***SPOILERS*** Movies where the villain reveals he/she is the hero's parent.

[jobycom]

Just watched "The Golden Compass" last night, and while I generally liked it, and even thought the revelation that the villain was the hero's mother worked well in the film, I still rolled my eyes. Is this one becoming over-used? I know it fits the Campbell "Hero of a Thousand Faces" archetype, and it fits several writers' advice books that family connections intensifies the conflict between characters. But even so, I winced.

What other films use this? Any have clever twists on it, or hide the connection well? Which ones seemed gimmicky?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

1. Hmmmm.....some obscure science fiction film.

Star...Worlds? Something like that.

[jobycom]

2. Yes, with the great line "Look, I am your fodder."

Star Cows?

[MissMillie]

3. "I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate. "

:silly:

[terrya]

4. Well, a movie where the parent of the hero turns out to be the villian

"The Manchurian Candidate".

Raymond Shaw's mother.

[jobycom]

6. Didn't think of that one. Although Raymond isn't a straightforward hero

until the end.

That's a film that stays with you, isn't it? All the way to Sinatra's "Hell... Hell."

[terrya]

9. No, he's not a straightforward hero.

But at the end, it's revealed that he was used as a pawn in a horrible grasp for ultimate power.

That film does stay with you. Extremely chilling.

[jobycom]

11. Chilling, but something else.

Empowering? Optimistic? Shaw's bravery and humanity won out in the end, with the help of a friend who did not like him until he got to know him better. Everyone focuses, understandably, on the mind control aspects, but there was also a story about the humanity of the individual that ultimately decides the fate of things.

Haunting movie. I haven't seen the remake.

[Cant trust em]

5. If you bother to read the Golden Compass books, they use another huge cliche.

I thought that the books were worth reading, but the movie stunk.

[jobycom]

8. Most epic fantasy follows a basic Tolkein format.

I liked the movie, but haven't really been interested in reading the books. I'm more likely to play them as audiobooks for my kids on a long drive, but that's not really what I read anymore.

[Cant trust em]

10. I liked these 3 books about as much as my least favorite Potter book.

These were a Christmas gift for me. I read the first two pretty quickly (not exactly a dense read), but the third dragged.

[Shakespeare]

7. Nurse Betty

Chris Rock/Morgan Freeman.

Underrated black comedy, btw. Uh, no pun intended.

edited to add: Not really villain/hero, more like villain/villain, unless you count Freeman's change of heart at the end as heroic (which it kind of is...).

[BronxBoy]

12. Doesn't quite fit your scenario

But the ending to Oldboy left me floored.