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:
{{quote| '''Kyle Reese''': "He'll find her! That's what he does! [[The Unfettered|It's]] ''[[The Unfettered|all]]'' [[The Unfettered|he does]]! [[Implacable Man|You can't stop him!]] [[Advancing Boss of Doom|He'll wade through you!]] He'll reach down her throat and tear her fuckin' heart out!"}}
** 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.
{{quote| '''John Connor:''' This battle has been won, but the war against the machines races on. Skynet's global network remains strong, but we will not quit, until all of it is destroyed.}}
* 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 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.
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{{quote| '''Dragline''': Nothin'. A handful of nothin'. You stupid mullet head. He beat you with nothin'. Just like today when he kept comin' back at me -- with nothin'.<br />
'''Luke''': Yeah well, sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand. }}
* Both Neo and Agent Smith of ''[[
{{quote| "Why, Mister Anderson, why, WHY DO YOU PERSIST?"}}
* [[Complete Monster|Anton Chigurh]] from ''[[No Country for Old Men]]'' has a belief system that revolves around this trope.
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* Nana from ''[[Madagascar]]'' and ''Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa'' is a parody of the trope.
** Also in the sequel a [[Super-Persistent Predator|shark]] so determined to take a bite at [[Butt Monkey|Mort]] that it chased him onto the shore, across the jungle and ''up a volcano''.
* John Creasy from ''[[Man
* Ethan Edwards, the Confederate soldier-turned-Indian hunter in ''[[The Searchers]]''.
{{quote| ''' Ethan:''' Injun will chase a thing till he thinks he's chased it enough. Then he quits. Same way when he runs. Seems like he never learns there's such a thing as a critter who'll just keep comin' on. So we'll find 'em in the end, I promise you. We'll find 'em, just as sure as the turnin' of the earth.}}
* Momma from ''[[Throw Momma
{{quote| '''Larry:''' She's not a woman. She's the Terminator!}}
* The paperboy in ''[[Better Off Dead]]''. "I want my two dollars!"
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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 (
{{quote| '''Bryan:''' I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.}}
* [[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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** 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 From God|mission]]' seriously enough to continue walking after he's been shot in the gut.
* 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:
{{quote| "[[The Napoleon|No matter how big a guy might be, Nicky would take him on.]] You beat Nicky with fists, he comes back with a bat. You beat him with a knife, he comes back with a gun. And if you beat him with a gun, [[Axe Crazy|you better kill him]], because [[The Determinator|he'll keep comin' back and back]] until one of you is dead."}}
* 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 From Hell]] that was specially designed to drive him out of the temple. And he was an unfit panda with next to no kung fu training who was undergoing stuff that kung fu masters many times his level did. Not to mention the fact that he was once kicked off the temple and had to climb up a few thousand steps to return. {{spoiler|He [[Took a Level In Badass]] when his natural kung fu abilities were discovered.}}
* [[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]]'' 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.
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{{quote| '''Nemo:''' How many times have you tried to escape?<br />
'''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.
* [[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.
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{{quote| '''Scanlon:''' Alright Reid, hand over the thing.}}
* 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 [[
{{quote| "I could do this all day."}}
** 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.
{{quote| "NOOOOOO! Don't! '''I CAN DO THIS!'''"}}
* 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.
{{quote| '''Walter''': The ringer cannot look empty.}}
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