A list of films in which tattoos play a leading role

Memento

Tattoos in films are nothing new, but in those listed below, they go further than just making a character look badass. That’s why The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo isn’t on this list—sure, she’s got a tattoo (spoiler: it’s a dragon), but that doesn’t move the story forward. Ditto those idiots in Dude, Where’s My Car. Also not included: movies about tattoo artists. That’s too easy.

Cape Fear: Robert De Niro plays a convict on the trail of an attorney (Nick Nolte) and his family in Scorsese’s 1991 remake. De Niro’s Max Cady is covered in ink, all of it having to do with the out-of-balance scales of justice.

City of Lost Children: A man (Ron Perlman) and a strange kid search for a guy whose tattoo will guide them through a minefield so they can rescue children kidnapped by a scientist trying to steal their dreams. Weird stuff.

Constantine: Only Keanu Reeves could put his tattooed arms together to force an angel to appear.

EastePromises: A Russian gangster (Viggo Mortensen) wears his life in ink in David Cronenberg’s thriller, and you get to see a lot of it during that naked shower fight.

The Hangover Part II: Ed Helms’ character wakes up with Mike Tyson’s face tattoo on his melon. Tyson’s tattoo artist sues, and warner Bros. settles for an undisclosed amount.

The Illustrated Man: Every tattoo on Rod Steiger’s body tells a story. Literally.

Memento: Christopher Nolan’s breakthrough movie stars Guy Pearce as a man who cannot form short-term memories, so he regularly must reexamine the clues to his wife’s killer that he’s tattooed onto his body.

Night of the Hunter: A creepy preacher (Robert Mitchum) marries a widow so her kids will tell him where their dad stashed some loot. Rule of thumb: Never marry a man with ‘love’ and ‘hate’ tattooed on his knuckles.

Raising Arizona: Former convict H.I. Mc- Dunnough (Nicolas Cage) sports the same tattoo as the biker of the apocalypse, who’s on McDunnough’s trail for kidnapping the child of an unpainted-furniture tycoon. What does that signify? You tell us.

Waterworld: The world is covered by water, dirt is currency and gill-breather Kevin Costner has to follow a map tattooed on some kid’s back to find his way to dry land.