From “Fifth Element” to “Star Wars” via “Pocahontas”, a look back at 5 feature films in which the main character and the big bad never speak to each other.
Even if, in most feature films, we can see them cross swords, fight on top of a building or compete in a boxing ring, it sometimes happens that the main character of a film and the big bad never speak to each other, or even cross paths. Back to 5 examples in the cinema where heroes and villains clash without meeting.
Pocahontas
If she has close ties with Captain John Smith, an English adventurer who landed in America with the Virginia Company, Pocahontas , daughter of the chief of the Powhatans, never speaks with the superior of her beloved.
John Ratcliffe, the great villain of the Disney classic, indeed remains behind his barricades most of the time, and only ventures outside the camp at the end of the film, remaining at a distance from the Indian princess.
The fifth Element
Corrupted and controlled by the tenebrous Mr. Shadow, Zorg, the great villain of Luc Besson ‘s film played by Gary Oldman , stays most of the time cloistered in his quarters, sitting behind House of the Dragon Ocs his desk, hatching his Machiavellian plans in his corner, caressing his slimy pet.
He therefore never crosses paths with Korben Dallas ( Bruce Willis ), who tries to thwart his plans from a distance, but who is in fact only one of his very many employees.
Star Wars (Episode IV – A New Hope)
Even if he will have to cross the laser with him in The Empire Strikes Back and then in Return of the Jedi , Luke Skywalker only sees Darth Vader from afar in A New Hope , the first feature film in the Star Wars saga. directed by George Lucas in 1977.
The young farmer played by Mark Hamill , who dreams of becoming a pilot, is still light years away from imagining that the Sith lord is none other than his father. He faces despite everything the latter in the cockpit of his X-Wing, at the end of the film, when the Rebel Alliance launches an assault on the Death Star.
Braveheart
Under the oppression of the English ruler Edward I from an early age, William Wallace, a valiant Scottish warrior whose family was massacred by the king’s men, leads his people to uprising, and to battle.
On the plains of Stirling then of Falkirk, Wallace will not stop challenging his enemy, but the two men will not exchange the slightest word throughout the film. Lying on his deathbed at the end of the feature film, Edward I will still hear the Scottish hero’s final cry for freedom resound, before dying.
The Lord of the Rings
“You can’t hide, I see you. There is no life in nothingness.”
Certainly, through the One Ring which contains part of his power, the Dark Lord has already addressed Frodo directly, charged with destroying the evil artifact by throwing it into the flames of the Mountain of Destiny.
But since Sauron never appears to him in his physical form and never crosses paths with him directly, the Hobbit never had the opportunity to respond to him.