s transformation to be tracked throughout the movie.
Maybe I’m rewarding Deniro for the physical transformation, or for the fact that his character’s arc might have included more dramatic scenes than some other examples. It’s possible. But to me, this is the greatest rise-and-fall I’ve seen in the movies.
1). Michael Corleone – The Godfather; portrayed by Al Pacino
This spot really couldn’t go to anybody else. Cinefix gave their top spot to Citizen Kane, a strong choice, but I think Michael Corleone has the most iconic character arc in movie history, and is a big reason why The Godfather is probably the most iconic movie of all-time.
Before there was Walter White (Breaking Bad), there was Michael Corleone. What Breaking Bad did brilliantly over 5-6 seasons of television, The Godfather accomplished in 3 hours. And although there are little time jumps in the story, particularly when Michael is in Italy, it largely unfolds in realtime.
The movie begins when a man returns home to his family for his sister’s wedding and while they’re not completely estranged, there’s clearly some awkwardness. In speaking to his girlfriend, Kay, he utters the famous line, “that’s my family, Kay, that’s not me.” He is aware of the family business, but has no desire to be a part of it.
Once his father is shot and Michael bears witness to the police corruption surrounding his father’s protection, he now has a personal stake in the family business. He suggests that he can be the one to sit down with (and kill) The Turk and Captain McCloskey. He kills both men, goes to Italy and wields power subtly to marry a woman. When she is killed, he heads back to the U.S. and once Sonny and his father die, he takes control of the family business.
Despite the strong presence of Vito and Sonny, Michael is really the main character in this story. Pacino was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, while his father, Marlon Brando, won Best Actor, this, in my opinion, is category fraud. Brando totally deserved an Oscar, but I think the Don was actually a supporting character to Michael. Or at least, they were co-leads.
Although Godfather: Part II also features a character change for Michael, part I is the greater transformation. A moral man who wanted to fight for his country that gets a taste of power and is completely seduced by it.
Honorable Mentions: Rick Blaine from Casablanca; Mike from Swingers; Tom from 500 Days of Summer; McClane from Die Hard; Henry Hill from Goodfellas; Ripley from Alien; Kane from Citizen Kane; Scottie from Vertigo; Jake from Chinatown, Red from The Shawshank Redemption; Theo from Children of Men; Daniel Plainview from There Will Be Blood
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