Payne may be a bit on the psychotic side, but he is also walking, talking awesome.
- Firstly, in the opening scene, he storms an enemy compound single-handedly, with no helmet, and gets everyone to surrender ASAP, in a badass Establishing Character Moment.
- There's Payne's devastating dressing-down of his cadets, which quickly evolves into one great big "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
- Tiger can't sleep because he's afraid there's a boogeyman in his closet? No problem. Payne casually strolls into the bedroom and fires five bullets into the closet door, scaring the shit out of everyone.Tiger: MAJOR PAYNE JUST TERMINATED THE BAD MAN WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE!
- Not only is he not affected by the Laxative Prank in the expected way, Payne turns the joke back at the pranksters. Literally.
- There's the biker hired by Alex to intimidate Payne (played by the late Bam Bam Bigelow, who was nearly 400 pounds). The big guy gets his shit ruined in a manner of seconds and Payne throws in a Your Mom joke for good measure.Payne: Fe fi fo fum... what beanstalk you fall from?
- After being promoted Alex tells Payne to go screw himself, and Payne threatens to beat the crap out of him which Alex dares him to follow up on. Seeing that, despite all his bluster he won't actually physically harm any of the boys, gives Alex the only victory he can have over Payne in the entire film.
- How does Payne get his revenge for the contract hit and disrespect? By challenging the boys to retrieve a trophy from a rival school and promptly contacting the school ahead of time to tip them off, leaving the boys to get some serious ass-kickings.
- He tells Tiger a (slightly catastrophic) version of The Little Engine That Could and then goes out dancing with Emily.
- The Robot he busts out during this scene deserves its own entry.
- After all the conflict with the boys, Payne sticks up for Alex when Alex's drunk, emotionally abusive stepdad tries to cause trouble. For once, he does this without any violence or screaming whatsoever. By then, he and the boys have finally managed to achieve a level of respect for each other.Payne: (after effortlessly dodging the stepfather's drunken, wild punches) Now I'ma ask you nicely. Please return to your vehicle.
- Also deserving a mention is the look of appreciation and gratitude written across Alex's face for what Payne did. Payne then says to Alex, in a surprisingly subdued and almost paternal voice, "Go on back to your bunk, son."
- Alex immediately gets his own right after that. With his newfound respect for Payne, he vows to not just get the trophy, but indirectly states that he's done playing around and ready to take things seriously.Alex: I want to win that trophy, sir.
Payne: What'd you just say?
Alex: [Standing tall and proud, fighting back tears] I want to win that trophy. Sir.
Payne: What, you wanna steal it?
Alex: No sir.
Payne: To win it?
Alex: I want to earn it, sir.
Payne: [to the others] Rest of you men feel the same way? [the others shrug and make casual gestures of agreement] Meet me on the parade ground. We got work to do.
Alex: Squad! Atten-hut! [salutes Major Payne, who salutes back] - That salute is especially important in the context of the scene. What set the stepdad's temper off was him demanding that Alex salute him, and Alex refusing. Then he salutes Payne of his own accord, showing that Payne has earned more of his respect in a few months than his stepdad ever could.
- The demonstration at the end. All of it.
- Tiger gets special mention by leading the demonstration complete with Michael Jackson homages.
