Burton's performance [is] cold-eyed and ugly, rejecting sympathy or glamour, admirably conveying the double image of the Capone-style gangster he aspires to be and the common, average-stupid, taciturn braggart he truly is.

[Villain works] as [an illustration] of the shaming condition of a native industry which, perpetually ailing, has never seemed, quite so close to extinction -- at least as a serious creative force.

A ludicrous exposé of the lower depths of London crime, it tarts up the hoariest old gangster clichés with a bit of homosexuality and a lot of thuggery, and manages to be both brutish and maudlin.

…as a film, Villain wasn’t loved at the time, but now seems a bridge between traditional British policiers and a more modern take on criminality …the result has a vitality of it’s own, largely due to a script that is slippery enough to avoid clichés…