Unlikeable Protagonists

[PyroChamber]

Can you think of any movies where the person we're suppose to root for is just as unlikeable, if not more, than the one we're suppose to hate?

 

[titansupes]

Anakin in the PT.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Jurassic Park 2 is one that immediately comes to mind.

Tony Stark also has his moments.

Oh and Anakin Skywalker.

 

[PyroChamber]

In a way, Scott Pilgrim.

 

[The Chris]

I was rooting for Mel Gibson's character in Expendables 3. The way he put it made Stallone's Ross sound more like a scumbag to me.

Most horror films today I root for the leads to die. (Except for the recent James Wan films. I like the families in Insidious and The Conjuring)

 

[Brother Jack]

Anakin in the PT.

I don't think that was intentional. At least not in the beginning.

 

[CyclopsWasRight]

Patrick Bateman
Tony Stark (IM2 onward)
Ripley (Ressurection) edit: not so much un-likeable as disconnected and un-interesting
Mike Lowry (Bad Boys II)

 

[flickchick85]

I mean, I wouldn't say we're supposed to "root for" her, but Charlize Theron in Young Adult is definitely the protagonist. And is VERY intentionally unlikable.

 

[PyroChamber]

I mean, I wouldn't say we're supposed to "root for" her, but Charlize Theron in Young Adult is definitely the protagonist. And is VERY intentionally unlikable.

Oddly enough, I find a lot of roles that Charlize Theron plays to be unlikable.

 

[flickchick85]

After Monster, she really seemed to start gravitating toward those kinds of roles. Probably because before that, she was only getting offered the kinds of roles pretty faces get offered (Mighty Joe Young, Sweet November, The Italian Job, etc). Post-Monster it seemed like she started to relish NOT having to be so appealing.

 

[dude stannis]

Dominic Toretto's team. They steal the combined life savings of working class Brazilians and then complain about their luxurious lives in Spain. You could re-edit Furious 7 with Statham as the hero pretty easily.

 

[killface]

The Na'vi from Avatar (which branched out to me being apathetic to Jake Sully)

This is the only time when I really hated a protagonist. By the end of the movie, I sided with Col. Quaritch. Not really because I agreed with his views and actions but because the Na'vi were just overbearing.

 

[dude stannis]

The Na'vi from Avatar (which branched out to me being apathetic to Jake Sully)

This is the only time when I really hated a protagonist. By the end of the movie, I sided with Col. Quaritch. Not really because I agreed with his views and actions but because the Na'vi were just overbearing.

I didn't like them either. They where really cheesy and overly precious.

 

[titansupes]

I don't think that was intentional. At least not in the beginning.

I thought OP meant unintentionally unlikable? If he meant intentionally unlikable I would've said Zuckerberg from TSN.

 

[Victarion]

Luke Skywalker - Too whiny for my liking.

 

[MadVillainy]

IT's kinda the standard for blockbusters nowadays. You get a hero who is kinda an a-hole but because he's funny, handsome, and charming we "root" for him.

But where it doesn't really work: I say Tony Stark in Age of Ultron. I thought he was actually a big piece of s*** in that. He was a clear example of what I wrote about above, but in AoU not even his charm made him likeable to me.

I disagreed but I know a lot of people felt that way about Britt Reid/Seth Rogen in the Green Hornet movie

Need for Speed is another one. Aaron Pauls character would just cause destruction for the hell of it or laugh when he almost hit a homeless person with his car

Oddly enough, I find a lot of roles that Charlize Theron plays to be unlikable.

Yeah Ive noticed that too. And it's one of those things to me that she plays it so well I wonder if she's an unlikeable jerk in real life haha

Some actors/actresses are just that good at being jerks. Joel McHale is another one to me.

 

[Quasimod0]

Luke Skywalker - Too whiny for my liking.

Yeah in the first two films Luke is pretty whiny. He gets more likeable as he matures though. He's better in the second one than he is in ep. IV.

 

[chamber-music]

I don't like Katniss from the Hunger Games movies.

Tony Stark also has his moments.

Tony Stark being a questionably protagonist is intentional. Stan Lee liked the idea of making a rich Howard Hughes style Arms Dealer a hero in a during Vietnam in the sixties.

“I thought it would be fun to take the kind of character that nobody would like, none of our readers would like, and shove him down their throats and make them like him.” - Stan Lee

The fact that Robert Downey Junior has enough charm to pull off a character who is a smug narcissistic ass**** who happens to develop a shred of Morality after nearly dying is a minor miracle.

You can almost understand why Stane would want to kill off Tony Stark in the first Iron Man. Being around Tony for long periods of time would be almost unbearable.

 

[Victarion]

Yeah in the first two films Luke is pretty whiny. He gets more likeable as he matures though. He's better in the second one than he is in ep. IV.

He's at his best in ROTJ.

 

[A Necessary Evil]

Not a movie- but everyone is Always Sunny is an ***hole lol

 

[killface]

I thought OP meant unintentionally unlikable? If he meant intentionally unlikable I would've said Zuckerberg from TSN.

I actually liked zuckerberg from the social network

 

[PyroChamber]

Not a movie- but everyone is Always Sunny is an ***hole lol

Everyone that's actually associated with the Gang. And sometimes being around them turns you into an ******* yourself.

 

[Greens]

I don't like Katniss from the Hunger Games movies.

I agree. She actively annoyed me in the last movie.

 

[Schlosser85]

The Prestige is easy.

Also, if you think about it, everybody in Inception is pretty shady.

 

[MadVillainy]

Tony Stark being a questionably protagonist is intentional. Stan Lee liked the idea of making a rich Howard Hughes style Arms Dealer a hero in a during Vietnam in the sixties.

YEah but he was more of a loveable rogue in the previous films.

AoU he inadvertently caused so much damage and death and doesn't really show that much remorse.

That made him less lovable to me.