Best Character Arcs

[MessiahDecoy123]

Neo from the Matrix.

Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.

 

[Batmania]

Edward Norton's character in American History X.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Oh, yeah, great call there. Can't believe I forgot about that.

 

[ALP]

Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins

Jack Nicholson's character in As Good As It Gets

And who can forget Ebenezer Scrooge.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Tom Cruise in Minority Report

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

TE Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia.

Another David Lean favourite of mine is Colonel Nicholson in Bridge on the River Kwai.

In a non-Lean example, I also love Rick Blaine and Louis Renault in Casablanca.

 

[MadVillainy]

Im surprised no one mentioned the Jurors in 12 Angry Men

 

[Doctor Jones]

Oh, yeah. Definitely. Especially Juror 3. Hell, 11 of them changed. That was fantastic.

 

[Homer J. Fong]

Vader over Star Wars Episodes I-VI

Michael Corleone over the Godfather trilogy

Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight

Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas

Sarah Connor over Terminators 1 & 2

Catwoman in Batman Returns

Harold Crick in Stranger Than Fiction

Buzz in Toy Story

Woody in Toy Story 3

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Oh, yeah. Definitely. Especially Juror 3. Hell, 11 of them changed. That was fantastic.

I liked Juror #4 myself.

Spoiler

He's part of the antagonist triumverate, but unlike #3 or #10 he has no personal reasons for doing so. He merely is an intelligent and professional man who wants to make the right choice and bases his decisions based on evidence and eventually changes his vote when his arguments are broken down one by one until he is finally convinced. He's also the one who gets to call out #10 after his racist rant. Of all the jurors, #4 is the one I relate to the most.

 

[MadVillainy]

I liked Juror #4 myself. He's part of the antagonist triumverate, but unlike #3 or #10 he has no personal reasons for doing so. He merely is an intelligent and professional man who wants to make the right choice and bases his decisions based on evidence and eventually changes his vote when his arguments are broken down one by one until he is finally convinced. He's also the one who gets to call out #10 after his racist rant. Of all the jurors, #4 is the one I relate to the most.

Well dont spoil it for those who havent seen it

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Well dont spoil it for those who havent seen it

Sorry. I'll put tags on. It has been out for over 50 years, I didn't think anybody would care that didn't already know.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Juror 4 is the dude who looks or is Slugworth from Willy Wonka?

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Juror 4 is the dude who looks or is Slugworth from Willy Wonka?

Yep. They do look similar, but I don't think they are the same guy. Juror #4 was the President in Superman II and Clark's father-in-law in Christmas Vacation.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Wow they're not the same? Man, I really thought they were the same guy. I can see the President from Superman 2 though.

 

[That-Guy]

Wikus in District 9

Michael Corleone in The Godfather

Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins

John Preston in Equilibrium

Derrick Vinyard in American History X

Aragorn, Frodo and Sam in LOTR

Clark Kent in Superman & Superman II

"Jack" in Fight Club

Nathan Algren in The Last Samurai (my personal favorite of the Dances With Wolves, Pocahontas, Avatar story)

Dom Cobb in Inception

Frank & April Wheeler in Revolutionary Road

Vicki in Vicki Christina Barcelona

Robert Angier and Alfred Borden in The Prestige

And although its not a movie, the character arc of Tommy Donnelly in the short-lived TV series The Black Donnellys was brilliant. Shame that show didn't find an audience. Also, on the TV note, Boyd Crowder's arc in Justified is pretty epic.

 

[Asteroid-Man]

Michael Corleone
Harvey Dent
Luke Skywalker
Simba (Yeah, that's right.)
Bruce Wayne

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

Tony Montana- Scarface

 

[venom892]

Tony Montana may be a great character but he didn't change all that much.In fact I'd because of him not changing is why he lost it all.

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

Tony was all about getting power and wealth, only to find out it's not what he had hoped for. He was in a worst spot after becoming a drug kingpin than when he was when he was poor.

 

[Peyton Westlake]

Jack Nicholson in the Shining.

 

[Brother Jack]

Robert Angier and Alfred Borden in The Prestige

Yeah, looking back at that film the character progression is pretty amazing. Angier in particular starts out as something and ends as something else entirely, yet you see the steps it took to get there and it makes complete, tragic sense. The movie really is a tragedy.

 

[Golgo-13]

Harrison Ford's character in Finding Henry

Edmond Dantes in The Count of Monte Cristo

Arthur Younger in Unthinkable

Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins

Sarah Conner in T1 to T2 - can't believe she hasn't been mentioned. Just look at her in T1 and then in T2

 

[Poetic Chaos]

And although its not a movie, the character arc of Tommy Donnelly in the short-lived TV series The Black Donnellys was brilliant. Shame that show didn't find an audience. Also, on the TV note, Boyd Crowder's arc in Justified is pretty epic.

That was an amazing show. Although I love Olivia Wilde on House I would've much rather things worked out for that show and kept here there as Jenny.

 

[hitmanyr2k]

see I like Luke's arc, but as has been pointed out many times before it is a pretty standard arc that has been played out time and time again.

Vader on the other hand I think is more interesting. when you first see him you know almost nothing about him. He is ruthless and intimidating but ultimately just a very scary lapdog. In ESB he becomes obsessive and quite one track minded on finding luke and even as they fear him many begin to doubt him. He ultimately shows that he wants to break free of the emporer and rule the galaxy himself with his son by his side. palpatine totally knows this already and seeks to replace vader with luke. Luke sees something good within vader though and tries to save him, but vader has already resigned himself to being a lost cause. In the end though vader proves his humanity and redeems himself by sacrificing himself to save luke and kill the emporer. Because of this he dies in peace and is able to become one with the force. Now that is and epic arc if I've ever seen one.

With Vader you just don't see it or feel it though. Through Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back he's completely evil and ruthless. He never shows a hint of remorse or conflict about anything. It's not until ROTJ where he starts to go soft.

Luke's arc was executed much better. In Star Wars he was immature and annoying. In Empire he was still immature but you could see him taking steps towards becoming better...especially in Dagobah. And by ROTJ he's done a complete 180 from where he started in ability and attitude.

Anyway, my all-time favorite arc goes to Michael Corleone in The Godfather. My favorite scene is the "Enzo/lighter" scene where he realizes he has that "it" factor.