History HeroicSacrifice / LiveActionFilms

* During the climax of ''Film/TheMissing'', [[spoiler:Samuel tackles the BigBad El Brujo off a cliff, killing them both.]]

* Clarence in ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'':

* In ''Film/IndependenceDay'', Russell, the alcoholic, semi-washed up crop duster pilot who is rushed out into the cockpit of a fighter jet for the FinalBattle. He's got the last missile in his squadron, which arms itself but fails to discharge, so what does he do? He looks down at a photograph of his kids and makes the decision to pilot his plane directly into the alien's energy weapon while it's charging up to fire. He doesn't make it, but neither does the alien mothership. In the original version, Russell was not present for the battle but [[BigDamnHeroes turned up with the last missile strapped to his crop duster biplane]]: this was swapped out as it got a good laugh out of test audiences, but was nowhere near as poignant, plus he doesn't really have a reason to sacrifice itself at this point; in the final version, the missile arming itself meant he was doomed either way, making his sacrifice much more rational.

*** [[spoiler:Loki]] does this twice and it winds up subverted both times. First he pushes Jane out of the way of a black-hole grenade and is nearly sucked in before Thor gets him away from it. Then he spears Kurse in the back while the latter is pummeling Thor. Kurse turns around and spears Loki, but this placed Loki close enough to activate one of his black-hole grenades which rips Kurse to pieces. This appears to have killed Loki... but it turns out he survived, with the end of the film revealing he's impersonating Odin.]]

* In ''Film/BloodDiamond'' Danny Archer allows Soloman to escape with the diamond as he makes a final stand against the approaching soldiers.

* Two deaths in ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' films come from heroic sacrifices.

** In the [[Film/JurassicPark first film]], Malcolm very nearly makes one distracting the ''T. rex'' with a flare to try and save Hammond's grandchildren. The thing rams him through an outhouse and breaks his leg, but he ultimately survives, so arguably it's still a non-lethal sacrifice.

** In ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', [[spoiler:Frigga holds her ground against Malekith while the latter wants Jane and the Aether.]]

* For the FinalBattle of ''Film/{{Zombieland}}'', Tallahassee distracts most of the zombies in the area to buy time for Columbus to save Wichita and Little Rock. This culminates in Tallahassee locking himself in a game booth and surrounded by zombies from all sides, though [[spoiler:this winds up being subverted with Tallahassee being too badass to die, having wiped out all the zombies chasing him.]]

* Two deaths in ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' films come from heroic sacrifices;

** ''Film/{{Thunderball}}''. Bond's fellow agent Paula is kidnapped by a couple of Largo's thugs and taken to be tortured for information. Bond goes to Largo's estate to rescue her but arrives too late. Paula has taken a CyanidePill and killed herself so she can't be made to betray Bond and the operation.

** In ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', [[spoiler:Frigga held her ground against Malekith while the latter wanted Jane and the Aether.]]

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* The thirteen samurai who accept the suicide mission of assassinating Lord Naritsugu in ''Film/ThirteenAssassins''. The chances of survival are almost nil and they know this going in--they fight not for money or fame, but to kill a monster who is a threat to all of Japan.

* In ''Film/IndependenceDay'', Russell, the alcholic, semi-washed up crop duster pilot who is rushed out into the cockpit of a fighter jet for the FinalBattle. He's got the last missile in his squadron, which arms itself but fails to discharge, so what does he do? He looks down at a photograph of his kids and makes the decision to pilot his plane directly into the alien's energy weapon while it's charging up to fire. He doesn't make it, but neither does the alien mothership. In the original version, Russell was not present for the battle but [[BigDamnHeroes turned up with the last missile strapped to his crop duster biplane]]: this was swapped out as it got a good laugh out of test audiences, but was nowhere near as poignant, plus he doesn't really have a reason to sacrifice itself at this point; in the final version, the missile arming itself meant he was doomed either way, making his sacrifice much more rational.

** ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark'': Eddie saves Nick, Sarah and Malcolm from falling off a cliff by securing a cable to the sliding trailer and throwing a rope to the others. [[spoiler: As he tries to pull the trailer back up with his SUV, the two ''T. rex'' that pushed the trailer in the first place come back and start to attack him. Despite the car being torn apart around him, he still keeps his foot on the accelerator trying to save the others. Ultimately though, he is plucked from the car and killed.]]

* In the climax of ''Film/IndependenceDay'', Russell pilots his plane straight into the weak point of the alien mothership to destroy it.
-->Hello boys! I'm baaaaaaaaaaack!!
* ''{{Film/Armageddon}}'': Harry kicks AJ back inside the shuttle to go back to Earth and marry Grace while he sticks around for the necessary manual detonation.
* ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'': Data, homaging Spock's {{heroic sacrifice}} in ''Wrath of Khan''.

* ''Film/WhereHandsTouch'': When the SS demand Krestin choose between her or Leyna being taken off, she quickly offers herself. However, this only postpones Leyna's arrest.

* ''Film/BirdBox''
** Charlie tackles his deranged coworker to save the rest of the group at the supermarket, killing himself shortly thereafter since he wasn't wearing a blindfold.
** [[spoiler:Tom]] fights off the crazy survivors so the children and Malorie can escape. [[spoiler:He manages to kill three of them before being wounded, so he removes his blindfold so he'll have a better chance of killing the rest. He's infected by the creatures, but maintains his sense of self long just enough to [[DyingMomentOfAwesome kill the last crazy survivor]] before turning the gun on himself.]]

*** [[spoiler:Loki and Heimdall each give their lives to try and thwart Thanos. Loki tries to bait Thanos by offering the Tesseract (Space Stone) in exchange for Thor's life before attempting to stab him. He is choked out by Thanos and it is for naught. Heimdall, on the other hand, succeeds in sending Hulk back to Earth in an attempt to warn anyone he can of Thanos's impending arrival. While he accomplishes his task, he is stabbed to death immediately after. Thor is ForcedToWatch both in merciless despair]].

* ''Film/GranTorino'': [[spoiler:Walt Kowalski.]]

* ''Film/EagleEye'': Towards the end of the film, [[spoiler: Jerry]] fires a gun up in the air during a children's concert at the White House, knowing full well the Secret Service will react to that by shooting first and asking questions later. The reason this is a heroic sacrifice is that [[spoiler: one of the instruments have been altered to act as a detonator for a bomb once a [[MusicalTrigger certain note is reached]], so the concert has to be stopped ''now'' or else they're all going to die, president and children included]]. The reason it's not a stupid sacrifice is that this is only done after shouting, waving and trying to get to security has been tried and failed. [[spoiler: Jerry actually ''survives'' being shot by the Secret Service, and appears to have been exonerated once it was revealed why he'd done what he did]].

* At the end of ''Film/{{Tamara}}'', [[spoiler:Bill, realizing that [[{{Determinator}} Tamara can't be physically stopped]] [[ClingyJealousGirl until she has him]], decides that the only way to break her curse and stop her rampage is to kill himself. That way, Tamara can only have him in death.]]

* ''Film/Highlander:Endgame}'' has Connor sacrifice his head to Duncan so the combined power of the two will be able to defeat Jacob Kell.

* ''{{Film/Highlander:Endgame}}'' has Connor sacrifice his head to Duncan so the combined power of the two will be able to defeat Jacob Kell.

* From ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'': [[YouShallNotPass "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!"]]
** In ''The Two Towers'', Haldir deserves special mention in the Film section, as he and his army willingly march into Helm's Deep to their death to fight alongside Rohan, while in the books he survives and goes into the West with the rest of the Elven race.
** Boromir dies trying to save Merry and Pippin, taking three arrows in the process.
* ''Mad Max''