Top 10 Best Character Arcs
Character arcs & growth can be crucial to a story. Now not every film has to feature some dramatic emotional (or sometimes literal) journey for a character, but when if it does, it’s important that it does it well. This list will feature 10 entries of what I consider some of the best characters arcs we see in film. I’m only looking at growth in a single film, so character that grow over the course of a film series don’t qualify. Some good examples that didn’t qualify would be Neville Longbottom from ‘Harry Potter’ (went from a bumbling side character to the embodiment of Gryffindor house), Elizabeth Swann from ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ (who goes from a young woman being forced into societal norms to the eventual Pirate King), & Anakin Skywalker from ‘Star Wars’ (goes from potential filled kid, to a hotshot young padawan, to an * almost * Jedi Master, to the co-leader of the evil Galactic Empire, before getting his redemption at the end). And of course, TV show characters are also ineligible, but if I had to pick two to mention they would be Jaime Lannister from ‘Game of Thrones’ & Zuko from ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender.’ Now onto those that really did make the list. Spoilers ahead.
Ebenezer Scrooge, ‘A Christmas Carol’- Sure, take your pick of whichever Scrooge is your favorite. I feel as though Scrooge is the most obvious inclusion on the list because the whole point of the story is seeing his arc play out. I don’t think I need to tell you the story as its one of the most well known modern stories in fiction so I’ll just say that the work those spirits did their job very effectively.
Gary Johnson (Glen Powell), ‘Hit Man’- The original inspiration from this list, Glen Powell’s character from this film inspired me when I first watched it last year. One of the main parts of the film is the idea that someone can be whoever they want to be by just acting that way. Gary does this by embodying several fictitious hit men, before he settles into his new persona of Ron. He plays the charming & suave Ron to get through to Madison (Adria Arjona) before the two eventually fall in love. Madison is shocked when she learns of Gary’s true nerdy nature, but at the end of the film, Gary is able to find a good balance of his old self and Ron as he & Madison begin their life together.
Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton), ‘American History X’- It takes some major character growth for someone who is quite literally a skinhead neo-Nazi. Derek sees the err of his ways when he’s in prison & tries his best to keep his brother from going down the same path when he gets out. While Derek’s new outlook in no way redeems his past actions, he does one of the best things a bad person can do by immediately changing his actions & trying his best to repent.
Lt. Dan Taylor (Gary Sinise), ‘Forrest Gump’- This may be a weird addition to the list, but I love ‘Forrest Gump’ and just rewatched it, so I decided to include Lt. Dan. We first meet Dan in ‘Nam as a Lieutenant who feels as though it is his destiny to die in the Vietnam War (because he has had an ancestor die in every American war). Much to his dismay, he is saved from his pending death by Forrest, though he loses both legs. He sours on life, gets angry at Forrest for saving him, & lives a lowly life off of government stipends. He agrees to be Forrest’s first mate on his shrimping boat, and the two make a lot of money while Dan also finds a new, positive outlook on life. He ends the film super rich, with new prosthetic legs, and a fiancee. Good for him.
Will Hunting (Matt Damon), ‘Good Will Hunting’- Good ole Will Hunting. In what I consider the best written film ever, Damon’s titular character is wicked smart. And that’s a major under statement, as he actually has a super genius level intellect. Will spends his time drinking, fighting, & doing a whole lot of nothing with his buddies before he is discovered by an MIT professor. As he gets to know his court assigned psychiatrist, Sean (Robin Williams), Will starts to believe more and more in himself and also learns there is so much more to life.
Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), ‘The Godfather’- Yes, the film did spawn two sequels, but Michael’s arc in the first film earns a spot here by itself. Not all character growth is a good thing, and in Michaels’ case he goes from a World War II veteran & college dropout who wants nothing to do with his family business to the next in line of his father’s criminal empire. Michael becomes cruel & ruthless as he truly takes on the mantle of ‘The Godfather.’
Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), ‘Dune: Part Two’- I can already hear you thinking about how this is a sequel & I specifically said I was focusing on a single film. Well I am! Just look at where Paul starts & ends this film. He starts where he ended the first film, a young man who wants to avenge his father, but is hesitant about becoming a leader. This hesitancy turns into full blown fear when he learns of the religious zealots ready to follow him as their messiah. Then he completely switches gears after he drinks the Water of Life, ready to be the Lisan al-Gaib that the Fremen people believe he is. He ends the film as the literal emperor of the universe who is ready for a full blown war.
Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti), ‘The Holdovers’- Giamatti’s cranky English professor starts the film as just that, a crank. However, when he bonds with the young Angus (Dominic Sessa), Paul realizes the downside of always being a cynic. He sacrifices his job & way of life to defend Angus & finally speak his mind. It’s like ‘Dead Poets Society’ but if Robin Williams was grumpy at the beginning.
The Breakfast Club- It takes a good amount of heavy lifting for your whole ensemble to go through character development. And while this 80s teen classic definitely has some tired & outdated tropes, all 5 members of the titular group don’t finish the film anywhere close to where they started it.
12 Angry Men- And one thing more impressive than getting 5 teenagers to progress as characters is getting a full jury of grown men to do so. Let me tell you my gripe with ‘12 Angry Men.’ Its the title. Only 11 of the men are actually angry, while Henry Fonda’s Juror No. 8 mostly just seems sad at the start of the juror’s discussion. And so while not all 12 of the men go through some growth, 11 of them surely do, each in their own way. Some of the changes are quite drastic, with the men’s entire belief systems being challenged & shaken.
