Filmy o zrádci
The pic sees Don Cheadle as Samir Horn, a former US Special Ops soldier accused of turning to the other side of the war against terror.
Soon the FBI’s Roy Clayton (Guy Pearce) is hunting him down, but what’s really going on?
The twisty treat got us thinking about traitors in the movies — either played as «gotcha» plot reveals or as inevitable betrayals by dodgy types.
Watch out for this lot — and be aware of spoilers for any of the movies you may not have seen.
Film: The Passion Of The Christ (2004)
The Traitor: Judas Iscariot (Luca Lionello)
Who Do They Betray? Jesus Christ (James Caviezel)
Surely the most famous traitor in history, Judas’ tale is one of the oldest ever written about and is brought to life by Mel Gibson in his bloody biblical epic.
After a payment of 30 pieces of silver (such an iconic transaction that it’s become shorthand for treachery throughout the years), apostle Judas betrays Jesus to the local temple guards with a peck on the cheek and ruins Easter for him.
Comeuppance? Well, after being taunted by demons for ages (a little detail added by Gibbo since it doesn’t appear in the gospels), Judas commits suicide and we’re led to believe he’s flung into the deepest level of Hell.
So, er, yes, he does suffer.
Film: Star Wars: Epizoda V – Impérium vrací úder (1980)
The Traitor: Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams)
Who Do They Betray? Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) and co.
Probably the second-most famous cine-switcher of all time pops up as the overseer of the cloud city of Bespin, and the source of some uncomfortable criticism for George Lucas early on, since one of the few black characters is quickly revealed to be a wrong ‘un.
We’re led to believe he was a huckster and a crook even before he took the job, but in reality, he’s simply under pressure from the Empire and you could argue that he’s just looking out for his citizens.
But as the mighty Spaced puts it, he’s long since become a go-to for anyone who betrays you — «you Lando!»
Comeuppance? Lando sees the error of his ways after A) Darth Vader changes the conditions of the deal and B) he’s nearly strangled by an enraged Chewbacca.
And Calrissian more than proves himself when he agrees to join up with the rebel alliance, having a hand in rescuing Han from Jabba’s palace and blowing up the second Death Star in Jedi.
Film: Matice (1999)
The Traitor: Cypher (Joe Pantoliano)
Who Do They Betray? Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Neo (Keanu Reeves), among others.
Sick of living in the brutal, post-apocalyptic «real world» Cypher has a hankering to be re-inserted into the fake universe of the mind created by the evil machine overlords to keep us all subdued.
So he strikes a deal with the snarky Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) and gives them the whereabouts of Morpheus and his team during one of their incursions into the virtual world.
Oh, and then he takes an electro-gun to Tank (Marcus Chong) and Dozer (Anthony Ray Parker) before he starts unplugging the rest of the gang.
Comeuppance? Tank manages to recover enough to give Cypher a little of his own medicine — and by «medicine» we of course mean «singes a massive hole through his chest with the electro-weapon.»
Ouch! But he had it coming — and his team should’ve known that anyone played by Joey Pants usually turns out to be dodgy.
Film: Vetřelci (1986)
The Traitor: Carter Burke (Paul Reiser)
Who Do They Betray? Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and the colonial marines sent to LV-426.
Okay, so Ripley and co had him fingered for a smooth-talking shyster almost from the start — after all, he works for The Company.
But none of them quite suspect his true motives — it was he who ordered the colonists to investigate the derelict spaceship that housed the xenomorph eggs in the hopes that living specimens could be found.
Oh, and he wants to smuggle implanted aliens back within Ripley and colony survivor Newt (Carrie Henn).
His company overlords are in need of a bioweapon and the slavering, acid-drooling monstoids could be it. Shame no-one told the marines that.
Comeuppance? In a remarkable example of irony that even Alanis Morisette could appreciate, Burke ends up killed by the very creatures he set out to harvest.
Plus he’s played by smug comic/thesp Reiser, so we’re all glad he gets his.
Film: LA důvěrné (1997)
The Traitor: Captain Dudley Smith (James Cromwell)
Who Do They Betray? Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey)
But he was Babe’s dad! How could kind farmer Hoggett shoot one of his own officers?
Yes, the sudden reveal of Cromwell’s Captain Smith as a man cruel and cunning enough to shoot one of his own men when he gets too close to the truth is one of the more stunning reveals in Curtis Hanson’s film.
That said, Smith isn’t exactly a paragon of virtue — he encourages men like Bud White (Russell Crowe) and Ed Exley (Guy Pearce) to routinely break the law if it’ll bring wrongdoers to justice.
Comeuppance? In the movie’s big final shoot-out, he’s gunned down by Exley.
What goes around, comes around, Dud.
Film: Total Recall (1990)
The Traitor: Benny (Mel Johnson Jr)
Who Do They Betray? Douglas Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Melina (Rachel Ticotin).
Oh, Benny, Benny, Benny. A jive-talking, fast-living mutant cabbie who claims to be a member of the Mars resistance, he initially offers to help out Quaid on his mission to stop Cohagan (Ronny Cox) from killing the rebels by cutting off their air.
Turns out he was working with Cohagen all along! Bastard!
Comeuppance? After the nasty Benny chases Quaid and Melina with a massive drilling rig through the tunnels of the planet, he makes a fatal mistake by thinking that Quaid’s handheld drill can’t hurt him.
But Quaid drills through one of the machine’s oil lines, knocking it out, then shoves the bit into the cabin, spearing Benny with the classic line, «Screw you!»
Film: The Godfather Part II (1974)
The Traitor: Fredo Corleone (John Cazale)
Who Do They Betray? Michael Corleone (Al Pacino)
Clearly pissed at being treated as the muppet of the Corleone family, Fredo makes some very bad choices when he decides to betray Michael and switch his allegiance to gangster Hyman Roth.
Sadly, Fredo can’t hold his drink and spills crucial secrets that let Mike know he’s the big traitor in the clan.
When Michael confronts him, Fredo chooses to flee — bad move.
Comeuppance? Michael signals to top aide Al Neri that Fredo’s protection from harm — requested by their mother — is now over.
Our last sight of the man is while he’s fishing on Lake Tahoe with Neri, who puts a bullet in his brain as Michael quietly watches from his house on the shore.
Talk about sleeping with the fishes.
The Film: Iron Man (2008)
The Traitor: Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges)
Who Do They Betray? Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr)
It seems few cigar-chomping businessmen in cinema ever get to be shown in a positive light.
Take Stane — he’s jealous of Tony’s success at the head of his father’s company and even more nervous when he decides that Stark Industries should stop making weapons.
So after one terrorist-flavoured attempt on Tony’s life fails, Stane takes matters into his own hands, literally rips the life force (AKA his miniature arc reactor) from Tone’s chest and uses it to power his own suit for a rampage of destruction.
Comeuppance? Tony’s able to crawl to his old arc unit and use its dwindling power to suit up as Iron Man and battle Stane’s Iron Monger.
Stane ends up electrocuted and plummets to his death in the large-scale arc reactor at the Stark building. Undone by the very technology he craved! Fitting.
Film: Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban (2004)
The Traitor: Peter Pettigrew (Timothy Spall)
Who Do They Betray? Sirius Black (Gary Oldman)
It’s always the squirrelly (or in this case, ratty), misunderstood types, isn’t it? Pettigrew is your classic cowed character — afraid to chart his own course and happy to fall in with any group no matter how evil.
Someone should have spotted that he was dangerous when his animal form was revealed as a rat, but he still managed to pull off framing Sirius for 13 murders and having him slung into Azkaban prison.
Comeuppance? He hasn’t met his fate in the films yet — but chances are his ultimate end will come in The Deathly Hallows when, after trying to strangle Harry with magical weapon the silver hand, finds the device turning on him when he hesitates over killing the boy who once spared his life.
A quick end for an indecisive little git.
Film: Indiana Jones a poslední křížová výprava (1989)
The Traitor: Elsa Schneider (Alison Doody)
Who Do They Betray? Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) and Henry Jones Sr (Sean Connery).
Yes, surely no one would suspect the Austrian ice queen and art professor of being a villain.
But her striking beauty and clear sexual interest (it’s revealed she seduced both of the Jones men) blind them to her true intent — to get hold of the Holy Grail for both her own ends and the good of the Nazis.
She and Walter Donavan are revealed to be in cahoots and end up leaving Joneses Junior and Senior tied up and bickering in a castle.
Comeuppance? Elsa dies when she greedily tries to take the Grail out of its temple, causing the place to collapse.
In her attempt to flee, she falls into a huge chasm, never to be seen again.
Film: Pán prstenů: Společenstvo prstenu (2001)
The Traitor: Saruman (Christopher Lee)
Who Do They Betray? Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and the whole of Middle Earth.
Christopher Lee character in Actually Evil Shocker! Okay, okay. He’s the respected leader of Gandalf’s wizard order, so you can forgive the big G for thinking that Saruman might be able to intercede in the fight against Sauron.
Sadly, Saruman has long been corrupted, convinced that he can spearhead a new age and driven to created an improved race of orcs known as the Uruk-hai, while destroying the local forests to forge weapons of war.
Comeuppance? Imprisoning Gandalf? Destroying the environment? Is it any wonder he ends up on the losing side?
It’s not in the theatrical cut, but in the extended Return Of The King, he ends up stranded on his tower at Isengard, stabbed by Grima Wormtongue (Brad Dourif) and plummets to his death on one of his own water wheels.
If only he hadn’t had it installed in the first place.
Film: Zemřít další den (2002)
The Traitor: Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike)
Who Do They Betray? James Bond (Pierce Brosnan)
The name alone should spell trouble — particularly when villain Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens) is revealed to have an ice palace as set up for his big laser weapon demonstration — but Bond is fooled into thinking she’s a loyal fellow MI6 agent.
He’s taken in enough to shag her (well, it is Bond, let’s not forget), but soon realises his error when she shows up to support Graves.
Comeuppance? Frost ends up in a cat fight with Halle Berry’s NSA Agent Jinx, and is soon bested with a knife to the chest.
The Film: Matchstick Men (2003)
The Traitor: Frank Mercer (Sam Rockwell)
Who Do They Betray? Roy Walter (Nicolas Cage)
In a movie where identities shift and the art of the con is exposed, it’s perhaps not surprising that someone in the film would turn out to be cheating someone else.
Frank ends up pulling a major switcheroo on Roy by using Angela (Alison Lohman) to pretend to be his long-lost daughter and swindling him out of all his money in a complex plot.
Comeuppance? Actually, he gets away with it — Angela later returns to talk to Roy and admits Frank even cut her out of the deal.
So cheats sometimes prosper? Where do we sign up? Oh, wait. bad moral message.
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James White is a freelance journalist who has been covering film and TV for over two decades. In that time, James has written for a wide variety of publications including Total Film and SFX. He has also worked for BAFTA and on ODEON’s in-cinema magazine.
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Biggest Movie Traitors and Backstabbers in Cinema
With Judas and the Black Messiah reminding us of the danger of betrayers, we count down some of the best/worst rats in movie history.
By Nick Harley | February 18, 2021 |
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Last week, as part of the streaming service’s ongoing plan to bring Warner Brothers’ slate of theatrical releases to audiences at home, HBO Max premiered Jidáš a černý Mesiáš on the same day it opened in theaters. Directed by Shaka King, the incendiary historical drama centers on the rise of Fred Hampton, the charismatic Black Panther Party leader, and his tragic betrayal at the hands of FBI informant William O’Neal. Daniel Kaluuya stars as Hampton, a scorched-earth performance that attempts to recreate the magnetism and magma-like intensity of the revolutionary figure, but Kaluuya is somehow not the star of the film.
The film’s true protagonist is O’Neal, played by LaKeith Stanfield. After getting himself into some hot water, O’Neal is propositioned by FBI agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons) to either infiltrate the Black Panther Party and report back on his findings or face jail time. At first O’Neal seems to luxuriate in the kickbacks he’s given by Mitchell for his intel but he quickly learns how dangerous it is to lead a double life. O’Neal also has to try to reconcile betraying the very movement he’s spent real time and energy trying to build.
Stanfield’s performance is filled with queasy anxiety and paranoia but also cockroach-like survival tics. It’s an all-time great turncoat performance, worthy of the biblical reference in the film’s title. To honor Stanfield’s turn as “Wild” Bill O’Neil, here’s a countdown of some of cinema’s greatest backstabbers.
Fredo Corleone – The Godfather Part II (1974)
Fredo Corleone, the least intelligent and most ineffectual of Don Vito’s children, has become something of a pejorative term used against anyone deemed to be the lesser sibling in a famous family. Played with a sense of melancholy and knowing pity by esteemed character actor John Cazale, Fredo’s betrayal of his brother Michael is due more to petty jealousy than it is to Machiavellian scheming or dreams of leading the Corelone Crime Family.
Reklama – obsah pokračuje níže
As the character pathetically rages, “‘Send Fredo off to do this. Send Fredo off to do that. Let Fredo take care of some Mickey Mouse night club somewhere’… I can handle things! I’m smart! Not like everybody says!” The worst part about Fredo’s actions against his family is that it’s unclear if Fredo actually knew what was being planned against his brother or whether he was just blindly jumping at the opportunity to be important and have something for himself.
Lando Calrissian – Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Perhaps the most lovable backstabber on the list, Lando at least shows some backbone and tries to make up for his nearly unforgivable alliance with the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader. While serving as Baron Administrator of Cloud City in Říše se stáhne zpátky, Lando is visited by Vader and bounty hunter Boba Fett and told to help trap his old friend Han Solo and the Rebels seeking sanctuary in Cloud City in exchange for the safety of the city’s citizens.
After selling his friend out, Lando has a change of heart when he overhears Han being tortured and realizes that Vader and the Empire were already reneging on their promises. He helps Leia and Chewbacca escape, and is able to evacuate Cloud City before the Empire is able to retaliate. Later he participates in the near-incompressible plot to rescue Han Solo and serves as a key general in the Rebel Alliance. Still, even back when he’s on the wrong side of the fight, Billy Dee Williams is able to turn Lando an appealing character, making his eventual redemption that much sweeter.
Henry Hill – Goodfellas (1990)
Ray Liotta plays the ultimate rat. After a long and fruitful career as a capo for local boss Paulie Cicero, Henry Hill’s mafia lifestyle comes to a final, screeching halt after he’s arrested by narcotics agents while trying to facilitate unapproved drug deals with his Pittsburgh associates. Henry’s good friend Tommy jokingly posits that Henry would crack under questioning earlier in the film, but Henry’s damning testimony against his associates Jimmy Conway and Paulie is all about survival: Henry knows that if he doesn’t cover his own ass, Jimmy will have him and his wife killed.
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Becoming the very thing that mafioso’s hate most of all, Henry turns on his friends and is forced into the witness protection program. All Henry ever wanted was to be a gangster, but in the protection program, he’s reduced to “an average nobody. I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook.” It’s a fate that may be worse than death for him.
Mr. Orange – Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Arguably the villain of the story, depending on who’s side you’re on, Mr. Orange is actually L.A.P.D. undercover cop Freddy Newandyke. Looking to bring down crime boss Joe Cabot, Mr. Orange infiltrates his crew and takes part in diamond heist gone bad. In the ensuing chaos, Mr. Orange is shot and ends up killing an innocent civilian in retaliation. Played by Tim Roth, Mr. Orange screams and cries as he believes he’s fatally wounded, but it’s also possible that he’s airing out the guilt he feels in letting his undercover operation get so out of hand.
Reklama – obsah pokračuje níže
Without going into all of the bloodshed in the conclusion of Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, Mr. Orange’s double agent status is so sound that it eventually leads to the demise of almost all of Cabot’s colorful crew, and Orange then feels compelled to confess his deception, resulting in an ambiguous ending that most believe concludes with his death.
Dennis Nedry – Jurassic Park (1993)
Wayne Knight’s Dennis Nedry is probably the most cartoonish Benedict Arnold of the bunch, and if you think about it, the only human antagonist in the original Jurský park film, if you’re not counting short-sighted, megalomaniacal John Hammond. The slovenly Nedry is the chief architect of the computer system at the fledgling Jurassic Park theme park, and he’s miffed by perceived low pay. So he decides to take an offer from Lewis Dodgson (“DODGSON, WE GOT DODGSON HERE!) of rival biotech company Biosyn to steal embryos of 15 dinosaur species in exchange for $61,500,000.
To make his grand escape with the embryos, Nedry shuts down the park’s security systems, including the electric fences surrounding the dinosaur paddocks. He also uploads a self-aggrandizing computer virus to prevent the systems from being quickly turned back on. However, a perfect combination of his own harebrained scheme and a nasty storm leaves Nedry stranded and at the mercy of a young Dilophosaurus. It does not end well.
Cypher – The Matrix (1999)
Cypher’s betrayal of the Nebuchadnezzar crew in The Matrix is pretty easy to see coming, and not just because the character is played by Joe Pantoliano, who’s portrayed many malcontents throughout his career. Cypher is a red pill dabbler, but wishes he had taken the blue pill instead. He also outwardly makes his disapproval of Morpheus known throughout the movie. Using “ignorance is bliss” as his mantra, he strikes a deal with Agent Smith to return him to the Matrix and erase his memory of ever awakening from it in exchange for selling Morpheus out.
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After tipping Smith off to a meeting with the Oracle, Cypher goes full villain and unflinchingly kills Dozer, Apoc, and Switch before finally being stopped and killed. At least he’s free from the reality he hated so much.
“Mad Eye Moody” (aka Barty Crouch Jr.) – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
What’s a bigger betrayal: Death Eater Barty Crouch Jr. revealing that he’s been impersonating Alator “Mad Eye” Moody for the entirety of Harry Potter’s fourth year at Hogwarts, or Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling revealing herself to be a transphobe, betraying many of the themes of her beloved book series? We’ll leave that one to you, dear reader.
Reklama – obsah pokračuje níže
However, Barty Crouch Jr. (David Tennant before he was the Doctor) memorably betrays Harry Potter and the Hogwarts community by using the Polyjuice Potion to impersonate the former Auror and ensure that Harry would get into the Triwizard Tournament and ascend to the Third Task, which was a trap to help Lord Voldemort return to a body of his own. At least the real Mad Eye didn’t actually turn his back on those that revered him (like Rowling).
Colin Sullivan – The Departed (2006)
The biggest rat in a film full of “gnawing, cheese-eating fucking rats,” Sgt. Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) is the criminal counterpoint to Leonardo DiCaprio’s undercover cop Billy Costigan, an undercover gangster who serves as the personal mole to Irish mob boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson).
Played with smarm and cowardice by Damon, Sullivan eventually double crosses the police a Costello when he discovers that Costello is an FBI informant—a rat leading rats. Scared but trying to retain his high-ranking job, Sullivan misguidedly tries to position himself as a hero and tie up all loose ends, resulting in a shocking, bloody finale that finds cocky Colin Sullivan miraculously as the last man standing. Or at least the last man standing for the moment, as a final, forgotten loose end returns to give the audience what they want; another dead rat.
Robert Ford – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
Well, it’s all right there in the title, innit? Played with a jealous, insecure bent by a creepy (in multiple ways) Casey Affleck, Robert Ford starts off as a Jesse James fanboy, desperate to join the outlaw’s gang with his brother Charlie (Sam Rockwell). When he finally gets close to the mythical criminal (a shadowy Brad Pitt), Bob begins to resent the man, eventually brokering a deal with the Governor of Missouri to either capture or kill Jesse James in exchange for a substantial bounty and full pardon.
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Bob Ford cozies up to Jesse James even further, eventually earning the man’s complete trust, before cowardly shooting the man in the back—although in the film both carry an air of expectation that it needs to happen. Ford then lives out the rest of his days known as the coward punk that betrayed Jesse James until his eventual murder.
Aaron Burr – Hamilton (2020)
Close knit allies but ideological opposites, Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton both fought in the Continental Army for independence from the British. However, when it came time to actual govern the new country that they fought to begin, the men drifted apart.
6 of the most brutal betrayals in sci-fi movies and TV: From ‘BSG’s Cylons to ‘The Matrix’
S Zrádci hitting Peacock, we remember some of the biggest betrayals in sci-fi history.
By Brian Silliman Jan 12, 2023, 12:35 PM ET
Lando Calrissian in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Photo: Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back — MODERN TRAILER — 4K || (2022)/AD_Edits YouTube
Betrayal most foul! Sci-fi movies and television shows are full of twists, and sometimes a character showing their true colors can be the worst kind of turn. We may see it coming, we may even be in on it, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less. When these characters prove that they are not on the side of the protagonists (or prove that their agendas are not entirely heroic) then we’ve got trouble my friends, right here in Cloud City.
Why explore this now? The Traitors, a reality series based on the popular Dutch series of the same name, is coming to Peacock. In it, 20 reality contestants and gamesters will gather in a castle and play a real-life spin on Mezi námi for a big cash prize. Alan Cumming will host people like Arie Luyendyk Jr. (Rozloučení se svobodou) trying to betray media managers and influencers… if he’s the “traitor” of course, he might not be. What a treacherous good time!
Zrádci is streaming on Peacock, but before you dig into what promises to be some incredible reality TV backstabbing, let’s remember some of sci-fi’s best betrayals. Here’s our list of 6 of the most heartbreaking turns in TV and film.
Dr. Yueh (Chang Chen) in Dune (2021) Photo: Dune Official Trailer/Warner Bros. Pictures YouTube
6. Dr. Yueh (Duna)
So much for imperial conditioning! House Atreides never expected betrayal to come from the seemingly good Dr. Wellington Yueh, yet it is his turn that sparks their downfall. In the original book, in David Lynch’s film adaptation, and in the most recent film… when it comes to Duna, a curse on Dr. Yueh.
It hurts because we like him. He’s good to Paul, and he seems like a valuable and decent part of the Atriedes Family Trust. It’s not that he doesn’t have love for House Atreides, it’s that he has a chance to save his beloved wife. The Harkonnens are the ones keeping her, and Yueh definitely hates them more than he cares for the Atreides. They’ve got him in a vice, though, so he lowers the shields of Arrakeen and allows the Harkonnen plot to proceed.
This spells certain death for Duke Leto, but Yueh slips in a double-betrayal that makes the turn slightly better: he gives Leto a chance to kill Baron Harkonnen with a false tooth. Leto dies and the Baron survives, but it’s nice that Yueh tried.
It all hurts, but without Yueh’s actions, Duna would be a very short tale about a happy family in the desert.
Boomer (Grace Park) in Battlestar Galactica Photo: Battlestar Galactica | Is Boomer A Cylon?/Battlestar Galactica YouTube
5. Boomer (Battlestar Galactica)
The miniseries that begins the masterful reboot of Battlestar Galactica reveals that Sharon “Boomer” Valerii (Grace Park) is a Cylon. They look like humans now, and they have a plan! Boomer is a Number 8 sleeper agent, and Season 1 finds her discovering this and trying to deal with it.
We see other Number 8s in Season 1 (and follow another prominent model) but Boomer is the most fascinating because she’s in the fleet, and she has a romance with Chief Tyrol that really revs our Raptor. Not only does Park pull off the brilliant trick of playing multiple versions of the same model, she invests Boomer’s crisis with such emotion that we never know what she’s going to do next.
There’s every possibility that Boomer will not act on whatever Cylon programming is within her. The show makes us think that she can fight it, and we believe that because it’s Boomer. The miniseries made us love her. Season 1 made us love her even more. Grace Park is a treasure.
Then comes the end of Season 1, when Boomer whipped out a pistol and plugged Commander Adama (Edward James Olmos) in the chest. It is horrific and violent. The father of the entire show ends the season bleeding on a command table, and yeah… it’s safe to say that the secret was out after that.
Boomer has a tough time for the rest of the series. She herself gets popped in Season 2 (for breaking Tyrol’s heart, not for shooting Adama) and then gets downloaded far away from the fleet. She’s much more of a transparent antagonist after that. We grow to love and trust the “Athena” version of Sharon, but we never really trust Boomer again.
For more betrayals and backstabbings in this series, look at… almost every character? You expect it from Cylons (sleepers, final fives, etc), but we could be here all day discussing Dr. Gaius Baltar. As for Felix Gaeta and Tom Zarek, the less said the better. You broke our hearts, Racetrack.
Cypher in The Matrix (1999) Photo: MATRIX: CYPHER WAS RIGHT! | Why did he do it?/Matrix Explained YouTube
4. Cypher (The Matrix)
“How can he be the ONE, if he’s DEAD?” The great Joe Pantoliano provided some incredible second-act drama for the first of the groundbreaking Matice movies, giving us a slimy toad for the sci-fi ages. We only trusted him because he was on Team Morpheus. he didn’t look or sound particularly trustworthy. These doubts proved to be well-founded.
“Surprise, a**hole!” Cypher is sick of eating bowls of snot and living in squalor. He’s tired of having a creepy and unreciprocated crush on Trinity. He wants ignorance, because ignorance tastes like steak. It’s juicy and delicious, and so is the life of a rich actor. Cypher gives up Morpheus in return for all of that, and then he proceeds to kill most of the team in a horrifying fashion. Pulling plugs and watching lifeless team members fall is chilling. “Not like this… not like this.”
It’s almost a perfect betrayal, except for the fact that he didn’t make sure that Tank was all the way dead, so Cypher gets blasted and Neo lives on. The prophecy of “the one” lives on as well. The stage is now set for Neo and Trinity to rescue Morpheus.
We may have seen it coming, but it’s the jak of it all that hurts here. Pantoliano’s playful glee twists that knife even further.
Marc Alaimo as Gul Dukat in the STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE Photo: CBS via Getty Images
3. Gul Dukat (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
We should have known. We opravdu opravdu should have known. We never liked this piece of s***. Ever since he strutted his smug butt into Sisko’s office in the Deep Space Devět pilot, we knew he was trouble, even if we did love Marc Alaimo’s fantastic performance.
Dukat’s horrific past actions had him clash with both Sisko (Avery Brooks) and Major Kira (Nana Visitor), but he was still a grudging ally. The crew had to work with him often, and they had to save his life a couple of times. Even Garak (Andrew Robinson) had to help him, and they nenáviděný navzájem.
When the Dominion War heats up, we assume that Dukat and the Cardassians are going to be on the side of the Alpha Quadrant. We assumed wrong. We forgot that Dukat has a real knack for waiting to see which way the winds are blowing, and then aligning himself accordingly. He has a gift for staying in power, one which he displayed after the fall of the Obsidian Order and the Central Command.
He does it again, only this time he aligns himself (and all of Cardassia) with the damn Dominion. They spojit the Dominion and turn their phasers on the Alpha Quadrant at large. He simply cannot wait to tell Sisko the news. Dukat gives the Founders a firm foothold with Cardassia, a giant fleet, and a ton of intel. We never trusted Dukat, but we didn’t think he was capable of this! Wow, how wrong we were. Never trust anyone who thinks that they should be loved and adored by a civilization that they once helped to enslave.
Even though Dukat crawls through Season 6 in defeat, he gets back up again. He’s firmly a villain for the rest of the series, as his murderous actions in the Season 6 finale prove. His turn in Season 5 ended his run of being an untrustworthy bedfellow that proved useful every so often, though. In joining the Dominion, Gul Dukat betrayed his way into becoming the worst (and most fascinating) star Trek villain there is.
Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith Photo: Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith — Trailer/Star Wars YouTube
2. Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars: Pomsta Sithů)
Lando Calrissian is the more popular Hvězdné války betrayal (at least when it comes to pop culture references) but he switches sides again about fifteen minutes after his betrayal happens. Aside from that, what choice did he really have?
Once Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) chooses to ally with Palpatine in Star Wars: Pomsta Sithů, it takes several movies (and a few television shows) to turn him back to the light. The Skywalker Saga as a whole rests on the fulcrum of Anakin’s fall. We knew that this was going to happen in to the prequel movies; we knew full well that Anakin would become Darth Vader. The Original Trilogy wouldn’t really have a story without his betrayal. Even so, it hurts. It hurts every time.
No matter how often we watch Pomsta Sithu, part of us wonders if this will be the time that Anakin refuses to make his horrible choice. We actively ponder whether the movie itself will magically change, that’s how crazy it gets. For those who watched Star Wars: Klonové války and saw Anakin’s character fleshed out to a powerful degree, it makes it hurt so much more.
Once the betrayal comes and Mace Windu goes sailing out the window, Anakin has no choice but to commit to the bit. He murders and betrays every Jedi in sight, and then launches a spree of terror on the galaxy once he gets put in a portable iron lung that would make Dr. Frankenstein blush. Why does he turn? It’s not only because the Jedi Council refuses to worship him, though that doesn’t help. Palpatine has twisted his mind, and Jedi don’t get therapy. His turn has deep roots in his inability to deal with his feelings — he lost his mother, and he dreams that he will soon lose Natalie Portman. That’s a fate that no one could deal with, so we get it.
The only Jedi that he really consults about any of this is Yoda, and given unhelpful advice he is. Yoda tells him to let go, while Palpatine has him pull up a chair and dream of change.
Anakin is the one who ends up making kid kebabs with a lightsaber, but it was Jedi hubris that paved the way. All of it makes us want to scream.
Carter Burke (Paul Reiser) in Aliens (1986) Photo: Burke’s Plan to Gather Xenomorph Specimens on LV-426 — Explained/Alien Theory YouTube
1. Carter Burke (Cizinci)
Never, ever, trust a corporation. This betrayal isn’t heartbreaking so much as it is infuriating. Burke is on Ripley’s side for most of Cizinci, especially when no one else is. That endears him to us somewhat, and to Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) herself. Maybe it’s the fact that Paul Reiser plays him. Paul Reiser is quite lovable. At least someone (other than Ripley) on this mission is thinking clearly!
He’s thinking clearly alright, he’s thinking of corporate bulls*** that exists within him on a molecular level. He’s here to nab one of the titular aliens, and if he has to use Ripley’s body as a vessel for transport, then that’s what he’s gonna do, have an A-1 day! He locks her in a room and lets a foul impregnation proceed.
This surely was not Plan A, but it was in his back pocket, even when things on the mission have long since gone to pot. He’s not gonna fail… his. corporation? Therefore he’s gonna use a woman’s body to carry a deadly being home and also kill an orphan along the way. Gotta consider that bottom line.
He’s the worst. He is the absolute worst. He’s not programmed like a Cylon, there’s no switch being flipped here. He doesn’t do this to save Natalie Portman. He doesn’t give Newt a fake tooth full of poison. He’s just a giant piece of s***, plain and simple. He is greed incarnate, a perfect encapsulation with everything that is wrong with the world. Take a stroll through any corporate building and you’ll be lost in a sea of Carter Burkes. We’re all a big family here! It’s important to the culture that you smuggle this deadly alien in your stomach.
Carter Burke’s actions hit so hard because they happen in the real world every second of every day. Even Cypher and Gul Dukat would want to pop Burke right in the balls, and that is saying something. He makes Logan Roy look like Qui-Gon Jinn.
Will anyone on The Traitors prove as dastardly as the awful Mr. Burke? Stream it on Peacock to find out.
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