Tagarchief: Agent Smith

Double Bill #11: The Truman Show & The Matrix

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Two masterpieces from the late ’90s, The Truman Show (1998) and The Matrix (1999), both revolve around protagonists who discover they’ve been living in an artificial reality. In The Truman Show, Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) realizes that his entire life has been a carefully orchestrated television show, where everyone around him – his wife, parents, and best friend – is merely an actor. Similarly, in The Matrix, Neo (Keanu Reeves) learns that humanity is trapped in a simulated reality controlled by artificial intelligence, with people’s minds imprisoned while their bodies serve as mere power sources. In Truman’s case, the man behind his imprisonment is Christof (brilliantly portrayed by Ed Harris), a visionary television producer who will stop at nothing to maintain control over Truman’s life, ensuring the continued success of his wildly successful show. Neo, on the other hand, faces a more intangible and insidious enemy, namely rogue artificial intelligence. In the first film, this AI is represented through sinister agents, with Hugo Weaving delivering an unforgettable performance as Agent Smith. Both films captivate as they depict the journey of discovery – watching Truman and Neo slowly unravel the truth about their worlds is nothing short of enthralling. The moment of revelation in each film remains awe-inspiring, evoking goosebumps even after repeated viewings. Truman’s world, we learn, is enclosed in an enormous dome, a massive set visible from space, while Neo’s reality reveals him as a human battery in a sprawling field of organic towers, where infants are cultivated as power sources for the AI’s machinery. Interestingly, both films imbue the protagonists’ names with deeper significance. Truman is the only ‘true man’ in his artificial world, while Neo is an anagram of ‘ONE’, symbolizing his status as the singular anomaly within the Matrix, with the potential to bend its rules. Neo’s discovery of his unique abilities leads to some of the most iconic moments in cinematic history. In the end, both The Truman Show and The Matrix conclude with their heroes breaking free from their respective confinements, delivering an exhilarating sense of liberation. It’s a triumphant and cathartic experience for the audience, as well – leaving us with the best feeling in the world.

Read also: The Matrix And The Awakening To True Reality

The 20 Greatest Ultra Villains in Movies

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

20. Bill the Butcher

Played by: Daniel Day-Lewis
Film(s): Gangs of New York (2002)
Line: ‘Ears and noses will be the trophies of the day. But no hand shall touch him.’

Nothing goes too far for William ‘Bill the Butcher’ Cutting in his personal mission to oppress the new immigrants whom Bill sees as mere cockroaches. His name is very appropriate: whenever he joins the street fights, he slaughters enemies by the dozens using his vast set of knives and stabbing weapons. He shows a softer side around Amsterdam, who he sees as the son he never had, but in the end, Bill is a bad man. Played to perfection by Daniel Day Lewis.

19. Mr. Joshua

Played by: Gary Busey
Film(s): Lethal Weapon (1987)
Line: ‘See, Martin, we have a problem. Since we have Murtaugh, we don’t really need you. But I believe in being thorough.’

The ultra blond Mr. Joshua is pretty much a badass. He shows his macho behavior in his intro-scene by letting his employer hold a lighter under his arm for a pretty long time. Riggs and Murtaugh have a lot of trouble with this ex-commando. In his mission to smuggle heroin into the United States, he lets nothing or nobody get in his way. He scores extra points for his pretty good fighting skills.

18. The Terminator

Played by: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Film(s): The Terminator (1984)
Line: ‘Your clothes – give them to me, now.’

Schwarzenegger is perfectly cast as a killing machine. The Terminator is one scary motherfucker. ‘Sarah Connor? Yes. Boom!!!’ He is efficient and unstoppable. The perfect invention really. James Cameron (director) and Stan Winston (special effects) have really outdone themselves. The highlight? There are many, but Schwarzenegger barging in the police station killing everybody is pretty damn exciting.

17. Amon Goeth

Played by: Ralph Fiennes
Film(s): Schindler’s List (1993)
Line: ‘Ah, an educated Jew… like Karl Marx himself. Unterscharfuehrer! Shoot her.’

Can a psycho Nazi killer still be charismatic? Leave it to Ralph Fiennes to pull it off. Even though Goeth commits horrible acts and certainly deserves to die for it, he can be touching in a strange and remote way. A truly remarkable bad guy, right up until his ‘Heil Hitler’ sent off.

16. Judge Doom

Played by: Christopher Lloyd
Film(s): Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
Line: ‘Soon, where Toon Town once stood will be a string of gas stations, inexpensive motels, restaurants that serve rapidly prepared food.’

Christopher Lloyd who nailed the ultimately sympathetic ‘Doc’ in Back to the Future, plays a really scary dude here. Judge Doom is one malicious bastard and the type of villain we could use more of: wacky, evil-lookin’ and carrying a dark secret. Brilliant character in a brilliant movie.

15. Anton Chigurh

Played by: Javier Bardem
Film(s): No Country for Old Men (2007)
Line: ‘What’s the most you have ever lost in a coin toss?’

Chigurh is one weird psycho killer for sure. Armed with an oxygen tank and a shotgun he makes life very difficult for the people in the wasteland of the Texas-Nevada borderlands His entrance in No Country for Old Men alone is enough to earn him this position. Add to that his terrible haircut, his deep voice and his seemingly random killing spree and you got an A-grade villain that’s just hard to forget.

14. Freddy Krueger

Played by: Robert Englund
Film(s): A Nightmare on Elm Street series (1984-2003)
Line: ‘I’m your boyfriend now, Nancy.’

The child murdering Freddy literally gives his victims nightmares. Both his burned face and his evil mind tricks can make everybody crap their pants. Freddy is without a doubt the greatest supernatural killer to ever appear on the white screen.

13. Annie Wilkes

Played by: Kathy Bates
Film(s): Misery (1990)
Line: ‘You! You dirty bird! How could you?’

Pour Paul Sheldon. Being captured by his greatest fan is a nightmare beyond imagination. He is constantly walking on eggshells as the slightest provocation will set off Annie Wilkes big time. It’s hard to say what kind of disorder she actually ‘suffers’ from, but there is no doubt that she is completely batshit.

12. Skeletor

Played by: Frank Langella
Film(s): Masters of the Universe (1987)
Line: ‘I am Skeletor.’

Masters of the Universe is no masterpiece, but Frank Langella really elevates the movie with his highly enjoyable appearance. His portrayal of Skeletor, who was already a favorite villain in cartoons, became a most memorable bad guy. His looks are spot on, and he rules his underlings with an iron fist. It’s a total shame that He-Man kicks him into a dark, deep shaft at the end of the movie.

11. Saruman

Played by: Christopher Lee
Film(s): The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001 / 2002 / 2003)
Line: ‘Hunt them down! Do not stop until they are found. You do not know pain, you do not know fear. You’ll taste men-flesh!’

While Sauron may be the real bad guy in The Lord of the Rings, Saruman makes a far greater impression. His voice is perhaps his greatest asset. The way he utters spells and commands is just the ultimate in evil cool. Christopher Lee, almost 80 when he played this, is remarkable in the role that he was born to play. When it comes to evil old wizards surrounded by Orcs, Saruman is the man.

10. Agent Smith

Played by: Hugo Weaving
Film(s): The Matrix (1999) / The Matrix Reloaded (2003) / The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
Line: ‘I will enjoy watching you die…Mr. Anderson.’

Who ever thought a software application could be this menacing? Smith may be funny with his monotone voice and robotic locomotion, but he can be vicious as well. It’s really hard to relax with this guy around, and he is always around. When you think he’s finally gone, he returns with clone abilities. Smith is an unstoppable force of destruction and can ultimately be only stopped by himself. Now that’s pretty bad.

9. Clarence Boddicker

Played by: Kurtwood Smith
Film(s): RoboCop (1987)
Line: ‘Can you fly Bobby?’

It’s not exactly his looks that make Clarence Boddicker ultra villain material. It is his ruthless and merciless attitude. He first shows his vileness, when he kicks one of his wounded cronies out of a moving truck. Soon after, he displays a real sadistic streak when he brutally murders Murphy. Although he’s a street level boss, he meets personally with Dick Jones, Vice President at OCP (Omni Consumer Products) showing he is also an intelligent and competent gang leader.

8. T-1000

Played by: Robert Patrick
Film(s): Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Line: ‘Thank you for your cooperation.’

Robert Patrick as the liquid metal T-1000 is an example of perfect casting. This unstoppable and constantly morphing killing machine is pretty scary at times. The fact that he is wearing a police uniform makes this even worse. Rather than ‘protect and serve’, he fanatically chases John Connor around while killing everybody that gets in his way. Glad to have Schwarzenegger around, the only one with a remote chance to stop it. Now that’s pretty telling.

7. Bill

Played by: David Carradine
Film(s): Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) / Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
Line: ‘Do you find me sadistic?’

Bill is a murderous bastard, but he can be honorable as well. When the Bride arrives to take revenge on Bill for shooting her in the head, he grants her one night with her daughter, who she had presumed to be dead. Make no mistake though, in the duel that follows he would have killed her without mercy if it hadn’t been for her special skills. A classic villain who gets extra points for his great knowledge of martial arts and pop culture.

6. Major Arnold Toht

Played by: Ronald Lacey
Film(s): Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Line: ‘You Americans, you’re all the same. Always overdressing for the wrong occasions.’

The boring communists in The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull showed again what great villains Nazi’s can be. Major Toht is an absolute favorite. A very unpleasant appearance and an equally disturbing voice can make someone cringe. It’s a true relief when his face starts melting towards the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

5. Emperor Palpatine

Played by: Ian McDiarmid
Film(s): Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983)
Line: ‘Welcome young Skywalker. I’m looking forward to completing your training. In time, you will call me…master!’

While the Ewoks made Return of the Jedi just a little too child friendly, Ian McDiarmid restored the balance with his dark portrayal of the Emperor. Allegedly, serial killer Jeffrey Damner was a huge fan of Palpatine. This figures, because Palpatine is a true incarnation of evil. Every line he utters comes out as pure poison. He is often underestimated because of his fragile old appearance, but make no mistake! When Palpatine starts using his dark side force techniques there is nobody who can stop him. Well there’s always one.

4. Hans Gruber

Played by: Alan Rickman
Film(s): Die Hard (1988)
Line: ‘Nice suit. John Phillips, London. I have two myself. Rumor has it Arafat buys his there.’

Another German villain to make the list. It is just hard to ignore their bad guy potential. Hans Gruber is the perfect baddie against Bruce Willis’ hero John McClane. He is both ruthless and smart, but certainly not without a sense of humor and style. You gotta hand it to this guy. Up till now, the Die Hard creators haven’t yet found a suitable replacement for him as the villains in the four sequels all made far less of an impression.

3. Frank

Played by: Henry Fonda
Film(s): Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Line: ‘I could crush you like a wormy apple.’

Not a businessman but ‘just a man’. If that is true, humanity is truly fucked. Look at Frank’s sins: killing a young boy in his first appearance, raping Jill McBain and off course the thing he did to royally piss off Harmonica. Nobody figured the sympathetic Henry Fonda could play a bad guy this well. He proved them dead wrong. Frank is one of the most accomplished villains ever, and Fonda should have won an Oscar for the part.

2. Dr. Hannibal Lecter

Played by: Anthony Hopkins
Film(s): The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Line: ‘I’m having an old friend for dinner.’

Anthony Hopkins delivers a wicked and Oscar-winning performance as Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Charming, extremely intelligent, psychically strong: Lecter has it all. One of the few baddies in this list who actually survives the films he is in, Lecter stands above the regular laws of good and evil. He just does what he does. His character has been exploited a little too much in modern cinema and literature, but his turn in The Silence of the Lambs remains one of the most chilling and spellbinding performances ever in cinema history.

1. Darth Vader

Played by: David Prowse, James Earl Jones (voice)
Film(s): Star Wars Trilogy (1977 / 1980 / 1883)
Line: ‘If you only knew the power of the dark side.’

Its villains have always been the best thing about Star Wars, but Darth Vader is the baddest motherfucker of them all. It is hard to say which is cooler; his voice (and breathing), his name or his appearance. His introduction in A New Hope alone makes him the best movie villain ever. But he also has a fair share in fighting skills, force power and strategy. Just a fantastic character altogether.

What Do Gollum, Darth Vader & Agent Smith Have in Common?

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

You were just wondering about that, weren’t you? Well, I’ll explain.

Every big epic in fantasy or science fiction, needs a legendary villain-character like Darth Vader, Gollum or Agent Smith. But these three are not normal evil doers. They are very special, because their destiny is directly tied to the resolution of the whole story. They are more like causal agents than just ordinary bad guys.

Their evil is also much more nuanced than the other main villains in their holy trilogies. And their motivations are often harder to fully grasp. Take emperor Palpatine in Star Wars. He is just evil to the core. There is not a single shade of grey: he is BAD. Darth Vader, on the other hand, was actually a good man before he was seduced by the dark side of the force. Luckily, for the oppressed galaxy, Vader’s son Luke Skywalker felt there was still good in him. Luke exploited this inner conflict, which lead to the death of Palpatine by Vader’s hand at the end of Return of the Jedi. The galaxy was free once again due to Vader’s destiny.

Gollum and Agent Smith (especially after his supposed destruction by Neo in the first Matrix movie) don’t even belong to the villain class and are free agents, so to speak, Smith quite literally. They are just roaming around in their fantasy worlds, driven by their own insatiable desires. Gollum by his addiction to the Ring of Power, and Smith by his need to destroy his arch enemy Neo and the entire simulated computerworld the Matrix with it. But, like in Vader’s case, through their actions they enable the heroes of their stories to fulfill their appointed tasks while they would have otherwise failed.

Like Frodo in The Lord of the Rings. He managed to get the ring all the way to Mount Doom, but could unavoidably no longer resist the power of the mighty precious and thus refused to destroy it. Gollum took his chance and jumped at Frodo, bit off his finger, and took the ring. But he could only enjoy it for a brief moment. As a crazed Frodo attacked him, Gollum fell to his doom taking the ring with him. The panic in Sauron’s one eye is very satisfying. His reign is over forever. Gandalf had foreseen this turn of events: ‘My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play yet, for good or ill, before this is over.’

Agent Smith’s faith is similar. When Neo realises that it is inevitable that Smith – who he has destroyed before – must now destroy him in order for things to end. He allows Smith to clone him, like he has done to the entire population of the Matrix (‘me, me, me’). But since Neo is the One, the anomaly of the system, this creates a fatal chain reaction eliminating the virus Smith. By pursuing his own purposes, against the will of his masters (the machines in case of The Matrix), he ensures that the humans are set free.

Do all epics have this type of causal agent? What about Harry Potter for example? Well in a way: yes, a very interesting one. When Voldemort tried to kill Harry when he was a baby, he unwillingly put a horcrux (a piece of his soul) in Harry. While Harry was growing up, he slowly discovered his connection to the Dark Lord. In the end, the only way to defeat him, was by letting Voldemort kill him. This villain created a causal agent himself that lead to his doom! Because Voldemort didn’t kill Harry, but just the horcrux. The now released Harry could return and finish off Voldemort in a final confrontation, ridding the wizard and muggle world of this ultimate baddie.

The world is more complex than just good-evil. While most of the characters in these epics are either of the hero or villain archetype, these causal agents are not so easily defined. So to answer the question, what do they have in common? They are tools used by the clashing higher forces to decide the faith of the world. Apparently, free will is absent in these worlds, and we are merely instruments of the ruling powers. This makes sense, for at least two of these trilogies (Star Wars and The Matrix) are inspired by Eastern Philosophy of which some movements (Advaita Vedanta) teaches us that free will is an illusion. The Lord of the Rings seems more in tune with paganism that also suggests that greater spiritual forces can impact the course of events or the ultimate outcome.

The individual destinies of these characters are thus intertwined with the destiny of the world at large. Thereby, they completely transcend a clearcut character definition. Beneath their wicked appearances, they actually become saviors, even though that was never their intention. Gandalf nailed it when he said: ‘Even the very wise cannot see all ends.’ Good, bad, everyone has their own perspective. But in the end, love and goodness will always be victorious.