I think it adds to them being sociopaths and more dynamic. Rather than being a stereotypical bad guy.

Landa from Inglorious B******s is a great example of what I mean. Bro was polite as hell and charismatic even tho he was ready to kill a Jew at any moment.

Even other villains like Anton (No Country for Old Men) and Fetcher (Whiplash) though bat s*** crazy they still had polite moments they used as tactics to play mind games.

Do like your stereotypical bad guy that spits one liners but I think villains that do crazy s***, don't understand what they're doing is wrong and believe it's completely normal are easily the most horrifying to me. Example Creepy dude from perfect blue or Frill from wonder egg priority or joker when he's done right

Yes, it brings them down to earth. Not evil just for the sake of being evil

I think being polite showcases how much more evil they are. Shows just how much more f***ed up they are. Especially someone like Landa who uses it to play mind games.

it adds a little bit of relativity to the viewer but otherwise idk.

It’s my favorite villain trope

My favorite villains are the ones who don’t have anything personal against the villain and tend to actually have a lot of good motives for their actions .

I can only really think of villains that have some sort of ‘code’..bane is the only that comes to mind that’s like a berserker bruiser type

I watched the american version of ‘funny games’ recently, they were polite & it didn’t feel compelling to me, so it doesn’t always work

Eh, I think it’s all about execution. Polite villains can feel tame too depending on the execution (like christoph waltz or Bardem in the bond movies who jus feel like after thoughts)

The best villains are those that are written well and given a large and substantial role in the stories

Them mfers were psychos, I wouldn’t even call them polite

Would Anton Chigurh count as a polite villain?

Damn True, they still the mild mannered shtick & tone, they had to be nice to get into houses etc

Good question

Yeah either have them be very charismatic and polite or a total unredeemable pieces of s***. Sometimes it shows they don't know what to make of a villain, and it becomes a mixed bag which ends up making him or her not that memorable

Depends on the villain polite is fun if you're supposed to be charmed by them but it's something bout a full monster that works too

This is the best example of what you're describing @op

You didn’t thing Waltz was a great villain?

Would expect nothing less from someone with ur avy

who the best polite villain though? 🤔

Yessir that’s why I mentioned him in OP. He wasn’t overly polite tho.