Hugo Weaving Reprises His Role As The Matrix’s Agent Smith In New Commercial
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The Matrix has been a pop culture touchstone since its initial release in 1999. The film was a revolutionary piece of science fiction that examined the meaning of life, existence, and humanity’s relationship with machines, while also delivering mind-bending action sequences and special effects. A few years later the visionaries behind The Matrix release two sequel films – The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions – that fell extremely short in quality to the greatness of the original film. 10 years later, it seems like The Matrix is making a small comeback in pop culture.
The commercial above features Hugo Weaving reprising his iconic role as the villain in The Matrix movies – Agent Smith. Although The Wachowskis didn’t direct the commercial, director David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express, George Washington) took the helm to re-create the look and feel of The Matrix.
While it’s still very strange to think how David Gordon Green’s career went from indie darling to corporate sellout, for the most part, the commercial is very clever and well made. But there’s something about a movie that is inherently anti-establishment being the center of a corporate ad – with the tagline “Brilliant Machines Are Transforming The Way We Work” – is unsettling and misplaced. Nevertheless, the GE commercial will run during tonight’s episode of Saturday Night Live on NBC, so be forewarned, it’s not a parody, but an actual commercial.
GE has a history of combining sci-fi pop culture with their brand of technology and commercials. Last year, the General Electric Company released a commercial that featured KITT from Knight Rider that also featured the voice of the sentient car actor William Daniels. Watch the GE ad below:
