History Determinator / Film

* Somewhat a theme of ''Film/MortalEngines'', as Anna can go to great lengths due to her being TheUnfettered and fearing nothing, Hester's initial determination to kill Valentine leads to six months of planning and deliberately getting herself aboard a town eaten by London just so she can have a shot at him, while Thaddeus [[NotSoDifferent directly compares]] Hester's determination to his own - he takes a serious stab wound to the gut and is back at work on MEDUSA ''later that day''.

** The final assassin (Yan Xiaogou) is a highly-skilled martial artist, and as such, [[InstantDeathRadius he is unstoppable in close quarters]] against the mostly untrained opponents he fights. After mowing down a lot of bodyguards and a major named character, one of the last few survivors [[spoiler: shoots him. RealityEnsues.]]

* Po from ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' stuck around with Master [=ShiFu=] despite TrainingFromHell 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. This what earned him the respecct of most of the Furious Five, and [[spoiler: he TookALevelInBadass when his natural kung fu abilities were discovered.]]

* Maximus Decimus Meridius from ''Film/{{Gladiator}}''. Nothing will stop him from avenging his family and overthrowing the usurper Emperor Commodus. Not one-sided battles, not men or tigers, [[spoiler:not even as it turns being stabbed before what is intended to be a fancy execution -- he ''still'' hands Commodus his ass.]]
* They will stop at nothing to get those burgers in ''Film/HaroldAndKumarGoToWhiteCastle''.


* In the Creator/ChristopherNolan [[Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy Batman movies]] this seems to be Bruce Wayne's true superpower. ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' takes this to ridiculous levels as Bane pulls out all the stops to break Bruce's spirit and body and succeeds at neither.
--> '''Ducard''': The ''training'' is nothing! The ''will'' is ''everything''! The will to act.






* Paul Rusesabagina, whose RealLife story was chronicled in ''Film/HotelRwanda'', which is often referred to as an African ''Film/SchindlersList''. During the mass genocide in Rwanda in 1994, he managed to save nearly a thousand people who had been marked for death by sheltering them in his hotel and transporting them to safety, and standing up to corrupt military officials and screaming, machete-wielding mobs, [[BadassPacifist all without raising a single firearm]].
-->'''Paul''': There will be no rescue, no intervention for us. We can only save ourselves.

* Paul Newman's character Luke in the movie ''Film/CoolHandLuke'' is a perfect example of a Determinator. Acts of sheer determination include [[TheBet 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.
-->'''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.





* The paperboy in ''Film/BetterOffDead''. "I want my two dollars!"
* [[Film/TheBourneSeries Jason Bourne]]. At various times, he's shot, thrown off buildings, beat to a bloody pulp, put through horrendous car crashes, been right next to an exploding bomb. And he just gets up, hunts down who did that to him, and keeps on trucking.
* The crew of the ''Leper Colony'' in ''Film/DrStrangelove'' will complete its mission, no matter what.
* Harold Abrahams in Film/ChariotsOfFire: "I'll take them all on, one by one, and run them off their feet."
* Will 'Elizabeth goes free!' Turner in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl''. 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 MartyrWithoutACause trope.

* "Never give up, never surrender!" from ''Film/GalaxyQuest''.

* ''Film/{{Crank}}'': Chev Chelios takes this trope to its logical extreme: if he stops, he literally will die.




* ''Film/{{Inception}}'' [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructs]] this trope. [[spoiler:The practice of Inception involves [[MindRape placing a simple idea deep into an unwitting subject's subconscious]] so that it will define who they are for the rest of their lives. The main protagonist and antagonist show how this can [[GoneHorriblyRight go horribly right]].]]
* ''Film/{{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."
* Watanabe from ''Film/{{Ikiru}}'' keeps on pestering the bureaucracy till they give in and build a park over the mosquito-infested cesspool.
* The title character of ''Film/TheBookOfEli'' takes his '[[MissionFromGod mission]]' seriously enough to continue walking after he's been shot in the gut.
* Vincent "Jerome" Freeman in ''Film/{{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.

* ''Film/OneHundredAndTwentySevenHours'': 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]].

* Aguirre in ''Film/AguirreTheWrathOfGod'', who carries this out as tragically as can be imagined. A rather common trope in Creator/WernerHerzog's films, to the point that the {{Mockumentary}} ''Film/IncidentAtLochNess'' parodied this, with Herzog himself cast in this role as a director determined to complete a [[TroubledProduction disastrous film production]].

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'''s Malcolm Reynolds proves himself to be The Determinator over and over again in his BigDamnMovie. At one point in ''Film/{{Serenity}}'' he takes a sword to the gut and keeps on fighting. That's determination. His antics can also be found on the [[Determinator/LiveActionTV Live Action TV page]].

* For a relatively "realistic" movie, there are a couple of examples in ''Film/{{Bodyguards and Assassins}}'':
** The final assassin (Yan Xiaogou) is a highly-skilled martial artist, and as such, [[InstantDeathRadius he is unstoppable in close quarters]] against the mostly untrained opponents he fights. After mowing down a lot of bodyguards and a major named character, one of the last few survivors [[spoiler: shoots him. RealityEnsues.]]
** Winner for the film, though, must go to Liu Yubei. [[spoiler: He's introduced as an unkempt tortured drunkard beggar, then appears in bishonen form as TheCavalry to the convoy, with a GrandStaircaseEntrance. He then 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. 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 [[TraumaticHaircut cutting off the tail of his queue]].]]
* DA Frank Scanlon in ''Film/TheGreenHornet'' 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.]]
--> '''Scanlon:''' Alright Reid, hand over the thing.
* Vincent in ''Film/{{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 ''[[Film/JoshuuSasori 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 ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger''. 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.
-->"I can do this all day."
** Even when Steve's undergoing the SuperSoldier 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.
-->"NOOOOOO! Don't! '''I CAN DO THIS!'''"
** It gets one step further when dealing with Thanos, [[WorldsStrongestMan one of universe's strongest beings]] - in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/marvelcinematicuniverse/images/9/9a/Cap_vs._Thanos.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1000?cb=20180810191507 he grabs Thanos by the hand]] to shortly hold him back; and in ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', where he actually manages to give Thanos a fight, once the struggle leaves him wounded, disarmed, with his previously indestructible shield in pieces, and facing down not only Thanos but an army of hundreds, Steve just straps the remains of his shield tighter to his arm and get ready to take them all on.
-->I keep telling people to move on. Some do. But not us. Not us...
** If none of his post-procedure feats do anything for you, having this [[https://cap-chronism.dreamwidth.org/6115.html?thread=30435 veritable laundry list]] of ailments during TheGreatDepression, a time when employment was hardly guaranteed and most of these conditions had no effective or affordable cure yet, certainly will. Steve, the shrimpy dork from Brooklyn, had to be a supreme Determinator ''just to live long enough to be Captain America''.
* In ''Film/TheGuardian2006'' we meet a guy named Hodge who has washed out from the UsefulNotes/CoastGuard rescue swimmer school twice and is back for a third go.
* Obviously, ''Film/TheBigLebowski'''s Walter qualifies. Especially with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsogswrH6ck the Dude]], when bowling or trading people.
--> '''Walter''': The ringer cannot look empty.


* Dr. Elsa Schneider in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'' was determined to get the Holy Grail at any price, including working with the Nazis and sleeping with Indy AND his father. At the end of the film, she attempts to steal it and triggers a CataclysmClimax when she steps over a protective seal. She crashes to the ground and watches the grail rolls away from her, and despite the structure collapsing all around her, she dives after it, which causes her to nearly fall into a crevasse. Indiana, however, catches Elsa just in time, only to have her use her grip on his hand as leverage to reach for the grail below her. Before long, her hand slides out from its black glove and she falls to her death: her determination (see: obsession) serving as her undoing.
* ''Film/JeepersCreepers'': The Creeper. Kills anyone that gets in his way, will lose most of his limbs, get harpooned in the '''head,''' get's stabbed multiple times, has to grow a new [[spoiler: HEAD]] and is overall gonna stop at '''nothing''' to catch his prey!!!
* From ''Film/FortyTwo'', nothing is going to stop Dodgers manager Branch Rickey from getting an African-American player into Major League Baseball. If you're an employee or player who objects to having Jackie on the team, he'll fire you without a second thought. If you're an opposing team who refuses to play against Robinson, he'll ''damn your eternal soul.''
* ''[[Film/{{Jack 2013}} Jack]]'' (the 2013 Creator/{{CBC}} film) portrays Jack Layton as this. Jack already had a reputation for valuing perseverance even before this movie came out, but this movie emphasizes it [[UpToEleven perhaps even more so than it's usually emphasized]].
-->'''Karl Bélanger:''' Tell me we're not going to ask him to fight this election ''on crutches!''
-->'''Anne [=McGrath=]:''' Try and stop him.



* In ''Film/TheHeat'' both Ashburn and Mullins go far, even past physical pain, to catch their perps.
* ''Film/{{Elysium}}'':
** Max, as he's trying to save his life from imminent death. ''Nothing'' gets in his way from reaching Elysium [[spoiler:, not lethal irradiation, not painful Exo-Suit surgery, not even a stab wound keeps him down for more than a day or so.]]
** And Kruger. It's his job to be one, though. But his hunt for Max quickly becomes personal, especially when [[spoiler:Max blows half of Kruger's head right off]]


* Scout Leader Erikson in ''Film/{{Bushwhacked}}'' gets his hands cuffed around a tree, but gets out of it by climbing. Using primarily his feet. And breaking off the branches in his way.
* ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'':
** Even 15 years after the Janjira incident, Joe Brody hadn't given up on finding the truth.
** Godzilla chases the Muto relentlessly for miles and when he finally catches up to them, continues fighting even as he was being mauled by the two at once while constantly getting back up no matter how severely he's beaten down. Even a skyscraper collapsing on him only slowed him down for a few minutes.
** Angry mama MUTO after realizing [[spoiler: Ford destroyed her eggs.]]

* ''Franchise/DieHard'': And who could forget John [=McClane=]? The dude is a TropeCodifier for the non-invincible action hero. He's faced lethal criminals head-on while armed with only guns and an IndyPloy and never ''ever'' stops until he gets the job done. However, he's also a {{Deconstruction}} of this trope. His determination to do the right thing always gets him battered and wounded by the end of every movie, and his devotion to seeing justice done has estranged him from his family members (to the point where he didn't even know that ''his own son'' had become a government agent).


* ''Film/{{Everest 2015}}'': After being forced to turn back from the summit in his previous attempt, Doug Hansen is resolved to make it to the summit of Everest this time. [[spoiler:He does make it to the summit, but this ultimately costs him his life when he becomes too ill to descend.]]
* ''Film/EddieTheEagle'': The titular character and real life Olympic athlete is one. Nothing stopped him from achieving his dream, not the rules, not the injuries, and not his lack of skill at the sport.


* Film/{{Captain Marvel|2019}} never gives up, no matter how the odds are stacked against her. At one point we see flashbacks of her being repeatedly knocked to the ground, but each time she falls over, she gets back up again. [[spoiler: It's this determination that allows her to activate GodMode at the climax of the film.]]
-->'''Kelly Sue [=DeConnick=]:''' Carol falls down all the time, but she always gets back up -- we say that about Captain America as well, but Captain America gets back up because "it's the right thing to do." Carol gets back up because "Fuck you."
* The first part of ''Film/JuliaX'' is largely a battle between two determinators: with Julia determined to escape, and The Stranger equally determined to stop her.
* ''Film/{{Incendies}}'': Nawal is sent to a HellholePrison, where she gains the moniker "The Woman Who Sings" because she defies her guards by singing in her cell. Even after being brutalized by them over 13 years, she never breaks, and she becomes something of a local legend.
* In the first anthology piece from ''Film/TheBalladOfBusterScruggs'', Buster kills a thuggish man called "Curly Joe" who was holding him at gunpoint. [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes Curly Joe's brother is distraught to find his brother dead]] and [[AvengingTheVillain demands to duel Buster]]. At first in the gunfight, [[FastestGunInTheWest Buster shoots off the brother's trigger finger before the brother can even react]] and try to draw, but the brother still tries to draw his gun afterward. This prompts Buster to shoot off each of the fingers on the brother's right hand, only for the brother to react by trying to go for the gun with his ''left'' hand. At this point, Buster is starting to become both impressed and exasperated with the guy.
-->'''Buster Scruggs:''' Looks like when they made this fella, they forgot to put in the quit.
* In ''Film/CryBloodApache'', when Vittorio finds his tribe has been slaughtered, nothing will stop him tracking down the men responsible and killing them.
* In ''Film/LeftForDead'', Clem has been following the trail of her runaway husband Blake for months. In that time she endured beatings that left her hospitalized and permanently scarred; given birth; and lost the baby. She continues to pursue him into the remotest parts of Mexico, now carrying the body of her dead son with her.
* In ''Film/{{Jungle}}'', Yossi is stranded in one of the most hostile environments on Earth, weeks away from the nearest civilization, and with almost nothing in the way of resources. He determines to walk his way out. And succeeds.
* In ''Film/GrimPrairieTales'', Colochez gets shot through the throat during a ShowdownAtHighNoon. Despite this, he manages to stagger the length of the dusty street, knock Martin to the ground, half choke him to death, and then start trying to [[EyeScream gouge his eyes out]]. It is only the fact that he dies from blood loss before he succeeds that stops him from being the ImplacableMan.
* Lance Corporal William Schofield from ''Film/NineteenSeventeen''. Determined doesn't even begin to cover it.
-->'''General Erinmore:''' Down to Gehenna or up to the throne; he travels the fastest who travels alone.

[[/folder]]

* It's easy enough to miss, but Shang actually sends ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'' off midway through the "I'll Make A Man Out Of You" segment. That's right, ''he sent her home and relieved the Fa family of their war duty''. But she pulled through because of her pride and intelligence.

%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* Timon in ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKingOneAndAHalf''.
%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* Ariel and Eric from ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'' are quite the Determinator couple.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheThiefAndTheCobbler'': ''Nothing'' can stop the Thief once he spots something shiny.
** 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
* Po from ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' stuck around with Master [=ShiFu=] despite TrainingFromHell 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. This what earned him the respecct of most of the Furious Five, and [[spoiler: he TookALevelInBadass when his natural kung fu abilities were discovered.]]
* Po continues the trend in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2''. Get shot with a cannon? Not a problem. Come back and challenge the BigBad. Get blown up? Get back up and [[spoiler:destroy the BigBad's fleet]].
* Abbot Cellach in ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfKells.'' [[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.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/SpiritStallionOfTheCimarron: Spirit''. As in, the horse. There are scenes in which it ''looks'' like his spirit's been broken, only for him to fight back again with renewed vigor.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}''. Maximus; that horse will never give up.
%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* Ginger in ''WesternAnimation/ChickenRun''.

** Héctor from ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'', who has spent ''96 years'' of his afterlife trying to cross the Marigold Bridge on Dia de Muertos [[spoiler: to be able to see his beloved daughter Coco]].

* Anna in ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}''. She takes off after Elsa in the winter storm in a ball gown to avoid losing time, convinces a misanthropic stranger into helping her, attempts to climb a mountain with no mountaineering skills, refuses to leave her sister's castle despite being struck in the heart by ice magic, and [[spoiler:eventually gives up her own life so that Elsa can live, finding the willpower to ''sprint'' to put herself between Elsa and an incoming sword despite having almost completely frozen from the inside out]].
* Manolo Sanchez from ''WesternAnimation/TheBookOfLife''. Not even death can keep him away from Maria.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Home}}'', nothing will stop Tip from getting to her alien-abducted mother. That includes the distance between continents and a total lack of knowledge as to where she was even taken. [[spoiler:She does briefly lose hope when she's found the other humans but has no idea where to look, but Oh comes back just in time]].
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Trolls}}'': Princess Poppy, as shown by her journey montage while she sings "Get Back Up Again," even if SlapstickKnowsNoGender.

* ''[[Animation/TheMindsEye Odyssey Into the Mind's Eye]]'' sequence "Unstoppable" features two characters behaving like this: the scientist/evil-looking dude with a facility full of traps trying to stop a small, sliver block-like creature and, even moreso the Determinator, the silver block crashing through ''everything'' to get away. Doesn't matter if it's a descending ceiling full of rotating blades or a metal wall backed by solid rock, the block keeps flying through it all like its made of tissue paper.

%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* ''Film/BenHur1959'' is undoubtedly the archetype of this trope from Classic Hollywood.

* Maximus Decimus Meridius from ''Film/{{Gladiator}}''. Nothing will stop him from avenging his family and overthrowing the usurper Emperor Commodus. Not one-sided battles, not men or tigers, [[spoiler:not even as it turns being stabbed before what is intended to be a fancy execution - he ''still'' hands Commodus his ass.]]
* Rocky Balboa of the ''Franchise/{{Rocky}}'' films, as summed up in this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uASVzkrEKgs speech to his son]]. His claim to fame is surviving a full 15 rounds against an Expy of [[UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli "The Greatest"]] professional boxer, [[SecondPlaceIsForWinners even though he lost]].

* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'':
** Obviously, ''[[IncrediblyLamePun De Terminator]]''. Villainous ones tend to overlap with ImplacableMan as well:
-->'''Kyle Reese''': "He'll find her! That's what he does! [[TheUnfettered That's]] ''[[TheUnfettered all]]'' [[TheUnfettered he does]]! [[ImplacableMan You can't stop him!]] [[AdvancingBossOfDoom 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 ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'', 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-800's help. Even more so in ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles''.
** The cyborgs played by Arnold in ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' and ''Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines'' [[RasputinianDeath 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 [[TakingYouWithMe a literal way]]).
** In ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'', the last lines spoken are this trope to a T.
---> '''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.
* Alice, originating from ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'' when it comes to completing her mission. In Barber's "Convergence" she murders an entire station of people while looking for the Allspark, and it's implied that this may not be the first time she's done something like this. She also gets [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat hit by a car and reduced to pieces]] in the movie, only to be revealed to be very much still be ticking in the IDW comics. It takes a blade through the chest by ''Sideswipe'' after she [[BullyingADragon tried to ram a NEST blockade]] with a vehicle containing human hostages, to finally take her out of commission.
* James T. Kirk in the ''Film/StarTrek2009'' 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, [[TakingAThirdOption finding a way to beat]] the supposedly unbeatable [[UnwinnableTrainingSimulation Kobayashi Maru]], or stopping [[AxCrazy Nero]]. He takes more [[ButtMonkey beat-downs]] than any other character and is consistently degraded or [[YouHaveToBelieveMe 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?"
** He does the same thing in the sequel. Also, arguably, so is Spock, right after [[spoiler: Kirk performs a HeroicSacrifice to save the crew. Spock decides to take revenge on {{Determinator}} Khan, beaming down to Earth and chasing after him with the sole purpose of killing him. It's only after Uhura reveals that Khan's their only chance to bring Kirk back to life that he stops.]]

* Carl Brashear in ''Film/MenOfHonor'' put up with bigotry, an insane instructor, and [[HandicappedBadass losing his leg]] and was still unbowed.
* Captain Vidal in ''Film/PansLabyrinth''. This makes him an utterly terrifying villain. ([[spoiler:In fact, when he got shot in the head, he actually had the time to feel it!]])
* The Black Knight from ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'' - is actually a DeconstructiveParody of this, based on the old [[StiffUpperLip British idea of never surrendering]], no matter what.

* Both Neo and Agent Smith of ''Franchise/TheMatrix'' are up there - Smith possibly even more so. During their final battle, Smith's [[EvilCannotComprehendGood inability to understand]] Neo's refusal to stay down drives him out of his mind.
--> "Why, Mister Anderson, why, WHY DO YOU PERSIST?"\\
"Because I choose to."
%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* Anton Chigurh from ''Film/NoCountryForOldMen'' has a belief system that revolves around this trope.
%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* [[WomanScorned Alex Forrest]], the character played by Glenn Close in ''Film/FatalAttraction''.
* John Creasy from ''Film/ManOnFire''. 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 ''Film/TheSearchers''.
-->''' 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 ''Film/ThrowMommaFromTheTrain''.
-->'''Larry:''' She's not a woman. She's the Terminator!

* Porter from ''Film/{{Payback}}'' wants the money he is owed, will not be stopped by anyone.
* Tony Jaa in ''Film/TomYumGoong'' (aka ''The Protector''). [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79ditPebZ8g See for yourself.]]
%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* [[spoiler:The Yul Brynner robot]] in the film ''Film/{{Westworld}}''.

%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample** And Jake Sully himself.

* ''Bryan Mills'' from ''Film/{{Taken}}''. Nothing will stop him from saving his daughter. NOTHING.
-->'''Bryan:''' I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.
* ''Film/SmokeyAndTheBandit'''s 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.

* ''Film/PatchAdams'' 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.
* ''Film/{{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.
* This is the basis of the Clousseau's success in ''Franchise/ThePinkPanther'' according to David Niven's character. He said in an interview in the last sequel to The Pink Panther that Clousseau was a bumbling idiot but he succeeded because he obeyed "The 11th Commandment. Never Give Up." This doesn't really make sense, since Clousseau succeeded because the writers needed him to succeed, because he was the hero. But it's a nice afterthought.
* ''Film/AMostViolentYear'': Abel is an aggressive, serious-minded businessman who's determined to close on the oil terminal deal and to succeed as the better-quality option relative to his crooked competitors. Faced with the indifference of law enforcement, he ends up hunting down hijackers himself and eventually delivering an ice-cold ultimatum to those responsible.

* Sands (Johnny Depp) in ''Film/OnceUponATimeInMexico''. 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.

* Garcia from the Creator/{{Syfy}} movie ''Film/{{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 FlareGun 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. And the movie started with his coach telling him that he "needed to show more heart"
%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* Any Russian character in a Creator/GuyRitchie film, ever.
%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample** Technically, he's [[Film/{{Snatch}} Uzbekistani]].

* On a meta level, ''Film/MadMax1'' was made for [[NoBudget $400K]]. The director ''donated his own car'' to get smashed up in a chase scene.

* ''Film/ThePrincessBride'': "JustForFun/{{Hello}}. {{My name is Inigo Montoya}}. {{You killed my father}}. {{Prepare to die}}."

* Detective Murakami in ''Film/StrayDog''. 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 ''Film/Saw3D''. He wants Jill. He isn't going to let anything, like a police station full of cops, get in his way.
* ''Film/{{Unstoppable}}'': Frank, in pursuit of 777. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] somewhat when he tells Will that he gives up too easily.
%%* The Bride in ''Film/KillBill''.

* ''Film/WintersBone'': Nothing will stop Ree from saving the family home. Nothing.
* ''Film/TrueGrit'''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, [[LongList nor 100-foot-deep pit filled with snakes]] is going to keep [[DirtyCoward Tom Chaney]] safe from retribution..

%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* Jason in ''Film/MysteryTeam''.

* Bud Fox, from ''Film/WallStreet,'' is definitely persistent in trying to work his way up the stockbrokers' world.

* [[LegacyCharacter All the]] Ghostfaces in ''Film/{{Scream}}''. They are beaten by anything the stalked victims have at hand (including [[TheDoorSlamsYou doors]]), trip, fall down stairs... and still keep on going after the victim. (And only PlotArmor saves you)

* In the 2011 film ''Film/{{Warrior}}'': This is Brendan's primary fighting style, highlighting him as the hero of the film. He's a heavy underdog all the way through, but always manages to persevere and find a way to win via sustained grappling. In the end, Tommy also shows himself to be, but in a more tragic way. He keeps fighting even after his defeat is certain, refusing to just let go because he's determined to support his best friend's widow [[spoiler:and he breaks down when he realizes that he can't win with one arm]]. This sets Tommy apart from [[MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong Koba]], who taps out when in the same position. %% This entry was added automatically by FELH2. In case the wording doesn't make sense, rewrite it as you like, remove this comment and tell this troper.

* ''Film/ManOfSteel'':
%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample** Superman, of course.
** Very much Zod. [[spoiler: Even after the entire destruction of his ship, crew, terraformer, and everything he was going to use to turn Earth into Krypton 2.0 was destroyed, he still tried to do "what is best" for Krypton.]] He also overcomes the debilitating effect of his new haywire SuperSenses by concentrating really hard.
* Billy Batson from ''Film/Shazam2019'' devoted his entire life [[IWillFindYou searching for his long-long mother]] whom he got separated from at a local fair when he was 4-years-old. He constantly broke the law and ditched his foster families in order to see her again for the past ''ten years''. [[spoiler:[[AllForNothing However]], he was completely heartbroken upon realizing his mother never wanted him in her life.]]
* Raleigh from ''Film/PacificRim''. He's able to handle his mech's neural load solo (it normally takes two people) long enough to kill the {{Kaiju}} attacking his mech after it had killed his brother (while they were still connected) and walk it to shore without guidance from mission control.
** Stacker Pentecost even more so, as he pilots Coyote Tango solo versus [[spoiler: Onibaba after his copilot blacks out from cancer-induced stress]] for THREE HOURS.

%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* The last cop at the end of ''Film/TheHideousSunDemon''.
* Scientist Jane Foster in ''Film/{{Thor}}''. It's clear from her very first scene that she's ready to do anything for her research, namely ''driving directly into a tornado'' to get the data necessary to prove her theories.

* The Driver in ''Film/{{Shuttle}}'' is a villainous version. Car crashes, tire irons to the skull, stab wounds, '''a bullet to the face'''... it won't stop him from getting his product out.
* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries''
** Magneto'll do what it takes to finish his mission and... some old businesses.
** ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'':
*** Kitty, who must keep the link open, is at one point stabbed by Logan when his present body reacts violently to mental trauma in the past. And due to how time runs concurrently in the past and present, it's implied that it takes a few days before Logan and co. can properly stop Mystique, which means that she is slowly bleeding out and can't sleep for that period.
*** Same goes for Mystique, who throughout the film finds more and more damning evidence that Trask really needs to be killed. [[spoiler:It's not until the very end that Charles manages to talk her out of it.]]
*** The Prototype Sentinel that [[spoiler:goes after Magneto definitely is this. Even as it's being torn to pieces, it still tries to grab him.]]
* ''Film/{{Whiplash}}'': Andrew and Fletcher each fulfill this to some extent. Andrew, in his attempts to fully access his potential as a drummer (to the point that he regularly bloodies his hands from wearing on them so often during practice); Fletcher, in how driven he is to motivate his students to succeed, [[spoiler: even keeping Andrew and 2 fellow students isolated from the rest of the band for hours so that they can match his tempo in a harsh bit of practice]].
* April O'Neil in ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2014''. Getting fired from her job doesn't stop her from learning the truth.

* In ''Film/{{Mustang}}'', Lale is determined to leave her grandmother's house and go to Istanbul.
* This is pretty much the sole reason ''Film/TheMartian'' lasts more than ten minutes. When Watney is left behind and wakes up impaled on a piece of the main transmitter, he slogs his way back to the hab, performs emergency surgery on himself, and only then breaks concentration enough to swear. While he does occasionally come close to giving up, he invariably grits his teeth and keeps going, flatly refusing to die on Mars without first doing everything in his power not to.
** Also shows up in the [[Literature/TheMartian the book]] constantly, to the point that when the [[spoiler: airlock explodes]], one of his audio log entries has him losing his cool and saying that he's just going to sit down and die because he's sick of all the survival nonsense. His next audio log lampshades that he's had his temper tantrum and he gets to work on how to survive again.

* ''Film/{{Suffragette}}'': Most suffragettes. Emmeline Pankhurst is on the run from the police, but still gives speeches at secret locations. Maud is imprisoned twice, the second time she goes on hunger strike to enforce treatment as political prisoner (which the suffragettes don't get). When Maud's husband [[spoiler: throws her out on the streets she rents an apartment with the help of the suffrage movement]] and continues to participate in the protests. When she loses her job, [[spoiler: fellow suffragettes give her blankets and everything else she needs to sleep in a nearby church]] ... at this point, continuing the fight is the most sensible choice, as she has nothing to lose, but many would have given up regardless. Maud ... does not. There's also Edith, whose husband is worried that, with her already damaged health, another instance of PoliceBrutality might kill her, but Edith refuses to stay home. This is even more impressive as there's no pressure from the leaders; Emmeline Pankhurst expresses understanding for women's difficult situations and the risks they take by participating in the movement, and Edith, the leader of the local group, at one time says that everyone who doesn't want to take extreme risks can leave and she'll think no worse of them for it. Maud decides to stay.
** There's also Emily Davison, who [[spoiler: attempts to attach the suffrage movement's flag to the king's horse in a horse race, and is trampled to death. Her last words imply she was very aware of that risk or might even have intended a HeroicSacrifice.]]
* In ''Film/SoDearToMyHeart'', Jeremiah, inspired by a song about "Stick-to-it-ivity", tries to earn money for him and his family to travel by train to the county fair by chasing a bee through a swamp in hopes of finding wild honey to sell to the general store. Despite several wrong turns and setbacks, his perseverance pays off when he finds the honey tree and earns a lot of money with all the honey he found.
* ''Film/TheForceAwakens'':
** Rey's belief that her family will come back for her someday is enough hope to convince her to make a sparse living scavenging incredibly dangerous junked spaceships for parts (she's introduced perched diagonally on part of a crashed Star Destroyer with nothing to stop her from falling hundreds of feet to the ground), then fighting off multiple enemies to protect her valuables before selling them to the hostile junkyard manager. And she's been doing this since she was five.
** Even after being [[spoiler:shot by Chewbacca, which up until then was invariably a [[OneHitKill one-hit killer]]]], Kylo Ren [[spoiler:walks out to track down Finn and Rey in the snow on Starkiller Base]]. He then [[spoiler:gets into a lightsaber duel with Finn and puts him a coma, then switches to dueling Rey instead,]] and only stops when he can no longer physically stand up--and he's still trying to get back on his feet.
* Richie from ''Film/MarsAttacks''. Not wind, not rain and certainly not an invasion with a few million hostile aliens from Mars is gonna stop that boy from getting to the retirement home to save his grandma. Extra points for being pretty much like Luigi from ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'': he is scared, has no real way to defend himself, but while the attacks sometimes slow him down, he never, ''ever'' stops on his way.
* It's hardly a surprise when [[spoiler:Begbie is arrested]] at the end of ''Film/{{Trainspotting}}''. At the start of ''[[Film/{{T2Trainspotting}} T2 Trainspotting]]'' he's been [[spoiler:sitting in prison for 20 years, nursing a grudge against Renton]]. He's quite willing to [[spoiler:go back inside]] if that's the price of revenge.
* ''Film/OnlyTheBrave'': After hiring Brendan, Eric take the crew on a little jog up to a ridge and back. Brendan is tired to the point of being sick, but he completes the run shows up back at the station with a picture to prove it. Eric lets him stay on though he has to put up with taunts and jeers from the others for some time after that.
* In ''Film/TheRevengers'', John Benedict sets out to hunt down his family's killer. When Tarp escapes Benedict's first attempt at killing him, Benedict spends more than a year hunting him down across the west.
* Somewhat a theme of ''Film/MortalEngines'', as Anna can go to great lengths due to her being TheUnfettered and fearing nothing, Hester's initial determination to kill Valentine leads to six months of planning and deliberately getting herself aboard a town eaten by London just so she can have a shot at him, while Thaddeus [[NotSoDifferent directly compares]] Hester's determination to his own - he takes a serious stab wound to the gut and is back at work on MEDUSA ''later that day''.

* ''Film/NowYouSeeIt2005'': Allison does not take "no" for an answer, whether it's trying to convince Danny to work with her, or in trying to save Danny's life. She's always giving it her best, taking any risk necessary to complete her goal.

* In ''Film/TheMountie'', Corporal Grayling may be seen as a colossal screw-up in the eyes of his fellow Mounties, but he nevertheless shares this with them.
-->'''Cleora (narrating)''': In the book of the Mounties, the word "failure" doesn't exists.

* ''Film/SeeYouYesterday'': Claudette considering catastrophic failure after failure won't give up until her brother is saved without anyone else dying. Though the final outcome isn't shown.

* ''Film/ValdezIsComing'': Valdez is determined to get Tanner to pay $100 to the dead man's widow, and nothing—-not even being beaten and left for dead in the desert—-will prevent him from achieving this.
* Lance Corporal William Schofield from Film/NineteenSeventeen. Determined doesn't even begin to cover it.

** It gets when one step further when dealing with Thanos, [[WorldsStrongestMan one of universe's strongest beings]] - in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/marvelcinematicuniverse/images/9/9a/Cap_vs._Thanos.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1000?cb=20180810191507 he grabs Thanos by the hand]] to shortly hold him back; and in ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', where he actually manages to give Thanos a fight, once the struggle leaves him wounded, disarmed, with his previously indestructible shield in pieces, and facing down not only Thanos but an army of hundreds, Steve just straps the remains of his shield tighter to his arm and get ready to take them all on.

%% Please see thread to discuss a new image.

%% Animated movie examples go here, NOT western animation. See also the following Wiki Talk thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13100880850A36680100&page=1

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cap.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:I can do this all day.]]

* In ''Film/TheGuardian'' we meet a guy named Hodge who has washed out from the UsefulNotes/CoastGuard rescue swimmer school twice and is back for a third go.

** Also Gollum, who made pretty much the same journey but under arguably worse conditions.

* Billy Batson from ''Film/Shazam2019'' devoted his entire life [[IWillFindYou searching for his long-long mother]] whom he got separated from at a local fair when he was 4-years-old. He constantly broke the law and ditched his foster families in order to see her again for the past ''ten years''. [[spoiler:[[AllForNothing However]], he was completely heartbroken upon realizing that his mother never wanted him in her life.]]

* In ''Film/GrimPrairieTales'', Colochez gets shot through the throat during a ShowdownAtHighNoon. Despite this, he manages to stagger the length of the dusty street, knock Martin to the ground, half choke him to death, and then start trying to [[EyeScream gouge his eyes out]]. It is only the fact that he dies from blood blood loss before he succeeds that stops him from being the ImplacableMan.

-->"I could do this all day."

* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'': Samwise Gamgee. Is Frodo's only companion to stay with him clear from the Shire to Mt Doom, in spite of being turned away by Frodo twice, and in spite of Frodo and the others twice secretly conspiring with regards to the journey without Sam or the other hobbits. He also saves Frodo from an EldritchAbomination 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.

* It's easy enough to miss, but Shang actually sends ''Disney/{{Mulan}}'' off midway through the "I'll Make A Man Out Of You" segment. That's right, ''he sent her home and relieved the Fa family of their war duty''. But she pulled through because of her pride and intelligence.

%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* Timon in ''Disney/TheLionKingOneAndAHalf''.
%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* Ariel and Eric from ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'' are quite the Determinator couple.

* ''Disney/{{Tangled}}''. Maximus; that horse will never give up.

* Vanellope Von Schweetz from ''Disney/WreckItRalph'' has the prime directive to just cross the finish line of her game Sugar Rush. She aims to do that...and '''''win.'''''
* Anna in ''Disney/{{Frozen}}''. She takes off after Elsa in the winter storm in a ball gown to avoid losing time, convinces a misanthropic stranger into helping her, attempts to climb a mountain with no mountaineering skills, refuses to leave her sister's castle despite being struck in the heart by ice magic, and [[spoiler:eventually gives up her own life so that Elsa can live, finding the willpower to ''sprint'' to put herself between Elsa and an incoming sword despite having almost completely frozen from the inside out]].

* Judy Hopps of ''Disney/{{Zootopia}}''. Fighting a bully who's twice her size? Training to become a cop despite everyone telling her it's impossible? Taking on a case even though she has only 48 hours and no resources? Whatever the goal, once Judy decides to take action, nothing can stand in her way. She means it when she says she doesn't know when to quit.

* In the first anthology piece from ''Film/TheBalladOfBusterScruggs'', Buster kills a thuggish man called "Curly Joe" who was holding him at gunpoint. [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes Curly Joe's brother is distraught to find his brother dead]] and [[AvengingTheVillain demands to duel Buster]]. At first in the gunfight, [[FastestGunInTheWest Buster shoots off the brother's trigger finger before the brother can even rect]] and try to draw, but the brother still tries to draw his gun afterward. This prompts Buster to shoot off each of the fingers on the brother's right hand, and the brother reacts by trying to go for the gun with his left hand. At this point, Buster is starting to become both impressed and exasperated with the guy.

----

* Timon in ''Disney/TheLionKingOneAndAHalf''.
* Ariel and Eric from ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'' are quite the Determinator couple.

* Ginger in ''WesternAnimation/ChickenRun''.

* ''Film/BenHur1959'' is undoubtedly the archetype of this trope from Classic Hollywood.

* Anton Chigurh from ''Film/NoCountryForOldMen'' has a belief system that revolves around this trope.
* [[WomanScorned Alex Forrest]], the character played by Glenn Close in ''Film/FatalAttraction''.

* [[spoiler:The Yul Brynner robot]] in the film ''Film/{{Westworld}}''.

** And Jake Sully himself.

* Any Russian character in a Creator/GuyRitchie film, ever.
** Technically, he's [[Film/{{Snatch}} Uzbekistani]].

* Jason in ''Film/MysteryTeam''.

** Superman, of course.

* The last cop at the end of ''Film/TheHideousSunDemon''.