Determinator/Film: Difference between revisions

* Rocky Balboa of the ''[[Rocky (film)|Rocky]]'' films, as summed up in this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uASVzkrEKgs speech to his son].

* 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:

** 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 with Me|a literal way]]).

** In the newest Terminator film, the last lines spoken are this trope to a T.

* James T. Kirk in the 2009 ''[[Star Trek (film)|Star Trek]]'' movie fits this trope perfectly. He doesn't believe in no-win scenarios and is certainly one stubborn fellow once he sets his mind to accomplishing something, be it graduating from Starfleet Academy early, [[Taking a Third Option|finding a way to beat]] the supposedly unbeatable [[Unwinnable Training Simulation|Kobayashi Maru]], or stopping [[Ax Crazy|Nero]]. He takes more [[Butt Monkey|beat-downs]] than any other character and is consistently degraded or [[You Have to Believe Me|doubted]] by those around him, but keeps coming back for more in order to protect his homeworld. He is certainly not too worried about getting himself killed in the process, either.

** 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?"

* The Black Knight from ''[[Monty Python and The Holy Grail]]'' - is actually a [[Deconstructive Parody]] of this, based on the old [[Stiff Upper Lip|British idea of never surrendering]], no matter what.

* 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.

'''Luke''': Yeah well, sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand. }}

* Both Neo and Agent Smith of ''[[The Matrix]]'' are up there - Smith possibly even more so. During their final battle, Smith's [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good|inability to understand]] Neo's refusal to stay down drives him out of his mind.

* [[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]]''.

* John Creasy from ''[[Man on Fire]]''. Being severely wounded with a partially collapsed lung does not deter him from hunting down, torturing and killing the kidnappers of his charge or anyone else involved.

* Ethan Edwards, the Confederate soldier-turned-Indian hunter in ''[[The Searchers]]''.

* Momma from ''[[Throw Momma from the Train]]''.

* The paperboy in ''[[Better Off Dead]]''. "I want my two dollars!"

* Timon in ''[[The Lion King|The Lion King 1 ½]]''.

* Ariel and Eric from ''[[The Little Mermaid]]'' are quite the Determinator couple.

* The protagonist from ''[[Taken (film)|Taken]]''. Nothing will stop him from saving his daughter. NOTHING.

* [[Smokey and the Bandit|Sheriff Beuford T. Justice]]. Run him off the road, plow through his car with an 18-wheeler, run him through a minefield which reduces his police cruiser to nothing but a chassis, engine, and steering wheel. ''Nothing'' will stop him from chasing The Bandit.

* [[Crank|Chev Chelios]] takes this trope to its logical extreme: if he stops, he literally will die.

* ''[[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 ''[[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.

(cue [[Crowning Music of Awesome|Reprise of Awesome]] of the Fellowship [[Leitmotif]]) }}

* Garcia from the [[Sy Fy]] movie ''Yeti''. Survives a plane crash, travels out into the wild to find the spare radio in the other end of the plane. Breaks his legs running from a yeti, splints the leg with the severed arm of his body, gets chased all the way back to the plane, dragging the radio with him, shot in the eye with a [[Flare Gun]] when the [[Jerkass]] of the movie panics and thinks he's the yeti, and wakes up at the end of the movie to see one of the yetis' arms popping out of the snow.

* [[But You Screw One Goat!|Angus]] from the movie ''[[Black Sheep (2006 film)|Black Sheep]]''. After {{spoiler|being turned into a sheep monster, he gets into a [[Helicopter Blender]], GETS BACK UP, gets turned back into a human and is shown to be missing most of his skull, GETS BACK UP, and wanders into the horde of monster sheep to... rejoin the flock}}. It ends poorly for him.

* Ace Rothstein's initial description of Nicky Santoro in ''[[Casino]]'' highlights exactly why you should NEVER pick a fight with him:

* 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.

* ''[[127 Hours|One Hundred and Twenty Seven Hours]]'': Aron Ralston (also under Real Life examples). His arm is crushed under a boulder while he's hiking, trapping him in a crevice with only the food and water he'd brought for a one day hike. Just surviving as long as he does (five days!) is a feat unto itself, even if he hadn't {{spoiler|amputated his own arm with a dull multitool, rappelled down a cliff, and walked for eight miles before he found rescue}}.

** 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.

'''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.

*** 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.}}

* 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|Female Prisoner Scorpion]]'' series. Lock her up, tie her up, beat her: she just waits for a chance, manipulates the people around her, and escapes to pursue her grudge. Thrown in a freezing, dark underground cell for a year, hands and feet shackled, what does she do? Carve a spoon into a shiv - in her teeth.

* Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, in [[Captain America: The First Avenger]]. Much like his comics counterpart, the man does not know the meaning of the word "quit", whether he's being beat down by regular bullies or superhuman Nazi despots.

** 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.

* Bud Fox, from ''[[Wall Street]],'' is definitely persistent in trying to work his way up the stockbrokers' world.

* In ''[[The Guardian]]'' we meet a guy named Hodge who has washed out so the [[Coast Guard]] rescue swimmer school twice and is back for a third go.

* [[Legacy Character|All the]] Ghostfaces in ''[[Scream (film)|Scream]]''. They are beaten by anything the stalked victims have at hand (including [[The Door Slams You|doors]]), trip, fall down stairs... and still keep on going after the victim. (and only a [[Plot Armor]] saves you)

* Obviously, [[The Big Lebowski|Walter qualifies]]. Especially with [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsogswrH6ck the Dude], when bowling or trading people.

{{reflist}}