Determinator/Film: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{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.}}
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** 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 (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?"
* 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 ''[[Pan's Labyrinth]]''. This makes him an utterly terrifying villain, while at the same time almost pitiable. ({{spoiler|In fact, when he got shot in the head, he actually had the time to feel it!}})
** [[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.
{{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'.
'''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.
{{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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* 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.
{{quote|'''Sam''': I can't carry it for you... But I ''can carry you!''
(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 ''[[Ikiru]]'' keeps on pestering the bureaucracy till they give in and build a park over the mosquito-infested cesspool.
* 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 (film)|My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.]]
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* Aguirre in ''[[Aguirre, the Wrath of God]]'', who carries this out as tragically as can be imagined. Actually, a common trope in [[Werner Herzog]]'s films, to the point that the [[Mockumentary]] ''Incident At Loch Ness'' parodied this, with Herzog himself cast in this role as a director determined to complete a [[Troubled Production|disastrous film production]].
* Michael Myers from the ''[[Halloween (film)|Halloween]]'' series spent fifteen years in a mental hospital, waiting for a chance to escape so that he could kill his sister. When he failed in killing her, he then spent the next ten years massacring everybody related to her. Then, depending on which canon you follow, he spent 10-20 years searching for his sister again.
* [[The Hero|P]][[The Chosen One|o]] from [[Kung Fu Panda]] stuck around with Master ShiFu despite [[Training
* [[Firefly|Malcolm Reynolds]] proves himself to be [[The Determinator]] over and over again in his [[Big Damn Movie]]. At one point in [[Serenity]] he takes a sword to the gut and keeps on fighting. That's determination. His antics can also be found on the [[Determinator/Live Action TV|Live Action TV page]].
* Jason in ''[[Mystery Team]]''.
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* Ginger in ''[[Chicken Run]]''.
* 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.
** [[WALL-E]]. [[The Woobie|Sweet baby Jesus,]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|goddamned]] [[Tear Jerker|Wall-E]]. Didn't give on on winning Eve's heart (and ours), {{spoiler|[[Heroic Sacrifice|and gave everything to save humans from an]] [[
** 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...
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* 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.
{{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.
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* 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.}}
* 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]].
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Determinator]]
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