Acting - It’s not just WHAT you say… but HOW you say it.
Actors ‘make choices’ on how to play a scene. They choose their vocal intonations, subtle gestures & glances, their body language, menacing looks, speech patterns, tonality, etc, etc.
I don’t just look at how a villain ‘delivers his lines’.. but how they effectively communicate to the audience that ‘they mean business’.
What’s their approach? It is serious? Angry? Informal? Hostile? Playful? Sinister? Giddy?
Think about it.
So I put Bane ahead of Zodd because to me Tom Hardy showed better ‘range’ as an actor since he did not need to yell or scream to get his point across.
For example, in the scene when Bane killed Dagett… he COULD HAVE bitch-smacked him FIRST, or yelled at him… or put his hands around his throat, or chose a hundred OTHER different ways to intimidate him 'physically'.
But instead, he decides to let his
brutality have a very subtle & nuanced approach to it.
Bane simply rests his open palm on Daggett's shoulder to let him know … IT’S OVER, BRUH.
And asks him ONE simple question: “Do you FEEL in charge?”
C’mon son.
Actors make choices. In both their ’delivery’ and ‘body language’.
And Tom Hardy made a great acting choice, imo - to use a highly “understated” method of communication in this scene.
His 'body language' said it all.
Right down to the intense, 'evil stare' he gives Daggett during his final moments.
Zod never did anything as 'memorable' as this.
Now here, Bane makes killing his own men look sooooo ‘effortless’.
He doesn’t even look at the dude as he crushes his larynx.
Afterward, he taps the other dudes chest twice... right before putting a QUICK bullet in him.
Now THAT is truly ruthless.
That gets the point across. Brilliantly.
And tells the audience, if you did not know it before this moment… “I AM BOUT THAT LIFE”
And here Bane shows up… all ‘chest out’… ready to split Batman’s wig in HALF.
Just listen to how Bane delivers his lines during the fight scenes. The ‘way he talks’ to Batman & the inflections of his voice alternates between quite smug, to menacing, to authoritative, or he sounds just plain berserk & even condescending, at times.
As you can see, Tom Hardy puts ALOT of ‘variation’ into these few lines of dialogue while he opens a can of whupass.
- “Let’s not stand on ceremony here…….. Mr. Wayne.”
- “Peace has cost you your strength. Victory has defeated you”
- “You fight like a younger man. With nothing held back. Admirable. But clearly mistaken.”
- “The shadows betray you.. because they belong to ME”
Now I will agree, this was Zod’s very BEST scene in this movie.
Because it really showed-off Michael Shannon's ‘acting chops’ and made the audience sympathize with him... if only for a moment.
He showed the most ‘range’ in the delivery of this monologue, than he did in the entire movie.
At the end of the day, BOTH were really good supervillains, but I believe Bane/Tom Hardy displayed better ‘body language’ & ‘vocal variation’ as he delivered his lines.
Putting all superpowers aside… Bane did enough to be considered the bigger threat onscreen, as far as acting goes, in my book.
Just my opinion.
im sensing a bit of inferiority of not understanding them. you mad at Nolan cause you didn't understand inception? 
