WARNING: There are SPOILERS ahead for Love, Simon. So if you haven’t seen the coming of age romantic comedy yet you should do just that and then return here to read my thoughts on Martin Addison below.
There have been some very evil characters throughout the movie history.
Darth Vader, Freddy Krueger, Norman Bates, Nurse Ratched, Hans Gruber, and Anton Chigurh have all made their mark getting up to no good on celluloid. But they now all have a rival for the title of the greatest movie villain of all time in the shape of Martin Addison from “Love, Simon.”
On the face of it Logan Miller’s character doesn’t seem all that intimidating. But throughout “Love, Simon” he commits some truly heinous acts, from finding out that Simon is gay and then blackmailing him to committing the most embarrassing piece of public display of affection cinema has ever seen. He shouldn’t really be hated for the latter, it is just excruciating to watch.
But Martin’s most abhorrent act is the catalyst for “Love, Simon’s” compelling finale. Because after he is rejected by Abby (Alexandra Shipp) in front of the whole school he decides to out Simon as gay, which in turn immediately ruins Simon’s pen-pal romance with “Blue.”
Sure, Martin tries to apologize, and provides the money for Simon to take one last spin on the Ferris wheel, giving Bram (Keiynan Lonsdale) the time to join him and reveal that he is “Blue,” but that was nowhere near enough for me to forgive him.
But while I clearly have a problem with Martin that I need to address, one individual that has already forgiven the character is Nick Robinson, who plays Simon in the film. Nick recently admitted as much when I spoke to him over the phone.
After I asked him whether he believed that “Love, Simon’s” Martin Addison was pure evil, he briefly laughed, before responding, “No, I don’t think so. I think Martin is not an evil guy at all. I think he is well intentioned just a little misguided.”
“He is really doing this whole charade out of love in a way. It’s funny, Martin is one of those characters in the film that is completely himself and doesn’t care what people think. I actually think that Simon is kind of envious of that. But probably would never tell him.”
If Simon himself is ready to forgive Martin then I suppose that I am, too. So, for now, I’ll downgrade him from pure evil to just odious.
“Love, Simon” is in cinemas now.
