Antagonist

Character Role Analysis

Sergeant Barnes

There's no question Barnes is the antagonist in this film. He's both Taylor and Elias's enemy, but also our enemy, too. His ethical transgressions (the murder of the possibly innocent woman, his willingness to kill a child) assault our ideas about right and wrong and make us loathe him, even before he kills Elias and before we see that he's willing to kill Taylor as well. In a lot of ways, the second half of the film is about the competing ideologies and loyalties of Elias, Taylor and their supporters, and Barnes and his supporters.