Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney. We continue our Villains Profile as we look at Commander Rourke. Atlantis: The Lost Empire is an odd little movie. It's not a bad movie by any means but it's not a remarkable Disney movie by any means. And today, we are looking at the villain of the piece. With that outta the way, let's begin.
Voice Actor
James Garner
Rourke was voiced by legendary actor, James Garner. And Garner gave the character of Rourke a lot of gravitas and weight that is one of the things that made for one of the most memorable aspects of Rourke. There really isn't much more to say about Garner's portrayal of Rourke. He's great in the role but it's not a role with a lot to it.
First Appearance
We first meet Rourke, when Milo Thatch meets him as well at the start of the expedition. And this brings us to something that I noticed about Rourke. Disney had been a trend of having a hidden antagonist in the past couple of years. If you go from Wreck-It Ralph to Zootopia, all of the films between those had a hidden antagonist and in many ways, Rourke is also a hidden antagonist. What this basically boils down to is that, when we meet the villain, we don't know that they are the villain. It's become a common trope in media but with Rourke, it's a bit more obvious for a couple of reasons. With the biggest reason being that when meet the expedition crew, we see that most of the crew have their eccentries
Whereas Rourke and by extension, his second-in-command Helga appeared to be the quote unquote normal one of the crew.
Personality
Tying back into the hidden antagonist thing that I brought up in the First Appearance section of this article, Rourke at first seems to be calm, cool and collected. A perfect military leader to be sure. But as the movie goes on, we see that he has a bit of a temper and Milo is testing it and we see that he is very ruthless, greedy and will go to any great lengths to get what he wants.
Grand Desire
He has 2 major goals and they both stem from greed. The first one is selling the heart of Atlantis. And when he learns that Atlantans are still alive, he desires to wreck Atlantis as wreckage would make the treasure more valuable.
Lackey
Helga Sinclair
Helga is a fine character that we are introduced to early on and you see the appeal for this character as she does have the looks and strength to back it up. Though, as we will get to, while it does seem like there is tight relationship between these two, Rourke will turn on her in an instance.
Most Evil Deed
As odd as it may seem I didn't go with Rourke taking Kida from Atlantis to sell the heart but instead what he did to Helga. Rourke and Helga are escaping on a balloon but there is too much weight and to lighten the load, Rourke decides to toss Helga overboard.
I went with this moment because this to me show that Rourke will stop at nothing to get what he wants, even if it means turning on his partner. Just wow.
Demise
Yeah, I'm just gonna quote the Disney Wiki as this is just a bit odd.
Losing what's left of his sanity, an enraged Rourke begins to take his aggression out on Milo and grabs a fire axe to kill him. He hits a glass cover of the container, with glass shards becoming embedded with the Heart of Atlantis. As Rourke holds Milo up for a killing blow, Milo cuts him with one of the shards and he begins to transform into crystal form. Rourke still attacks, but a chance situation causes him to be hoisted into the still moving propellers, destroying him for good.
Well, that's a thing that happened. Weird. I have no reaction to this death. It's one of the more interesting ways to go out. I don't think we've covered a demise this weird since we've looked at King Candy.
Is Commander Rourke A Good Villain?
He's fine, he's not bad but there is a reason that he isn't in the pantheon of great Disney villains. He serves his purpose as the villain and that is the best you can say about him. Join me next time as we close this out as we look at....
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