As David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is making way to hit theaters on December 21, I thought it might be fun to take a look at tattoos in movies. In talking with some friends about the idea it was interesting which movie tattoos came to their minds first. Angelina Jolie’s in Wanted seemed to be one everyone mentioned and Vin Diesel in xXx was another, both memorable, but neither really stood out to me.
I took the question to Facebook where many people responded with four of the five tattoos that made my list along with tattoos from films such as Robert De Niro’s tattoos in Cape Fear, Ed Helms’ Mike Tyson tat in The Hangover Part II, Ralph Fiennes’ back splash in Red Dragon, “Respect” in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Pusher, The Rock’s sleeve in Faster and the “Dark Mark” tattoo from the Harry Potter franchise.
I was surprised no one mentioned Wesley Snipes’ tattoos in the Blade films, Russell Crowe’s skeleton tat in Romper Stomper, Kurt Russell’s cobra tattoo in Escape from New York or Enola’s tattoo from Waterworld. I never considered Darth Maul’s face a tattoo from Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, but apparently it is.
When it came to my list there was one I included as my “cool” selection and the others play a little heavier on the film’s plot. Hopefully aside from everything I mention you will come up with some I forgot, hopefully some from earlier films since I know they are out there, I just couldn’t remember them. I say, however, if I had listed six films, Brad Pitt’s tattoos as bare-knuckle boxer Mickey O’Neil in Snatch would have probably been #6. I just love the way they aren’t perfect and almost look like they were penciled on in a matter of minutes rather than the careful design of so many other you most often see in movies.
That said, let’s have a look at my top five…
5.
From Dusk Till Dawn
Seth Gecko (George Clooney)
When it comes to tattoos in movies this is probably the first one I think of, not because it was integral to the plot, but simply because from the first moment I saw it I thought to myself, Now that is bad ass!.
When From Dusk Till Dawn was released, George Clooney was knee-deep in “ER” as Dr. Doug Ross, not many people knew him as anyone else and director Robert Rodriguez found one hell of a way to get people to forget the womanizing “ER” doctor and turned Clooney into the level-headed criminal with the crazy brother played by the film’s co-writer, Quentin Tarantino. That tattoo was one of the things that allowed me to accept Clooney in the role and turn this rather bad film into one of my favorite mindless movies.
Unfortunately there aren’t any great looks at the tattoo in full so I’ve included a couple of screen captures from the DVD above and below along with a clip featuring the opening supermarket scene to accompany this placement.
4.
American History X
Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton)
If you want a tattoo that says something about its character, you don’t have to look much farther than the chest of Derek Vinyard played by Edward Norton in Tony Kaye’s American History X. This guy is the devil incarnate and his blatant embrace of the swastika he so proudly wears offers all the evidence you need.
However, if you need even more evidence as to Derek’s character I offer up the clip included here. It’s a clip that is very unsafe for work and for anyone that has seen the film, it’s exactly the clip you think it’s going to be. Personally, I just included it, it’s a clip I cannot watch. Once was enough for me…
