History SmugSnake / Film

* ''Film/InglouriousBasterds'' has Major Hellstrom and, more unconventially, a rare 'good guy' example in Bridget Von Hammersmark who is utterly disdainful of her allies but doesn't seem much (if at all) smarter.

* ''Film/IngloriousBasterds'' has Major Hellstrom and, more unconventially, a rare 'good guy' example in Bridget Von Hammersmark who is utterly disdainful of her allies but doesn't seem much (if at all) smarter.

* Eli Sunday from ''ThereWillBeBlood'' is a charismatic religious fanatic who presides over a cult in the small American town where he resides. While his ambition is to be commended, he is nevertheless a hyptocritical bully whose faith in God crumbles when faced with adversity. When confronted with a bigger bully than himself in the form of [[TheSociopath raging Daniel Plainview]], he is reduced to crying and screaming while begging for his life.

* Le Chiffre in ''Film/CasinoRoyale'' is a Smug Snake, albeit a very competent one. He's a mathematical genius who displays tremendous grace under pressure during poker games and is gifted at intimidating his opponents but pretty soon the cracks in his shell appear larger. When things start turning sour for him, he immediately starts to lose his cool. Like Light Yagami, he's highly intelligent, but not quite so clever as he thinks himself to be. His entire plan throughout the film is just to pay off debts he got himself into with the world's terrorists by betting the wrong way with their money which shows his overconfidence and as Bond says "all he gets in return is a name he already has." [[SharpDressedMan He still wears a suit damn well though]].

* Doctor Emma Temple of ''TheRing Two'', a smirking, utterly insensitive psychiatrist. [[spoiler:Samara uses a JediMindTrick on Dr. Temple [[AssholeVictim to make her commit suicide]], which on the one hand is the least gory death in the series, but may be the most humiliating as it implies Temple is so WeakWilled Samara can dominate her with a thought.]]

* The ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' film series tended to depict the main BigBad[=s=] in this way, most notably [[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk Rene Belloq]] and [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade Walter Donovan]]. Although not a main villain, but a secondary one, [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull George "Mac" McHale]] fits this trope as well.

* ''ShatteredGlass'' presents Stephen Glass as one of these; he initially comes off as a humble, self-effacing and charming guy, but the longer he keeps it up and the longer we watch him we realize it's all just an act he uses to manipulate people, and the more we realize he's actually just a slimy, weaselly creep.

* ''IngloriousBasterds'' has Major Hellstrom and, more unconventially, a rare 'good guy' example in Bridget Von Hammersmark who is utterly disdainful of her allies but doesn't seem much (if at all) smarter.
* Eli Sunday from ThereWillBeBlood is a charismatic religious fanatic who presides over a cult in the small American town where he resides. While his ambition is to be commended, he is nevertheless a hyptocritical bully whose faith in God crumbles when faced with adversity. When confronted with a bigger bully than himself in the form of [[TheSociopath raging Daniel Plainview]], he is reduced to crying and screaming while begging for his life.

* The ''IndianaJones'' film series tended to depict the main BigBad[=s=] in this way, most notably [[RaidersOfTheLostArk Rene Belloq]] and [[IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade Walter Donovan]]. Although not a main villain, but a secondary one, [[IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull George "Mac" McHale]] fits this trope as well.

* The ''IndianaJones'' film series tended to depict the main BigBad[=s=] in this way, most notably Rene Belloq in ''RaidersOfTheLostArk'' and Walter Donovan in ''IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade''. Although not the main villain, George "Mac" [=Mc=]Hale in ''IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'' fits this trope as well.

* After successfully stealing the Tesseract from SHIELD's custody at the start of ''Film/TheAvengers'', Loki is pretty much a MagnificentBastard who's got everything well in hand. However, by the time the Avengers get their act together and fight back against his alien allies when they invade New York, he makes the terrible mistake of [[spoiler:trying to verbally belittle the Incredible Hulk, ending up on the wrong end of a hilariously one-sided CurbStompBattle.]]

** Jonathan Crane (aka The Scarecrow) starts out as a corrupt and sadistic psychiatrist, with a [[FauxAffablyEvil slimily polite]] demeanor. [[spoiler: Ironically, after being driven insane by his own gas, he moves out of this trope in the next two movies as he replaces his arrogance with [[DeadpanSnarker calm, sarcastic wit]].

* ''TheProposition'' has [[MeaningfulName Eden]] Fletcher, played by David Wenham speaking through his nose, and very intentionally meant to inspire the audience's hate.

-->'''Maroni''': [[TheJoker Two-bit whackjob, wears a cheap purple suit and makeup.]] [[TemptingFate He's not the problem, he's a nobody.]]

--->'''Bane''': [Places his hand on Daggett's shoulder] Do you feel in charge now?

* Le Chiffre in ''Film/CasinoRoyale'' is a Smug Snake, albeit a very competant one. He's a mathematical genius who displays tremendous grace under pressure during poker games and is gifted at intimidating his opponents but pretty soon the cracks in his shell appear larger. When things start turning sour for him, he immediately starts to lose his cool. Like Light Yagami, he's highly intelligent, but not quite so clever as he thinks himself to be. His entire plan throughout the film is just to pay off debts he got himself into with the world's terrorists by betting the wrong way with their money which shows his overconfidence and as Bond says "all he gets in return is a name he already has." [[SharpDressedMan He still wears a suit damn well though]].
* Eve Harrington from ''AllAboutEve'' is a prime example of the Smug Snake. A [[ManipulativeBitch master manipulator]] who fancies herself a MagnificentBitch, she [[VillainousBreakdown crumbles]] when faced with a real MagnificentBastard in the form of Addison [=DeWitt=]. "[[BadassBoast Take a good look at me Eve, it's about time you did. I am Addison DeWitt and I am nobody's fool, least of all yours]]."

* ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' features Lord Cutler Beckett, a CorruptCorporateExecutive played deliberately and with slimy relish. Who'd have thought that a series whose villains thus far were [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot cursed, immortal undead pirates]] would have a stereotypical [[AristocratsAreEvil evil English aristocrat]] as its BigBad? He's so repulsive that he made many viewers ''[[DracoInLeatherPants sympathise with Davy Jones]]'' when the latter was forced into [[TheDragon servitude]]. Evidently the writers felt the same, as [[spoiler: Jones' death is an anticlimactic drop-off-the-deck while Beckett gets a huge, epic slow motion [[StrollingThroughTheChaos walk through his exploding ship]] complete with OminousLatinChanting.]]
* ''TheProposition'' has [[MeaningfulName Eden]] Fletcher, played by David Wenham speaking through his nose, and very intentionally meant to inspire the audience's hate. If Darth Sidious from ''StarWars'' and Dolores Umbridge from ''HarryPotter'' got married and had a baby, and the baby grew up and took lessons at Eton in Being a Hateful Snob, it would still fall far short of Eden Fletcher. Even more infuriating than his cold-blooded perception of justice (100 lashes for a retarded 14-year old? Why not?) is his status as KarmaHoudini.

* Both main mobsters in the ''Film/TheDarkKnightSaga'' (Falcone and Maroni). They're clever guys who've managed to keep a ''very'' nasty city under their control for a long time, but they're just not competing in the same league as the ''real'' supervillains in town... and yet, Falcone is clearly the most arrogant and condescending villain in ''Film/BatmanBegins'', while Maroni is at least ONE of the most arrogant and condescending villains in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', second only to the Joker if even him. (And really, [[MagnificentBastard Joker is in more of a position to be condescending ANYWAY]].)

--->'''Bane''': [Places hand on Daggett's shoulder] Do you feel in charge now?

** Jabba the Hutt in Episode VI: ReturnOfTheJedi. Han offered money instead of his captivity and Jabba wouldn't listen; when Leia and Luke warned Jabba they could defeat him, Jabba and his minions didn't take them seriously at all. Even when being led to the Sarlacc Pit Luke said "this is your last chance; free us, or die." Jabba and his minions STILL didn't take them seriously. Jabba had so many warnings, and so many chances for alternatives, that for him to still keep ignoring them made his KarmicDeath all the more satisfying. In his defense (and who ever thought they'd hear ''that'') he'd heard it ''all'' before. He'd had dozens, maybe hundreds of others in exactly the same place that the heroes were in, and clearly he had come off the better of it each time. In various EU works, he actually is more of a MagnificentBastard than Smug Snake. But as far as the movies themselves go, no context is given for this dismissive approach. Also, "free us, or die" comes AFTER Luke manages to defeat the Rancor; this should give Jabba some indication that Luke could be a potential threat. Even if he was a MagnificentBastard before this, that doesn't rule out the possibility that he has turned into a Smug Snake since. (Even Palpatine, who was clearly a MagnificentBastard in the prequel trilogy, showed signs of turning into a Smug Snake in ReturnOfTheJedi.)
** [[CardCarryingVillain General Grievous]]. In the Interquel mini-series, Grievous was a bonafide badass, slaughtering several Jedi at once and almost taking several prominent masters' heads for himself, including Ki-Adi-Mundi. The guy even fought MACE WINDU to a standstill. Cue RevengeOfTheSith and a helping of BadassDecay courtesy of GeorgeLucas, and we get a Smug Snake whom "is actually doing the doing the [[BuffySpeak twirly-finger thing]]", to quote Rifftrax, and is handed his ass after a brief saber fight by Obi-Wan later...

** Daggett from ''TheDarkKnightRises''. This exchange sums it up nicely:

* Both main mobsters in the ''Film/TheDarkKnightSaga'' (Falcone and Maroni). They're clever guys who've managed to keep a ''very'' nasty city under their control for a long time, but they're just not competing in the same league as the ''real'' supervillains in town... and yet, Falcone is clearly the most arrogant and condescending villain in BatmanBegins, while Maroni is at least ONE of the most arrogant and condescending villains in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', second only to the Joker if even him. (And really, [[MagnificentBastard Joker is in more of a position to be condescending ANYWAY]].)

* The arms smuggler and film's protagonist Yuri in ''{{Lord of War}}'' is the epitome of the Smug Snake. An [[HonestJohnsDealership Honest John]] that refuses to confront the vehemence of his guilt and crimes by arguing that "I just sell guns, I don't pull the trigger". He taunts an honorable and idealistic weapons inspector, Valentin, by using the letter of the law to divert its spirit. Though by the end of the film he's still at it, he has everyone and everything he loves crumble around him. Interestingly, his character is essentially [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory an amalgam of several real-life arms dealers.]]

* ''{{Pirates of the Caribbean}}'' features Lord Cutler Beckett, a CorruptCorporateExecutive played deliberately and with slimy relish. Who'd have thought that a series whose villains thus far were [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot cursed, immortal undead pirates]] would have a stereotypical [[AristocratsAreEvil evil English aristocrat]] as its BigBad? He's so repulsive that he made many viewers ''[[DracoInLeatherPants sympathise with Davy Jones]]'' when the latter was forced into [[TheDragon servitude]]. Evidently the writers felt the same, as [[spoiler: Jones' death is an anticlimactic drop-off-the-deck while Beckett gets a huge, epic slow motion [[StrollingThroughTheChaos walk through his exploding ship]] complete with OminousLatinChanting.]]

* Eddie Brock in ''{{Film/Spider-Man}} 3'' is, at least initially, a slimy, unctuous creep who sucks up to Jameson to advance his own career prospects, is a bit too creepy-stalkerish with Gwen Stacy, the 'girl he intends to marry' (although Gwen is quick to point out that they've only ever been out for a coffee once) and ends up manufacturing a photo of {{Spider-Man}} robbing a bank to frame the superhero and secure a staff job at the ''Bugle''. Then Peter exposes his fake, he loses his job, and Gwen breaks up with him -- and then he meets the Venom symbiote...

* Bison from ''Film/StreetFighterTheLegendOfChunLi''. Far from the frighteningly unstable OmnicidalManiac of the [[StreetFighter gameverse proper]] (or the LaughablyEvil MagnificentBastard [[Film/StreetFighter as played by the late Raul Julia]]), he comes across in the movie as "Kung-Fu [[{{Series/Heroes}} Arthur Petrelli]] (as played by a Malcolm [=McDowell=] impersonator)."

* The [[LargeHam aptly-named]] Justin Hammer from ''Film/IronMan2''. While he is a massively rich military industrialist, and not above the odd bit of sceming, he comes off as an ''unbeliveable'' douche and a vaguely pathetic shadow of Tony Stark: his Hammer Tech weapons [[spoiler:[[EpicFail fail utterly]]]], he can't cobble together an Iron Man suit knockoff to save his life, and it's pretty obvious that he's being played like a fiddle by [[spoiler:[[MagnificentBastard Ivan Vanko]]]]. Even his ''trophy girfriend'' is one of Tony's cast-offs.

* Tommy O'Shea, the BigBad of ''DeathWishVTheFaceOfDeath''. A slimy, Irish mobster, he always manges to escape prosecution [[spoiler: because he has a [[TheMole mole]] in the D.A's office]] but once Kersey gets his sights on him, he acts like its' a minor annoyance. Even when his [[TheDragon dragon]] Chicki warns him not to underestimate Kersey, O'Shea is far too confident in his plans. Sadly, his overconfidence proved to be his undoing, as he wasn't savvy enough to realize he was a villain in a ''Death Wish'' movie and therefore, doomed.

* Gaff in BladeRunner. Everything he says is some kind of sarcastic remark, and it's clear that he knows much more about Deckard's situation than he's letting on. Unusual in that he's technically on the side of the 'good' guys, though in a film that deals mostly in GrayAndGrayMorality it's often hard to tell.

* ''{{Star Wars}}''

** [[ANewHope Admiral Motti]]'s ''"this station is now the ultimate power in the universe"'' remark comes across as fairly arrogant in any context, [[spoiler:but especially in light of what happened near the end of the movie]].
* Chad in ''InTheLoop'' likes to think he's negotiating his way up the career ladder in the U.S State Department and effortlessly out-manoevreing those opposed to in. In reality, he a [[ProfessionalButtKisser toadying little worm]] who is completely ignored by Linton Barwick, who's ass he tries desperately to kiss (Linton doesn't even remember his name), and is regarded by everyone else as a slimy little creep.

* Both main mobsters in the ''TheDarkKnightSaga'' (Falcone and Maroni). They're clever guys who've managed to keep a ''very'' nasty city under their control for a long time, but they're just not competing in the same league as the ''real'' supervillains in town... and yet, Falcone is clearly the most arrogant and condescending villain in BatmanBegins, while Maroni is at least ONE of the most arrogant and condescending villains in TheDarkKnight, second only to the Joker if even him. (And really, [[MagnificentBastard Joker is in more of a position to be condescending ANYWAY]].)

* The douche-tacular Captain Styles of the USS ''Excelsior'' in ''Film/{{Star Trek III|The Search for Spock}}''. He exists for Kirk to tap-dance rings around.

* ''Fracture'' also shows a good contrast between a Smug Snake and a MagnificentBastard, (or [[YourMileageMayVary perhaps]], [[spoiler:considering how he [[VillainBall screws everything up]] [[WhatAnIdiot at the end]],]] a much more high-functioning Smug Snake). The former is a smarmy prosecutor who believes he has gotten a completely open-and-shut case, and consequently has not bothered to do his job properly. The latter is a murderer who believes he has made himself untouchable despite the case against him seeming to be bulletproof, and is not worried about [[SmugSmiler showing how confident he is]]. The reason you are almost rooting for the murderer is because his arrogance comes from having planned everything very carefully, rather than smugly assuming he's going to win. The fact that he's played by AnthonyHopkins certainly helps.

* Colonel Zaysen from ''{{Rambo}} III''. The Agony Booth [[http://www.agonybooth.com/agonizer/Rambo_III.aspx?Page=2 recap]] gives an absolutely perfect distillation of this trope:
-->Zaysen will not go down in history as one of cinema's greatest villains, sad to say. He has all the tools: A decent sneer, a nasty sadistic streak, and a taste for chess to give him a cultured JamesBond villain aura. But he never really becomes a character. Instead, the script has him simply go through the motions and expects that to be good enough.

* The [[LargeHam aptly-named]] Justin Hammer from ''IronMan 2''. While he is a massively rich military industrialist, and not above the odd bit of sceming, he comes off as an ''unbeliveable'' douche and a vaguely pathetic shadow of Tony Stark: his Hammer Tech weapons [[spoiler:[[EpicFail fail utterly]]]], he can't cobble together an Iron Man suit knockoff to save his life, and it's pretty obvious that he's being played like a fiddle by [[spoiler:[[MagnificentBastard Ivan Vanko]]]]. Even his ''trophy girfriend'' is one of Tony's cast-offs.

* This could apply to Tommy O'Shea, the BigBad of ''DeathWish V:the Face of Death''. A slimy, Irish mobster, he always manges to escape prosecution [[spoiler: because he has a [[TheMole mole]] in the D.A's office]] but once Kersey gets his sights on him, he acts like its' a minor annoyance. Even when his [[TheDragon dragon]] Chicki warns him not to underestimate Kersey, O'Shea is far too confident in his plans. Sadly, his overconfidence proved to be his undoing, as he wasn't savvy enough to realize he was a villain in a DeathWish movie and therefore, doomed.
* Grima Wormtongue as portrayed by Brad Dourif in ''Film/LordOfTheRings''. He's slimy to the core, talks to everyone with an annoying sneer in his voice, and didn't prepare even nearly large enough a guard to ward off a small band of heroes who happen to be good fighters, and apparently not remembering to tell his guards ''why'' they needed to take Gandalf's staff. (The book, in contrast, makes clear that the doorwarden doesn't trust Grima further than he could throw him -- he lets Gandalf get away with bringing his staff because he believes that Gandalf means well for the Rohirrim, but that Grima does not.)

* ''TheProposition'' has [[MeaningfulName Eden]] Fletcher, played by David Wenham speaking through his nose, and very intentionally meant to inspire the audience's hate. If Darth Sidious from ''StarWars'' and Dolores Umbridge from ''HarryPotter'' got married and had a baby, and the baby grew up and took lessons at Eton in Being a Hateful Snob, it would still fall far short of Eden Fletcher. Even more infuriating than his cold-blooded perception of justice (100 lashes for a retarded 14-year old? Why the hell not?) is his status as KarmaHoudini.

* ''Fracture'' also shows a good contrast between a Smug Snake and a MagnificentBastard, (or [[YourMileageMayVary perhaps]], [[spoiler:considering how he [[VillainBall screws everything up]] [[WhatAnIdiot at the end]],]] a much more high-functioning Smug Snake). The former is a smarmy prosecutor who believes he has gotten a completely open-and-shut case, and consequently has not bothered to do his job properly. The latter is a murderer who believes he has made himself untouchable despite the case against him seeming to be bulletproof, and is not worried about [[SmugSmiler showing how totally confident he is]]. The reason you are almost rooting for the murderer is because his arrogance comes from having planned everything very carefully, rather than smugly assuming he's going to win. The fact that he's played by AnthonyHopkins certainly helps.

* Both main mobsters in the ''TheDarkKnightSaga'' (Falcone and Maroni) are examples of this. They're clever guys who've managed to keep a ''very'' nasty city under their control for a long time, but they're just not competing in the same league as the ''real'' supervillains in town... and yet, Falcone is clearly the most arrogant and condescending villain in BatmanBegins, while Maroni is at least ONE of the most arrogant and condescending villains in TheDarkKnight, second only to the Joker if even him. (And really, [[MagnificentBastard Joker is in more of a position to be condescending ANYWAY]].)

* Doctor Emma Temple of ''TheRing Two'', a smirking, utterly insensitive psychiatrist. [[spoiler:Samara uses a JediMindTrick on Dr. Temple [[AssholeVictim to make her commit suicide]], which on the one hand is the least gory death in the series, but may be the most humiliating as it implies Temple is so WeakWilled Samara can totally dominate her with a thought.]]

* The [[LargeHam aptly-named]] Justin Hammer from ''IronMan 2''. While he is a massively rich military industrialist, and not above the odd bit of sceming, he comes off as an ''unbeliveable'' douche and a vaguely pathetic shadow of Tony Stark: his Hammer Tech weapons [[spoiler:[[EpicFail fail utterly]]]], he can't cobble together an Iron Man suit knockoff to save his life, and it's pretty obvious that he's being played like a fiddle by [[spoiler:[[MagnificentBastard Ivan Vanko]]]]. Hell, even his ''trophy girfriend'' is one of Tony's cast-offs.

* Grima Wormtongue as portrayed by Brad Dourif in ''Film/LordOfTheRings''. He's slimy to the core, talks to everyone with an annoying sneer in his voice, and didn't prepare even nearly large enough a guard to ward off a small band of heroes who happen to be good fighters, not to mention apparently not remembering to tell his guards ''why'' they needed to take Gandalf's staff. (The book, in contrast, makes clear that the doorwarden doesn't trust Grima further than he could throw him -- he lets Gandalf get away with bringing his staff because he believes that Gandalf means well for the Rohirrim, but that Grima does not.)

** Jabba the Hutt in Episode VI: ReturnOfTheJedi. Han offered money instead of his captivity and Jabba refused to listen; when Leia and Luke warned Jabba that they could defeat him, Jabba and his minions did not take them seriously at all. Even when being led to the Sarlacc Pit Luke said "this is your last chance; free us, or die." Jabba and his minions STILL refused to take them seriously. Jabba was offered so many warnings, and so many chances for alternatives, that for him to still keep ignoring them made his KarmicDeath all the more satisfying.
** In Jabba's defense (and who ever thought they'd hear ''that'') he'd heard it ''all'' before. He'd had dozens, maybe hundreds of others in exactly the same place that the heroes were in, and clearly he had come off the better of it each time. In various EU works, he actually is more of a MagnificentBastard than Smug Snake.
*** But as far as the movies themselves go, no context is given for this dismissive approach. Also, note that "free us, or die" comes AFTER Luke manages to defeat the Rancor; this should give Jabba some indication that Luke could be a potential threat. Even if he was a MagnificentBastard before this, that doesn't rule out the possibility that he has turned into a Smug Snake since. (Note that even Palpatine, who was clearly a MagnificentBastard in the prequel trilogy, showed signs of turning into a Smug Snake in ReturnOfTheJedi.)
**** And while we're on the subject of the prequel trilogy, how about [[CardCarryingVillain General Grievous]]? In the Interquel mini-series, Grievous was a bonafide badass, slaughtering several Jedi at once and almost taking several prominent masters' heads for himself, including Ki-Adi-Mundi. The guy even fought MACE WINDU to a standstill. Cue RevengeOfTheSith and a helping of BadassDecay courtesy of GeorgeLucas, and we get a Smug Snake whom "is actually doing the doing the [[BuffySpeak twirly-finger thing]]", to quote Rifftrax, and is handed his ass after a brief saber fight by Obi-Wan later...
** Also, while not as obvious an example as Jabba, [[ANewHope Admiral Motti]]'s ''"this station is now the ultimate power in the universe"'' remark comes across as fairly arrogant in any context, [[spoiler:but especially in light of what happened near the end of the movie]].

* The douche-tacular Captain Styles of the USS ''Excelsior'' in ''Film/{{Star Trek III|The Search for Spock}}''. He basically exists for Kirk to tap-dance rings around.

* Le Chiffre in ''CasinoRoyale'' is a Smug Snake, albeit a very competant one. He's a mathematical genius who displays tremendous grace under pressure during poker games and is gifted at intimidating his opponents but pretty soon the cracks in his shell appear larger. When things start turning sour for him, he immediately starts to lose his cool. Like Light Yagami, he's highly intelligent, but not quite so clever as he thinks himself to be. His entire plan throughout the film is just to pay off debts he got himself into with the world's terrorists by betting the wrong way with their money which shows his overconfidence and as Bond says "all he gets in return is a name he already has." [[SharpDressedMan He still wears a suit damn well though]].

* The douche-tacular Captain Styles of the USS ''Excelsior'' in ''StarTrekIII''. He basically exists for Kirk to tap-dance rings around.

* The JamesBond film ''TheLivingDaylights'' features [[spoiler:General Koskov]], an effective villain who so ''very'' much wants to be a MagnificentBastard, but doesn't quite make it. In his favour, though, he does come equipped with one of the best {{EvilPlan}}s in Bond movie history.