He plays menacing, creppy, psychopaths, really well.

His Vicomte de Valmont in Stephen Frears' 'Dangerous Liaisons, 1988' was a kind of unexpected revelation - so relatively soon after his performance in 'Places in the Heart, 1984' and as the troubled milquetoast 'Tom' in 'The Glass Menagerie, 1987.' Before 'Cyrus the Virus' in 'Con Air, 1997' he'd done Kurtz in 'Heart of Darkness, 1994' for TV and Mr. Hyde in 'Mary Reilly, 1996.' as well as the unrepentant General in 'Mulholland Falls' also from 1996 as well there would be Inspector Javert for TV ('Les Miserables,' 2000) and the scheming Talleyrand in 'Napoleón, 2003.' You'd think he's earned his stripes.

My first two experiences of John Malkovich were actually two very effective villainous (or so it would seem) performances as Javert in the French TV serial of Les Misérables, and then as the psychotic yet brilliant Sirus the Virus in the film Con Air (as pictured), where he is so evil he even shoots toy bunny rabbits.