Sensitive Guy And Manly Man / Live-Action Films

• In 10 Things I Hate About You, Cameron is sweet and delicate, whilst Patrick is an intimidating bad boy.
• Big Trouble in Little China: Jack Burton is a tough-talking, blue-collar manly man (played by Kurt Russell) and his buddy Wang Chi (Dennis Dun) is a sentimental and straight-laced businessman who is very much in love with Chinese Girl Miao Yin. Differences notwithstanding, they're friends.
• Subverted in The Boondock Saints. Connor is Hot-Blooded, which makes him both more emotionally open and more overtly badass than Murphy, while Murphy is more quiet and withdrawn, but also nicer and more compassionate than Connor. Until you get him angry...
• Carlito's Way: Kleinfeld is a nervous, insecure, whiny Amoral Attorney who's a cocaine addict. Carlito is a gangster through-and-through, stoic and dashing. Deconstructed when Kleinfeld's insecurities cause him to sell Carlito out.
• Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (2022): Dale is rather childish and sentimental, while Chip is more headstrong and assertive.
• In The Double, Simon is shy and reserved, while James gets into fights and probably sleeps with half of the women in the movie.
• Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jr.) and Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifianakis) from the movie, Due Date. The former is short-tempered and mostly has a no-nonsense serious attitude, while the latter is soft-spoken, emotional, and childlike in comparison.
• The Evil Dead (1981): We have the slightly useless Ash who gives his girlfriend a thoughtful gift contrasted with the alpha male Scotty.
• The Fifth Element: Corbin Dallas is a tough ex-soldier, while his sometimes-sidekick Ruby Rhod is a campy Lothario.
• Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019): Mark Russell is a physically-fit zoologist who's been living in the mountains; and he's hot-headed, outspoken, cynical, hostile, and doesn't hesitate to charge into a warzone (the Manly Man). The visibly-skinnier Sam Coleman is rational-headed, can barely speak in front of more than two people without descending into stuttering, supports Serizawa and Graham's optimistic assertions about the Titans, is the nerd son of a jock dad (according to his profile), and he's the least action-oriented of Monarch's top members (the Sensitive Guy). Throughout the movie, Coleman actively seems to want to be Mark's friend despite the latter's less-than-receptive initial attitude.
• Jungle Cruise has the experienced riverboat captain Frank, who wrestles jaguars (well, tames one and trains her to fake fights, but having a pet jaguar is still pretty manly) and navigates rapids, contrasted with Lily's foppish brother MacGregor who hates the jungle but goes along because his sister needs someone to pull her bacon out of the fire.
• Serge and François in Les Roseaux sauvages (Wild Reeds). Serge: he's good at math and bad at French, he's macho, good at sports, into girls, and he's a country lad who wants to work on his parents' farm. François: he's good at French and bad at math, he's quiet, he has a heart condition that means he can't play sports, he's into film and literature, his best friend's a girl, he introduces Serge to the Big City (Toulouse, in this case) and he's into guys. François falls in love with Serge, who cannot reciprocate.
• The Lord of the Rings: Faramir is the sensitive one in comparison to his brother Boromir — a more cerebral, less visceral war leader. In the Extended Edition, Faramir understands that Denethor regards him as being "weaker" than Boromir because he falls a bit short of the masculine ideal, and his father angrily accuses him of being a "wizard's pupil" (having Gandalf as a tutor resulted in him being more scholarly and less interested in combat for its own sake than Boromir), but Pippin views Faramir's gentler and more thoughtful nature as a positive trait.
  Faramir: [The armour] ^note which Faramir is using figuratively to mean "warfare" Never fitted me, either. Boromir was always the soldier. They were so alike, he and my father. Proud. Stubborn even. But strong.
  Pippin: I think you have strength of a different kind. And one day your father will see it.
  • Interestingly, while at first glance, it appears Boromir is the manly man to Aragorn's sensitive guy due to his physical prowess and martial skill, but Boromir is actually the more sensitive of the two. He is shown having more of a Big Brother Instinct towards the Hobbits, particularly Merry and Pippin. He comforts Gimli in Moria after Gimli discovers Balin's tomb and Frodo in Lorien after Gandalf's apparent death. He also advocates to Aragorn to give the fellowship a moment to mourn just after leaving Moria. Notably, his doubts and sensitive nature allows the Ring to easily prey on him as it exploits his desire to protect others. Immediately after trying to take the Ring from Frodo, Boromir is beside himself with grief and horror.
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance stars Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne. This trope is sort of in place by default.
• The Marvel Cinematic Universe has some pairings like this.
  • Just like in Norse Mythology, Loki's the wily Sensitive Guy to Thor's warrior Manly Man.
    • Thor: On Jötunheim, Loki utilizes diplomacy to try to ease the belligerent tension which is brewing between Thor and Laufey, whereas Thor wants to incite Laufey to attack him. A skirmish then breaks out, and Loki relies on magical throwing knives and his illusion spells to kill Frost Giants from a distance, which juxtaposes Thor bashing them directly with Mjölnir.
    • Thor: The Dark World: After their mother is murdered, Loki experiences a complete emotional breakdown in his prison cell while Thor starts to plot to avenge her. During their clash with Malekith, Loki defends Jane (a more "passive" role) whereas Thor is the aggressor (a more "active" role).
    • Thor: Ragnarok: When they meet Hela, Loki tries to negotiate with her, and when that fails, Thor launches Mjölnir at her. On Sakaar, Loki charms and manipulates his way to the top, and when he offers his brother the chance to join him at the Grandmaster's side, Thor rejects it, preferring to participate in the gladiator games. Loki, who isn't anywhere near strong enough to take on Hela in a one-on-one confrontation, sneaks away from the battle in order to place Surtur's crown in the Eternal Flames (and the incantation he utters suggests that some sorcery is involved) as Thor continues to fight their sister.
  • The Avengers gives us the Odd Friendship variant on this trope when introverted, tormented Bruce Banner and snarky show-off Tony Stark hit it off as soon as they meet.
• Murder by Numbers (2002) has Richard Haywood and Justin Pendleton. Richie's a blond-haired, popular, swaggering womanizer (though with a metrosexual streak a mile wide) who seems to be mostly interested in sex, money, showing off, and driving his Mustang. Justin's big on literature and being Nietzsche, and is smaller, far smarter, and occasionally wears glasses. They have an... odd friendship, possibly forged on the exclusive basis of being evil and having immense amounts of sexual tension.
• Played with in The Other Guys. At first, it looks like Extreme Doormat Allen (Will Ferrell) is the sensitive one and cynical Terry who wants to be The Hero (Mark Wahlberg) is the manly one. But then again, Allen is the ladies' man with anger management issues while Terry is the one who knows ballet and how to play the harp (which he insists he learned as a kid in order to make fun of the sensitive guys who actually liked that stuff).
• The Rock: Goodspeed is sensitive and fairly meek, while Mason is a cavalier and irreverent spy.
• Stargate: Col. Jack O'Neill is a gruff soldier, while Dr. Daniel Jackson is a sensitive scholar. Together, they fight aliens.
• Comes up in "Trevor". Thirteen-year-old Trevor likes Diana Ross, musical theatre, and writing in his diary. He falls in unrequited love with the star of the intermediate baseball team.
• Victor Frankenstein: Igor's gentle and docile nature juxtaposes Victor's more brusque and domineering personality. Whenever they have a disagreement, Igor tends to cave in to Victor's demands, but it's part of the former's Character Development to eventually learn to stand up to his overbearing friend. Igor is shown to be very caring and romantic during his courtship of Lorelei, but Victor considers the couple's relationship to be a harmful distraction to their scientific work. When Inspector Turpin threatens Victor and Igor with a gun in Victor's basement, an unarmed Victor is able to fight back and even manages to cripple Turpin when the latter loses his hand. The non-violent Igor, meanwhile, keeps his distance as he shouts out Victor's name in order to stop his friend from going too far (injuring a police officer is bad enough, and Igor certainly doesn't want Victor to become a cop killer).
• X-Men Film Series
  • X2: X-Men United: The rule-abiding, Nice Guy Iceman juxtaposes the rebellious, Jerkass Pyro. At the museum's food court, John is being rude to a young man who asks to borrow his lighter, and Bobby tells his friend to knock it off, plainly disapproving of John's annoying behavior. When the police order the mutants to get on the ground, Drake immediately obeys, but Allerdyce attacks the officers with giant fireballs.
  • X-Men: First Class: Charles Xavier is the Sensitive Guy to Erik Lehnsherr's Manly Man. They display this dynamic in their personalities (All-Loving Hero vs. Anti-Hero) and physique (Pretty Boy vs. Tall, Dark, and Handsome) as well as their philosophies and methods (Wide-Eyed Idealist vs. Pay Evil unto Evil).
  • X-Men: Days of Future Past: Charles in 1973 is more accurately an Overly Sensitive Guy with Wolverine taking over the Manly Man role. Logan has to act as the "glue" which barely holds the emotionally fragile Xavier together in order to complete their mission. Their opposite natures are most directly contrasted in the Pentagon kitchen scene, where Charles attempts to persuade the guards that he and his partner have a valid reason to be there, while Wolverine just knocks them out with a frying pan.
  • X-Men: Apocalypse has Kurt Wagner, the Badass Adorable (Sensitive Guy) and Scott Summers, the snarky, patriotic bad boy who had the idea to skip class for the mall (Manly Man).

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