When the world is your prize, and a certain secret agent is trying to ruin your plans, it's a good move to take some time out of your day and have a good laugh. As you'll see in this new supercut, the villains of the James Bond franchise know this advise all too well.
Vimeo user Phil Whitehead is responsible for this classic edit of Bond villains taking the time to lighten up their days, before pushing ahead with their plans for world domination. 20 of the 24 films are covered, with Spectre squeaking under the wire with a nice ending capped by Christoph Waltz's smirking face. Though we'll give you a slight spoiler for the latest Bond film – he doesn't get to laugh as much as the rest of these folks did. Still, his Oberhauser made the list, and such legendary villains such as Dr. Julius No didn't. Guess he missed the memo from SPECTRE.
Of course, the definition of a laugh is something that's loosely enforced throughout this video, with villains doing everything from simply smirking to full blown cackling. The VIP when it comes to the full blown villain's laugh in this video is none other than Geoffrey Holder's Baron Samedi from Live And Let Die - which is probably why he's shown quite a few times throughout this video. Samedi not only has the delightful flourish in his mannerisms and movements, but his actual laugh has a deep, rich bass-y quality to it. It's a laugh you could end a film on, and as a matter of fact the makers of the 1973 Bond flick did, as you'll see in the infamous ending below.
It's truly amazing how much of a laugh a proper James Bond villain can have in their line of work. Though that laughter isn't always coming from happiness, as a lot of this video's laughs are inspired by Bond's plots to foil the heavy in each of his outings. Which brings us to the best smirks in the 007 canon, and there are quite a couple that stand out in the line-up. However, if we're going to go with the best of the best, then you have to go with Jonathan Pryce's Elliot Carver from 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies.
Between his smarmy nature, and the obvious glee he takes in the pain of others – so long as there's a clever headline to go along with it – Carver's almost constant smile looks like he's the cat that swallowed the canary. Even when Pierce Brosnan's Bond gives him his best one liners, the media mogul smiles back even harder, as if to signify his dedication through his facial features. When the villain enjoys their work, it's more fun to watch them try and succeed, and even more satisfying to watch them fail.
You can see if Christoph Waltz succeeds or fails in his tenure as a James Bond villain in Spectre, which is in theaters now.
