Determinator/Film: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|This is the kid, calls me 59 days in a row, wants to be a player. There ought to be a picture of you in the dictionary under persistence, kid.|Gordon Gekko, from ''[[Wall Street]],'' on Bud Fox.}}
* Rocky Balboa of the ''[[Rocky (
* Obviously, [[Incredibly Lame Pun|De]] [[The Terminator|Terminator]]. As noted by the quote formerly at the top of this page, villain Terminators tend to overlap with [[Implacable Man]] as well:
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** Given the hellhole of a future he lived in, Reese himself must have been one to survive. Also, Sarah embraces her inner [[Determinator]] in the climax of the first movie, and practically ''becomes'' a Terminator in the second, to the point she's halfway to shooting a defenceless, wounded man in front of his wife and children for something he ''hasn't actually done yet''. Even after that, she's still perfectly capable of firing a 12-gauge shotgun repeatedly after minutes earlier having an inch-thick metal spike rammed straight through her shoulder. In fact, if she hadn't run out of ammo, she would have destroyed the T-1000 herself, without the T-850's help.
** Even more so in [[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]].
** The cyborgs played by Arnold in the second and third films [[Rasputinian Death|get as much damage as they can]], but don't give up on the mission of protecting John Connor and only stop after the enemy's been neutralized (in the third, in quite [[Taking You
** In the newest Terminator film, the last lines spoken are this trope to a T.
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* James T. Kirk in the 2009 ''[[Star Trek (
** Kirk pretty much sums up his no-win scenario beliefs by saying, in regards to the Kobayashi Maru and many of his persistent actions, "It depends on how you define 'winning', doesn't it?"
* Carl Brashear in ''[[Men of Honor]]'' put up with bigotry, an insane instructor, and [[Handicapped Badass|losing his leg]] and was still unbowed.
* Captain Vidal in ''[[
** [[Complete Monster|He's not pitiable at all]].
* The Black Knight from ''[[Monty Python and
* Paul Newman's character Luke in the movie ''[[Cool Hand Luke]]'' is a perfect example of a Determinator. Acts of sheer determination include [[The Bet|eating fifty eggs in under an hour to win a bet]], multiple attempts to escape from jail, resisting the worst the warden could give him, and "winning" a boxing match by repeatedly getting up, no matter how many times he was knocked down, until his opponent, who was so far unharmed, refused to hit him any more. His nickname came from his habit of keeping going and refusing to quit when he has absolutely nothing - specifically, the time he won a poker game by bluffing.
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'''Luke''': Yeah well, sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand. }}
* Both Neo and Agent Smith of ''[[
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* [[Complete Monster|Anton Chigurh]] from ''[[No Country for Old Men]]'' has a belief system that revolves around this trope.
* [[Woman Scorned|Alex Forrest]], the character played by Glenn Close in ''[[Fatal Attraction]]''.
* Nana from ''[[Madagascar]]'' and ''Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa'' is a parody of the trope.
** Also in the sequel a [[Super
* John Creasy from ''[[Man
* Ethan Edwards, the Confederate soldier-turned-Indian hunter in ''[[The Searchers]]''.
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* Momma from ''[[Throw Momma
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* The paperboy in ''[[Better Off Dead]]''. "I want my two dollars!"
* Timon in ''[[The Lion King|The Lion King 1 ½]]''.
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* Harold Abrahams in [[Chariots of Fire]]: "I'll take them all on, one by one, and run them off their feet."
* Will 'Elizabeth goes free!' Turner in the first ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' movie. He has a one track mind about saving her, and he's certainly not too worried about getting himself killed in the process, to the point that he was one of the inspirations for the [[Martyr Without a Cause]] trope.
* The protagonist of the 2007 remake of ''[[
* [[Galaxy Quest
* ''[[Avatar (
** And Jake Sully himself.
** And Norman, in the battle. Right after getting killed as an Avatar, which was almost fully [[Your Mind Makes It Real]], he picked up a machine gun and charged back to the battle in his puny human body.
* Ariel and Eric from ''[[The Little Mermaid]]'' are quite the Determinator couple.
* The protagonist from ''[[Taken (
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* [[Smokey and
* [[Crank
* [[Patch Adams]] has a weird vibe on this. Adams is "determined" not to do simple things like obey the rules in a hospital or dress up in clothes for his graduation ceremony because he believes that giving people joy override everything else. It's ironic because he doesn't understand that basic people skills like not alienating your professor to the point where he wants to expel you, will also allow you to go far with your goals.
* ''[[Rudy]]'' was about a guy who never gave up and that was his redeeming quality. The real-life story is also interesting. He was so determined to make a movie about his life, that the coach agreed to let himself be portrayed as a villain so that the movie would be greenlit.
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* Sands (Johnny Depp) in ''[[Once Upon a Time In Mexico]]''. Halfway through the film, the villains start to catch on and decide to {{spoiler|drill his eyes out}}. It doesn't stop him. AT ALL.
* ''[[Apollo 13]]''. Pretty much everyone in NASA will not give up until the astronauts make it home. Gene Kranz in particular. "Failure is NOT an option."
* Many examples from ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', but particularly Sam. He wades into a river chasing Frodo even though he can't swim, resists the lure of [[Artifact of Attraction|the Ring]], and literally carries Frodo through the last leg of the journey even though both are near death from exhaustion.
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(cue [[Crowning Music of Awesome|Reprise of Awesome]] of the Fellowship [[Leitmotif]]) }}
* Garcia from the [[
** and the movie started with his coach telling him that he "needed to show more heart"
* Any Russian character in a [[Guy Ritchie]] film, ever.
* Watanabe from ''[[
* The title character of ''[[The Book of Eli]]'' takes his '[[Mission
* Vincent "Jerome" Freeman in [[Gattaca]]; judged to have a life expectancy under 31 years and subject to debilitating heart weakness, he nevertheless becomes an astronaut despite everyone, from his mother to the original owner of his donor identity, telling him it's impossible. Also, he gets to come home to Uma Thurman.
* [[The Princess Bride (
* [[But You Screw One Goat!|Angus]] from the movie ''[[Black Sheep
* Ace Rothstein's initial description of Nicky Santoro in ''[[Casino]]'' highlights exactly why you should NEVER pick a fight with him:
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* Detective Murakami in ''[[Stray Dog]]''. After his gun is stolen, he does not stop looking for it. And each time he finds out it's used in a new crime, he only becomes more determined.
* ''[[
* Hoffman in ''[[Saw]] 3D''. He wants Jill. He isn't going to let anything, like a police station full of cops, get in his way.
* ''[[
* ''[[
* The Bride in ''[[Kill Bill]]''.
* [[Godzilla]] He is a prime example of a Determinator, fighting to the death even when its clear he's gonna lose and has a tendency to solve any problem he's faced with with Brute force or cunning. Flying Enemy? No problem, use atomic breathe to propel you. World destroyer in your base killing ur dudez? Gather up the posse and take it down.
* ''[[
* ''[[True Grit]]'''s Mattie Ross. A 14-year-old girl in pigtails, alone in the American West, is nobody's idea of an arbiter of justice. Nonetheless, she's bent on catching her daddy's killer, and no concerned mother, nor Texas Ranger, nor eyepatch-wearing bounty-hunter, nor wide river, nor bitter weather, nor cold trail, nor misfiring gun, nor band of outlaws, [[Long List|nor 100-foot-deep pit filled with snakes]] is going to keep [[Dirty Coward|Tom Chaney]] safe from retribution.
* ''[[The Thief and
** Subverted at the end of the original, where he and Tack are fighting over the balls, and the Thief just decides that they're not worth it and walks away.
* Aguirre in ''[[Aguirre
* Michael Myers from the ''[[Halloween (
* [[The Hero|P]][[The Chosen One|o]] from [[Kung Fu Panda]] stuck around with Master ShiFu despite [[Training
* [[Firefly
* Jason in ''[[Mystery Team]]''.
* Abbot Cellach in ''[[The Secret of Kells]].'' {{spoiler|He gets shot by an arrow that's ''on fire'', stabbed through with a sword, is left for dead during a winter night, and he lived for over a decade afterwards.}}
* [[Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron|Spirit]]. As in, the horse. There are scenes in which it ''looks'' like his spirit's been broken, [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|only for him to fight back again with renewed vigor]].
* [[Tangled
* Ginger in ''[[
* Pixar must be fond of these characters. Going down the list, we have:
** Woody. In all three ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]'' movies. He never really gave up on Andy, even when he gave up on himself and even when the other toys gave up on either him or Andy. Or both.
** How about Marlin from ''[[Finding Nemo]]''? Not exactly a [[Badass]] but VERY persistent.
*** Actually, his persistence does come across as somewhat badass, just [[Badass Unintentional|in a kind of unconventional way]]. And let's not forget Marlin's friend Dory, or Nemo's friend Gill.
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'''Gill:''' Eh, I've lost count. Fish aren't meant to be in a box, kid. }}
** Sully from ''[[Monsters, Inc.]]'' never gave up on getting Boo home safely.
** [[
** Carl, from ''[[Up]]''. ''Definitely'' don't wanna spoil this one, mostly because it's the third-newest one.
* [[The Lord of the Rings|Samwise Gamgee]]. Is Frodo's only companion to stay with him clear from the shire to Mt Doom, in spite of being turned away from Frodo twice, and in spite of Frodo and others twice more secretly conspiring regarding the journey without Sam or the other hobbits. He also saves Frodo from an [[Eldritch Abomination]] and Orcs, then carries him partway up Mt Doom on his own back. The only incentive he gets to do any of this is when Gandalf says "Don't you leave him Samwise Gamgee" once right at the beginning.
* The final assassin (Yan Xiaogou) from ''Bodyguards and Assassins'' is a realistic version: As a highly-skilled martial artist [[Instant Death Radius|he is unstoppable in close quarters]] against the mostly untrained opponents he fights. After mowing down a lot of bodyguards, though, including major named character - who admittedly [[You Can Barely Stand|Could Barely Stand]] - one of the last few {{spoiler|empties a pistol into him. [[Reality Ensues]].}}
** {{spoiler|"Empties a pistol into him" means that the gunner hit him twice out of 6 or 8 shots.}} Also, for a relatively "realistic" movie, there are multiple examples. Shen Chongyang (naturally, this being about the only role [[Donnie Yen]] ever plays) and the guy he dueled. Fang Hong. Wang Fuming aka [[It Makes Sense in Context|"Stinky Tofu".]] Deng Sidi for the non-combatant version. Of course, this being something of a patriotic film about men struggling to be free from oppression...
*** Winner for the film, though, must go to Liu Yubei. {{spoiler|Introduced as an unkempt tortured drunkard beggar. Appears in bishonen form as [[The Cavalry]] to the convoy, already minus several named characters, with a [[Grand Staircase Entrance]]. Literally. Holds his choke point on the stairs alone against dozens of trained assassins who, to this point, have barely met an even match in single combat. Wielding an iron fan. The assassins resort to using chains and hooks, slowly wearing him down to the point where he could barely stand, yet Yubei kills or incapacitates every single one aside from Yan Xiaogou. And still goads Xiaogou into delaying long enough to cut him down thoroughly by [[Traumatic Haircut|cutting off the tail of his queue]].}}
* DA Frank Scanlon in [[Green Hornet]] is a comical example. {{spoiler|when he is revealed to be the main bad guy, he chased the Duo from one part of the city to the other, went all the way to the top of the Daily Sentinel news building. By the time he caught up with the duo he was so out of breath that he couldn't even remember what the name of the flash drive was that had evidence against him.}}
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* Vincent in ''[[Collateral]]''. After getting in a 100 mph car crash without a seatbelt, he just gets up and runs away. A few minutes later, he gets shot in the face...and just walks it off.
* Matsu in the ''[[Joshuu Sasori
* Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, in [[
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** Even when Steve's undergoing the [[Super Soldier]] transformation procedure, we have the staff telling Dr. Erskine to stop the experimentation, in fear of Steve potentially dying. However, Steve won't have any of that, actually ''yelling'' for the Doctor to keep going with it.
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* Bud Fox, from ''[[Wall Street]],'' is definitely persistent in trying to work his way up the stockbrokers' world.
* In ''[[
* [[Legacy Character|All the]] Ghostfaces in ''[[Scream (
* Obviously, [[The Big Lebowski|Walter qualifies]]. Especially with [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsogswrH6ck the Dude], when bowling or trading people.
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* Kurge in ''[[Thor: Ragnarok]]''. Hela's loyal henchman for most of the movie, he has a change of heart at the end and decides to [[Hold the Line]] while the heroes flee, opening fire on the villain's advancing army with his dual assault rifles until he runs out of ammo. But ''then'' he pummels them with the weapons like makeshift clubs until they break, and ''then'' he uses his fists until [[Dying Moment of Awesome| he is finally overwhelmed]].
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[[Category:Determinator]]
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