Red Oni Blue Oni / Live-Action Films

I now pronounce you Red Oni and Blue Oni.

Live-Action Film examples of Red Oni, Blue Oni.

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• 3:10 to Yuma (2007): Outlaw leader Ben Wade is charming and cool-headed, while his dragon Charlie Prince is fanatical and Trigger-Happy.
• 8 Women: Jovial, free-spirited Pierrette and chilly, bourgeois Gaby. At first they're rivals who are constantly sniping at each other, then later they display a mutual romantic interest.
• The Back to the Future movies have Marty McFly and Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown. In Part I, he also played red oni to his father George's blue oni in 1955. Marty's ancestor Seamus from Part III implies this relationship with his own brother Martin as the Red and Seamus as the blue, with Seamus describing Martin as a hothead who was always trying to prove he wasn't a coward and got killed in a barfight in Virginia City sometime before the McFlys arrived in California.
• Bedknobs and Broomsticks features a soccer game between two teams of anthropomorphic animals; one consisting entirely of red onis (who ironically wear yellow) and one consisting of blue onis (who appropriately wear blue).
• A villainous example in Big Game: the Big Bad Duumvirate has hot-headed, always furious Morris as Red and cold, detached, psychopathic Hazar as Blue.
• The two detectives at the center of The Black Dahlia are referred to explicitly as Mr Fire (red) and Mr Ice (Blue).
• The Will Ferrell movie Blades of Glory has Chazz Michael Michaels, the improvisational, womanizing idiot Red Oni, and Jimmy Macelroy, the technical, thoughtful man-child Blue Oni. This is even reflected in their "Fire and Ice" costume.
• Blonde in Black Leather: Claudia starts out as idealistic and naive, with Monica passing for cool and street-smart (they're also dressed in the respective colors). They switch roles as the movie goes on, with Claudia becoming savvier and more down-to-earth while Monica comes off as something of a manic-depressive.
• Blue Velvet has this between the main antagonist Frank Booth and his criminal associate, the One-Scene Wonder Ben. Frank frequently flies into terrifying rages and doesn't try to hide his violent nature, being toxic masculinity pushed to the extreme. Ben, from what can be gathered from his only scene, has an air of politeness about him, has a conservative body language, and is very feminine in his appearance with his heavy makeup and lilting voice.
• Crimson Tide couples this with an inversion of Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough. The hard-assed, hard-swearing, Blood Knight Captain Ramsey is the red oni; the more thoughtful Martial Pacifist XO Hunter is the blue oni.

• Every Die Hard movie has one or more elements of this. John McClane, the hot headed runner and gunner always goes up against a calculating intellectual Big Bad. The first two movies also have a subplot involving McClane's "Red Oni" tactics (Cowboy Cop) budging up against the "Blue Oni" by-the-book style of the authority.

• The Fabelmans: Emotional, impulsive Mitzi and her husband Burt who is much more practical and circumspect. It's the instability of this contrast that ultimately breaks their marriage and family apart.
• Fargo: Carl Showalter (Red) and Gaear Grimsrud (Blue), the pair of criminals hired to kidnap Jean Lundegaard. Carl is talkative and hot-tempered while Gaear is a stoic man who says very little.
• The Fast and the Furious:
  • The plot of Tokyo Drift can be summed up as "Two Red Onis fight, everyone else is a Blue Oni trying to stop them." That said, Sean does play a good Blue Oni to the impassioned, arrogant Red Oni DK.
  • In the main timeline, Brian is the confident, out-there Red Oni running circles of fire around the careful, controlled Blue Oni Dom. This only describes their usual demeanors, however - Brian has his Blue moments from his former career in law enforcement, Dom can easily out-Red Brian with an angry and brutal No-Holds-Barred Beatdown whenever someone gets under his skin.
• Personable, adventurous Ferris Bueller and cautious, fearful Cameron Frye in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
• Fight Club: Tyler is impulsive and rash, whereas the Narrator is a calm and cool businessman. Their different personalities are, of course, all mixed up in the heat of the fight.
• Freddy vs. Jason has the two titular villains. The former is loud, talkative, takes pleasure in sadistically tormenting and murdering his victims, and has a backstory of being burned by fire, while Jason is cold, emotionless, quiet, and disinterested in anything but pursuing his victims, and has a backstory of drowning in water.

• The Godfather has a couple of noteworthy examples:
  • Sonny Corleone's brash, impulsive, emotionally driven, and occasionally downright aggressive nature has him play as the Red Oni to the calm, quiet, and intellectual Tom Hagen's Blue Oni, who is driven primarily by the family’s business interests. The now-iconic line "it's not personal–it's strictly business" reflects the divide between the two men's mindsets perfectly, with the fact that they are practically brothers only heightening the tension between them. Their separate temperaments are reflected in what happens to each of them by the end of the film, with Sonny meeting a famously grisly end while Tom continues to work for the family.
  • Vito's capos also followed this dynamic. Peter Clemenza is a laid-back Big Fun guy who likes to tell stories and is occasionally called on to act as a hitman (Red) while Sal Tessio is a man of few words who works more in tactics (Blue).

• Hard Core Logo has the intense, impulsive Joe Dick and the quieter, more calculating, ambitious Billy Tallent.

• In the Hellboy series:
  • The title character (sloppy, hot-tempered demon dating a human flamethrower) and Abe Sapien (studious, slightly prissy gillman) are actually addressed as "Red" and "Blue" respectively; although this is due to, y'know, their actual skin color, the association still fits.
  • Hellboy and Krauss in Hellboy II: The Golden Army, particularly when Krauss is possessing that Golden Army trooper in the final scene - all his glowy bits go blue.
• Helter Skelter: Protagonist Lilico is the red oni to newcomer Kozue's blue oni. Lilico is heavily associated with the color red, from her outfits, to her apartment, and even the initial advertisement she is seen making for a "beauty ice bar" is red as she shows the straberry flavor; Lilico is a mercurial jerkass, obsessed with her artificially obtained looks and the adoration of the public. Kozue, a later introduced character, is associated with blue in all the ways that Lilico is associated with red, culminating in a scene near the third act where Kozue has become the face of the "beauty ice bar" ads, showcasing her with a blue, soda-flavored bar; Kozue is calm, collected, and polite to the point of being distant and cold, and is only interested in the public and beauty she was born with as far as the job goes, showcasing no problem in losing either of them.
• In The Hitman's Bodyguard, Darius Kincaid (the hitman, red) and Michael Bryce (the bodyguard, blue). Kincaid is an outgoing, spontaneous Comedic Sociopath, Bryce is an uptight, Crazy-Prepared Consummate Professional.
• The Hobbit:
  • Bilbo (red) and Thorin (blue), since Bilbo is excitable and somewhat silly whereas Thorin remains dignified. It especially helps that the two wear their distinctive colors.
  • Thorin is the blue to his cousin Dáin (red). Thorin is dignified and (mostly) reasonable and Dáin is a foul-mouthed Boisterous Bruiser. This doesn't stop them from getting along, though.

• Indiana Jones : In Raiders of the Lost Ark, Belloq is the blue oni to Indy's red oni. This ties into their preferred methods for acquiring artifacts. Indy is hands-on and collects them personally. Belloq hires other people to do the dirty work while he stands off to the side acting sophisticated.

• John Wick: Chapter 2: Cassian and Ares, the two bodyguards for the D'Antonio siblings, fit this dynamic despite showing a similar code of honor towards their chargers. Cassian, who is the bodyguard to Gianna, is a subdued man with a calm and polite demeanor who wears blue (Blue), Ares, right-hand woman to Santino, is a more brash figure who is cocky, eager to fight, constantly snarks at John Wick, and wears red or claret-colored jackets (Red).
• The King of Marvin Gardens:
  • Outgoing, ambitious con man Jason and his cautious, depressive brother David.
  • Sally, who experiences wild mood swings and spends much of her time screaming at people, and her stepdaughter Jessica, who is much more relaxed.
• In the movie version of L.A. Confidential, Edmund Exley is a near-perfect example of a blue oni (and nearly always dresses in a blue suit to boot), while Bud White is very much a red oni (complete with brown/maroon suit).
• Laurel and Hardy: Usually, the harsh and boisterous Ollie is the red one, while the calm and submissive Stan is the blue one.
• The Legend of Frenchie King: Aggressive and impatient Maria versus calculating and relaxed Louise. They start out as fierce rivals and end up best friends and co-leaders of an outlaw gang.
• Lethal Weapon: Buddy cops Riggs and Murtaugh, with the former being a reckless and hot-blooded Cowboy Cop and the latter a much more cautious and responsible By-the-Book Cop.
• In the film characterization of The Lord of the Rings:
  • There's the angry dwarf Gimli and the elegant Legolas.
  • Then there's the proud Boromir and the world-wise Aragorn, though the more thoughtful Faramir (blue) can be paired with his brother (red) as well.

• Maiko Haaaan!!! combines this with the traditional kabuki hero/villain colour schemes. The protagonist, Onizuka Kimihiko, is very excitable and is driven by his passions while the antagonist, Kiichiro Naito, is much more reserved and collected. Unless he's drunk.
• The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) has Napoleon Solo as the Blue Oni (a suave and analytical CIA operative) and Illya Kuryakin as the Red Oni (a hot-blooded KGB agent who often seems to be only just keeping his emotions in check). This is particularly noteworthy because it is an inversion of their Oni roles in the original series on which the movie was based where Napoleon was the comparatively cheerful and easygoing American and Illya the coolly intellectual Russian.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • Iron Man & Captain America. The brash and arrogant antics of the red-clad Iron Man really don't sit too well with the humble-natured and calm Captain America, who wears blue. Indeed, much of the marketing for Captain America: Civil War focused on this, despite the fact that their ideologies actually contrast their color schemes: Captain America believes that superheroes should operate freely and without government interference (Red), while Iron Man believes that superheroes should be restrained for the collective good (Blue).
  • There's also Iron Man & Dr. Strange, two men with colossal egos and the feats to match, but Stark's impulsiveness clashes with Strange's unflappable nature.
    • In his own movies, Strange tends to take the opposite role. Strange is newer to magic use and plays fast and loose with its rules, usually to the annoyance and dismay of the more traditionally-minded, magic law-abiding Wong.
  • In the regular Iron Man films, James Rhodes is the blue Oni to Tony's red. And, like Rogers, he is usually seen wearing blue.
  • Another member of the Avengers who embodies both Onis is mild-mannered scientist Bruce Banner and his alter-ego the Hulk, who is literally a raging id.
  • The two major Superhero Teams in the MCU (The Guardians of the Galaxy and the Avengers) can qualify as a Red Oni, Blue Oni dynamic. The Guardians are very cavalier and disorganized, while the Avengers are very orderly and mindful. Indeed, this causes conflict between the Guardians and the Avengers when they meet in Avengers: Infinity War.
  • In Black Panther, Erik Killmonger and T'Challa. Killmonger is petulant, impulsive, and violent (Red), while T'Challa is wise, stoic, and deliberate about adhering to Thou Shalt Not Kill (Blue). Likewise, Killmonger is associated with fire, while T'Challa is associated with water. In fact, they even have contrasting Panther habits: Killmonger's has red and gold highlights, while T'Challa's has blue and silver highlights.
  • Lampshaded in Thor: Ragnarok, where Hulk points out that he is the Red Oni to Thor's Blue Oni.
  • Two of Peter Parker's older variants in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Webb-Verse Peter (or Peter-3) is talkative, emotional, and excitable who is something of an agile Kick Chick, while Raimi-Verse Peter (or Peter-2) is more of a Mellow Fellow who prefers punching.

• In Men in Black, Agent K is the serious, deadpan blue oni mentor while Agent J is the wisecracking, impulsive red oni rookie.
• In Miss Nobody, Charmaine is the red oni to Sarah Jane's blue. Charmaine is far more hot-tempered and assertive, and wears lots of revealing outfits throughout the film, while Sarah Jane is a mild-mannered Christian who dresses rather conservatively, finding herself uncomfortable in sexy clothing. And while both of them are willing to kill in order to climb the corporate ladder, for Sarah Jane it's a cold, impersonal process that she planned out in advance, while for Charmaine it's about revenge on Sarah Jane for taking the promotion she felt was hers. Even Charmaine's name ("char" = fire) alludes to this.
• August Walker from Mission: Impossible – Fallout thinks he is the cold, pragmatic Blue to Hunt and Lanes' more passionate, emotional Reds, but it is actually the reverse since underneath his cool exterior he is a violent, hot-headed and reckless killer and terrorist, while the other two are - despite their emotional ties- much more cool-headed and efficient overall.

• The Phantom of the Opera: Christine herself is both Oni colours considering she's both an amazing singer but understanding others as well. The Phantom is the Red Oni, who displays much lust and flare and has the most dramatic role in the story. Raoul is the Blue Oni opposite of the Phantom, for he protects Christine without being obsessive or threatening.

• Pulp Fiction zig zags this trope with Jules and Vincent. On the surface, the former is hotheaded and the latter is calmer, if not outright aloof. As the film progresses, it's quite clear that Jules is the one with the more level head and that his "Bad Motherfucker" tendencies appear only when someone (usually Vincent) says or does something really stupid. Vincent, on the other hand, is a bumbler, needlessly starting a brief argument with the Wolf when presented with advice to solve a problem he started and leaving dangerous stuff around for people to find (Mia with the drugs, Butch with the sub-machine gun) .
• Rambo: Last Blood has the main villains Hugo Martinez and his younger brother Victor. Victor is the more hot-headed and violent of the two, while Hugo is the calm and collected one.

• In Rush (2013), the hard-charging party boy James Hunt is the red oni to his rival Niki Lauda's cool, cerebral blue oni.
• Sadako vs. Kayako: Maybe not so apparent as ghosts (because let's face it, they both just want to kill people) but in life, Sadako from Ring was quiet and sad while Kayako from Ju-on was enthusiastic and cheerful. Sadako as a ghost is also more fueled by a cold hatred of the world while Kayako is fueled by rage at what her husband did to her and her son. The advertisements even play up these respective colours with the characters.
• Schindler's List has Amon Goeth (Göth) and Oskar Schindler, two very different men, particularly when it came to handling people. Amon was a callous, murderous, and unhinged Nazi Commandant who shot those he deemed worthless. Schindler, though business-minded, was merciful, compromising, and protected his people, albeit through employment. You can guess who ended up having the better fate by the end of the story.
• The Scream films often have their killers working as a pair, with the ringleader being the cold, calculating Blue Oni motivated by a personal grudge against the protagonists and their accomplice being the more explicitly Ax-Crazy Red Oni who's part of the murder plot simply because they think killing people is fun.
  • In Scream (1996), the lead killer Billy Loomis killed Sidney's mother because he saw her as a homewrecker who destroyed his parents' marriage, then turned against Sidney and her friends. Their accomplice Stu Macher is merely implied to have had personal beef with one of the victims, and is otherwise depicted as simply an overeager horror movie buff who wanted to live out a real-life Slasher Movie as the killer.
  • In Scream 2, the lead killer Mrs. Loomis, aka "Debbie Salt", hated Sidney for having killed her son in the first movie. Their accomplice, Mickey Altieri, was an Attention Whore who explicitly wanted to get caught in the hopes of getting a sensational trial. The lead killer even refers to their accomplice's motive as a hare-brained product of the '90s before shooting him and making him The Fall Guy.
  • Scream 4 flips the dynamic. The Red Oni this time is the lead killer Jill Roberts, an Attention Whore who staged the killings as a form of Engineered Heroics and goes full Large Ham after The Reveal. Their accomplice Charlie Walker is the Blue Oni, the lead killer's lover who's presented as a Soft-Spoken Sadist and even expresses regret to one of their victims.
  • Scream (2022) goes back to tradition. While the two killers share the same motive, Richie Kirsch is presented as the more well-spoken of the two and the one who more eloquently outlines their motive, while Amber Freeman is presented as a gleefully deranged nutjob.
  • The two films that don't have this dynamic are Scream 3, which has only one killer working alone, and Scream VI, which has three killers.
• In Sense and Sensibility references it in the title and has a few examples.
  • Straight-laced and collected Elinor is blue, while the flighty and passionate Marianne is red.
  • The men who court Marianne: Willoughby is fun and dashing. Colonel Brandon is reserved and practical.
  • Charlotte Palmer is bubbly and easily excitable, while her husband Mr. Palmer is quiet and sour.
• In Serenity, Mal is a red oni of the heroic type and the Operative is a blue oni of the villainous type. Mal wears warm tones while the Operative dresses in blue.
• Seven Samurai has the two Big Guys of the titular group: Kyuzo is stoic and taciturn while Kikuchiyo is a Hot-Blooded Boisterous Bruiser.

• SHAZAM! (2019) has hyperactive Motor Mouth Freddy as the Red Oni, and sullen and reserved Billy as the Blue Oni. Ironically, when Billy becomes Shazam and spawns a red suit, he becomes the Red Oni by being excitable and reckless, while Freddy becomes the Blue Oni by being more professional in superhero physics.

• Star Wars :
  • The Sith and the Jedi customs. The Sith wield red lightsabers and are defined by their passions and their ambitions while the Jedi typically wield blue or green lightsabers and are presented as more intellectual and steeped in tradition.

• The Dark Side and the Light Side are red and blue colored stereotypically. Since the Dark Side is seen as the ambitious, treacherous side and the Light Side is seen as more merciful and peace-keeping, it's easy to see the contrast. However, a more balanced outlook would say that the Dark Side is much more progressive and not necessarily evil in itself while the Light Side can be lazily non-reactive and too restrictive in its teachings. Either way, both can be either Red or Blue depending on the wielder ultimately.
• On a more individual level, the master/apprentice relationship between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker during the prequel trilogy. Obi-Wan is the more cautious and thoughtful blue Jedi and Anakin, being younger and more ambitious, represents the passionate red. Of course, this speaks volumes about the paths the men choose by the end of said trilogy.
• Later (or earlier, depending on how you look at it), the trope is played with by Han and Luke. They switch roles as Character Development ensues: Luke starts out as the impulsive idealist to Han's world-weary cynic, while by the third film, Luke is the disciplined and determined warrior and Han is the emotionally driven one.

• The iconic factions can be seen this way: The Rebel Alliance were the unprepared, disorganized, luck-relying red oni to the militarized, orderly, and prim blue oni, Galactic Empire.
  • Similarly with the original factions; The Resistance are the reckless, unorthodox, and mostly undisciplined Red Oni to the vengeful, merciless, and dictatorial Blue Oni The First Order.

• Luke and Leia are blue and red oni to one another. Luke is a calm, mild-mannered Jedi Knight while Leia is a quick-tempered, sharp-tongued political leader. This is especially apparent in Return of the Jedi. Interestingly, they parallel their parents from the Prequel Trilogy, with Luke taking after their mother Padmé while Leia takes after their father Anakin.
• R2-D2 and C-3PO can qualify. Artoo is very impulsive and reckless while Threepio is very cautious and timid. Ironically, Artoo has a blue and white color scheme while Threepio has a gold color scheme but does get a red arm in The Force Awakens.
• Darth Vader and the Emperor are an interesting example, in the Prequel Trilogy, the Faux Affably Evil Manipulative Bastard Palpatine was the Blue Oni to the angry, immature Anakin's Red Oni; however, in the Original Trilogy, Darth Vader was the emotionless Anti-Villain Blue Oni to the Sadistic Obviously Evil Emperor's Red Oni.

• The Force Awakens features some Red Oni/Blue Oni pairings.
  • Among the villains from The First Order, Kylo Ren, the emotionally unstable Dark Side enforcer, plays Red Oni to General Hux's Blue Oni, who has better control over his emotions despite being impulsive himself.
  • Between the Supreme Leaders, Kylo Ren as usual remains the desperate and pleading Red Oni to his former master, Snoke's calm and self-assured Blue Oni.

• Jordana and Oliver, a couple in Submarine. The capricious Jordana is a Pyromaniac and dresses in red; introverted, thoughtful Oliver is surrounded by blue and images of water. This becomes important later in the film, where Oliver can tell that Jordana read his note because of her red markings.

• Sweetie: Kay is the superego (obsessed with a divine order to the universe) to sister Sweetie’s id (uncontrollable and defiant).
• The Three Stooges: The short-tempered, harsh Moe and naïve, energetic Curly (Red Onis); the relatively sane and reasonable Larry and lazy, easy-going Shemp (Blue Onis)

• Top Gun has the brash/hot-headed Maverick play Red Oni to the Blue Oni of his level-headed copilot Goose and their more by-the-book fellow pilot Iceman.

• Tragedy Girls has impulsive, emotional, ill-tempered McKayla as the red, and calculating, calm, manipulative Sadie as the blue.
• Underworld (2003) has raging werewolves versus cold, calculating vampires.
• In Valentine:
  • Two of the central group of friends. Paige Prescott is the Red Oni or the hot chick and Kate Davies is the cool chick and Blue Oni. This is reflected in their clothes, with Paige being a Lady in Red who often wears leather jackets and Kate primarily wearing blue outfits coupled with a jeans jacket.
  • Kate also has this dynamic with Lily as another Red. The demure Kate is the blue to Genki Girl Lily's red. This contrast is reflected in how they pursue men: Kate met her boyfriend Adam at her office, she's cautious around him, and yet serves as a steadying influence for him while Lily knew that Max was a "cheap, hypocritical sleazeball" yet dated him anyway.
• Victor Frankenstein: Victor is a man of unbridled passion while Igor is a man of moderation and reason.
• In Viva Maria!, trigger-happy Bardot!Maria and cerebral Moreau!Maria.
• In the 2011 film Warrior: Tommy is red, Brendan is blue. Their gloves are color-coded for your convenience.

• X-Men Film Series: In X-Men: First Class, Erik Lehnsherr is rather hot-headed while Charles Xavier is more level-headed. ''Empire'' magazine even colour-coded the front covers of their May 2011 issue accordingly.◊

• Zachariah has the gung ho Matthew and the more cautious Zachariah. When Zach kills a man in a duel early in the morning, Matthew is delighted and wishes it had been him, while Zach angsts. Their differences become more pronounced as the movie goes on, and by the end Zachariah has become a vegetable-growing Actual Pacifist hermit while Matthew is a fast-drawing gunslinger with multiple kills who wants to fight Zachariah to the death.

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