Five film villains to cheer for

It might not be the most politically correct thing to say, but sometimes a hero ain't all he's cracked up to be. Sometimes a hero is a bit boring, unappealingly self-righteous or, you know, just blah.

So what do we, the audience, do in such a situation? Well, there's only one thing we can do.

Yup. Cheer on the bad guy.

Let's face it, sometimes the bad guy kind of has a point. Sometimes, the bad guy is much more likeable. And sometimes, the hero kind of deserves it. Here are five villains we couldn't help but root for.

Loki, Thor
Back before he dialled up the nutbar to 11 in Avengers Assemble, the God of Mischief was a villain we could empathise with.

A second son, less loved, unappreciated and often overlooked, Loki discovers during the course of the movie that he's not of Asgard. In fact, he was abandoned as a baby and taken by Odin who hoped to one day use him as a bargaining chip in the war against the Frost Giants. We'd be pretty upset too.

Of course, we probably wouldn't attempt to commit patricide, banish our brother to another dimension and take the throne for ourselves, but then, we're not mythical gods.

[More of Hiddleston's Loki in Thor 2]

Tony Montana, Scarface

Alright, so because the movie's about him, Montana's an anti-hero rather than an out-and-out villain. But that doesn't make him a nice guy.

But the thing is, you can't really blame Montana for his downward spiral into a coked-up bloodbath. What else was he to do? A soldier, a prisoner, an immigrant refugee attempting to make his way in the brave new world… it's no surprise Tony ended up in the business. And we've all seen enough gangster movies to know how it turns out - greed, lust and the white stuff don't do any favours for nobody.

Montana's power-hungry, but he's not a bad guy. He's willing to work hard to get to where he wants to be and ultimately pays the price for his mistakes. If only his mama had given him the occasional hug, it could've been so different. 

Captain Barbossa, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow is ostensibly the hero of this piece, making Geoffrey Rush's Barbossa the villain. Right? Er, well, not really.

See, the thing is, Barbossa's mission to end the ten-year-long curse that has plagued him and his crew is kind of an understandable one. Yeah, his pirates pillage and such but that's just what pirates do. That they've learned a lesson about greed and want to make it right kind of makes them the good guys - doesn't it?

Also, Barbossa's a bit less annoying than Sparrow, isn't he? And he doesn't say "savvy" as much.

The Driver, Drive

Silent, enigmatic and honourable, The Driver is also capable of stamping on a man's head until it doesn't exist anymore. He might be a blue-eyed, blonde-haired, all-American boy in a badass costume, but he's no hero.

A character reminiscent of a 40s film noir anti-hero, The Driver's appearance belies the villainy underneath. In fact, he's the kind of man we would never want to cross.

But despite his penchant for violence, clear emotional issues and twisted sense of morality, we want to see him win. We want to see him get the girl. And we want to see him get away with it.

Hannibal Lecter, Silence of the Lambs

Anthony Hopkins' screen time in this movie is only a little over 16 minutes. Not only did he win an Oscar for his performance, it would go on to define his career. That's how good this character is.

Lecter is a monster. A cold, calculating, sadistic monster. He's also one of the most compelling and charismatic villains of all time, leading us to cheer on his machinations with some kind of morbid fascination. We don't mind that he kills, but we'd mind if he was killed.