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What Makes Agent Smith One Of The Most Terrifying Villains In Film History
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Mar 31, 2025
The Matrix will forever be one of the most groundbreaking movies ever made. It's new approach to story telling, effects, and character made The Matrix a timeless classic. But as much as our main character Neo drives the story, the main villain Agent Smith is what brings it all together. Agent Smith is one of the most terrifying and chilling villains in film history, and his story through the Matrix Trilogy will cement it forever.
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Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet
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You are a plague. This is Agent Smith, and what we just heard
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is best described as a manifesto. Delivered with an off-tempo cadence and series of facial expressions that are almost alien
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everything about his slim frame in a purposely generic suit is chilling
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But why does such an unassuming character instill us with fear more than 20 years later
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How does a computer program full of disdain and determination appealed to the worst parts of our humanity. The Matrix was released in 1999
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and was written and directed by the Wachowskis. Part philosophical inquiry about existence and
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part homage to Kung Fu and anime, it told the story of a chosen one named Neo and his journey
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to save the last of humanity. In order to do so, Neo traverses between the real world and a
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simulation known as the Matrix. Chasing him through the simulation is Agent Smith, played
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by Hugo Weaving. The Matrix itself is all about duality, existence and reality, choice and
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predetermination, Agent Smith and Neo. While Neo wrestles with what his role is within the Matrix
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Smith is steadfast. We learn that Agent Smith is one of many programs designed by the Matrix to
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keep the simulation running smoothly. Smith is an uber soldier, adept with weapons and martial arts
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but in the world of the Matrix, where any skill can be learned, that is not what scares us
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Through Weaving's wonderfully commanding and charismatic performance and a deftly crafted script
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we immediately learn Smith is more powerful than the other agents. All agents are able to shift at will between bodies within the Matrix, but they all report to Smith
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In an early scene before the full reveal of what the Matrix is, we are led to believe Agent Smith is an FBI agent
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During an arrest of Neo, then going by John Anderson, the other agents stand in the back corner as Smith calmly sits across from Neo
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As soon as he methodically sits down and unbinds his folder of evidence, there's an air of control
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We often think of villains as unbridled madness, teetering on the unpredictability of violence
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And don get me wrong that effective and can be extremely impactful But there something terrifying in Smith restraint It a sense of assumed power a feeling that he can even be bothered to be angry
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And his mannerisms reflect that, a rehearsed poise that says this is just one more part of his day
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one more thing he has to do before going home. That calmness in opposition to a chilling moment
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such as an arrest and threat of jail time, is unnerving. It goes against every fiber of our fight or flight reflex
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What good is a phone call if you're unable to speak? This is the sort of role that an actor like Hugo Weaving was made for
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Weaving is an English actor born in Nigeria who has spent most of his career in Australia
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That sort of worldly upbringing lends his performance an air of something familiar
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but somehow unrecognizable. He understands his body, restraining his face, letting only the muscles of his mouth move
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But what exactly is Agent Smith? We're told that the agents are programs
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They exist solely within the Matrix in order to police any disturbances
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For years, Smith has been hunting Morpheus, a hero among the human resistance and the one who freed Neo
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But again, the Matrix is about duality. While Smith starts the franchise as a simple program doing the bidding of a robotic collective
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by the film's end, he's transformed entirely. One particular scene toward the climax of the first film shows us Smith interrogating Morpheus
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In a rare moment of vulnerability, Smith removes his glasses and becomes terrifyingly honest
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I hate this place. In this almost relaxed posture, we see the true Smith that we follow through the remainder of the franchise
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He tells us he despises this simulation so much, even the smell has begun to upset him
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It is an oddly relatable moment. I'm sure all of us can relate to being so angry, so frustrated
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that every single little thing becomes an irritant. It's here we start to empathize ever so slightly
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And part of that is due to Weaving's performance. For the entirety of the film, we've seen Smith stilted
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Weaving has said he based Smith's tenor and cadence on nondescript newscasters
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with Laurence Fishburne comparing him to a demonic Walter Cronkite It makes sense mimicking what would normally be considered a soothing inoffensive tone Through Weaving mechanical filter everything feels slightly off until here where his eyes go wide His jaw clenches and we see the madman lurking behind
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the facade of an agent. Agent Smith is no longer presenting himself as a monster that is out to
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destroy the resistance out of some sort of mathematical equation. He tells Morpheus and us
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he just wants to be done with this. His resentment has grown over countless years
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He's watched humanity refuse countless simulations, seen us turn down utopias, while all he wants is a life of peace away from the Matrix
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Smith genuinely believes that if he can find the location of the human city Zion
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he can return to the machines and be done with this simulation. But even after his initial defeat at the hands and mind of Neo
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there is no end. Smith returns in Reloaded and Revolutions Changed. Surprised to see me
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His charcoal suit is now black, his earpiece gone to further drive home the idea that he is now unplugged
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and we're left with the question, what more could he possibly be capable of now that he's left to his free will
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Smith still wants to destroy Zion, but in doing so, he hopes to destroy the Matrix as well
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Look, Smith will suffice. He becomes, in a sense, a non-discriminating virus
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While all agents before were able to bounce from Avatar to Avatar freely
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Smith's resurrection now allows him to copy himself into anyone inside the Matrix
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It is another wonderful, earnest metaphor from the Wachowskis. Smith and his cohorts become a hive mind trying to drown out the unique voices of the human resistance
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When we see Neo deftly battle against the small army of clones Smith has made
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they seem endless, a tidal wave of prim and proper suits slapping against the shore of individuality
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And he doesn't care what gets lost in his righteous anger. We've seen Smith at his most vulnerable
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and as we follow him throughout the sequels, we see him at his most ruthless
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His sole purpose now is to leave both worlds leveled. When we talk about anarchist villains in films
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Heath Ledger's Joker is the most common name thrown around. Enough from the clown
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Let not blow this out of proportion But Weaving Agent Smith should not be overlooked Here is a character that is literally trying to destroy two worlds
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There is no justification for Smith's actions other than his exhaustion. His exhaustion with years, maybe centuries, of being bound to an endless cycle
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Now, there's the chance to sever the loop of his existence. And that is terrifying to us as an audience
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At this point, we've spent hours with Smith. We've seen his physicality and determination
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Now we see him loosed upon the world with one simple goal. Destroy it all
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This is my world! My world! Agent Smith terrifies us because he is our mirror image
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The worst parts of our frustrations towards a mundane world set to a repeating cycle
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The character of Neo serves as wish fulfillment. What we would do with our lives if we were able to learn anything
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Know the world's true meaning and look great in a black trench coat. But Agent Smith is an example of our worst tendencies gone wild
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He's learned everything, seen humanity's origin, and is ready to watch it fall to pieces
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simply because he believes he knows best. It ends tonight. I know it does. I've seen it
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It is impossible to separate art from the real world. Lily Wachowski has come out to say the original films were about the trans experience
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even if she didn't believe the world was ready at the time. And it's genuinely hard today to watch a traditionally prim and proper man
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exert his wants and choice upon the world with the context of what is happening around us
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The world, in both real life and film, will always be filled with villains
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using their power to exert their wants. While they'll often say it is only to represent the people
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characters like Agent Smith exist to remind us their desires are malicious and self-serving
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As we watch Smith assimilate Neo at the end of Revolutions, we watch the victory wash over Smith's eyes
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It is heart-wrenching to watch someone take so much joy in something so vile, so forced upon
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He genuinely believes in his selfishness and the repercussions of his decisions
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pale in comparison to what he has decided. That sense of ego truly makes him one
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of film's most horrifying villains. Yes
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