Random Dumbest Heroic Sacrifices In Movie History (13 items)

• 

  (#1) Gravity

  • Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Ed Harris, Orto Ignatiussen, Phaldut Sharma, Amy Warren, Basher Savage, Adam Cozens

  Gravity is a two-hour-long panic attack that doesn't stop until the end credits. Following a debris shower that sends astronauts Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) and Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) flying into space, Stone's only link to their space station is a tangled mess of ropes that snags over her boot. And the only thing keeping Kowalski from drifting into the void of space? A bit of rope gripped in Stone's hand. Unfortunately, Kowalski is being gradually pulled away, forcing him to make the ultimate sacrifice.

  In order to save the civilian Dr. Stone, Kowalski lets go of the rope. Without him holding her back, Stone at least can survive... or so the film would have you believe.

  Like most space movies, the physics behind this situation are a little wonky. As astronomer Phil Plait points out, "Clooney doesn't have to die!" This is because, in the film, the gravitational force working on the two astronauts is effectively zero. In reality, nothing would be pulling Kowalski from the tether, and a slight tug from Stone would send him right back into her arms. 
• 

  (#8) Star Trek Nemesis

  • Whoopi Goldberg, Tom Hardy, Patrick Stewart, Ron Perlman, Wil Wheaton, Dina Meyer, Marina Sirtis, Bryan Singer, LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden, Kate Mulgrew, Brent Spiner, Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn, Alan Dale, Majel Barrett, Jude Ciccolella, Stuart Baird, John Berg

  Data's sacrifice in Star Trek: Nemisis is an example of an actor wanting out of a franchise while their character is on a high. In the film, Data sacrifices himself after beaming Picard off an enemy ship and then blowing it up. Theories about what Data could have done differently have floated around the internet for the last decade or so, ranging from overloading a phaser to bringing a secondary mini transporter pod. This is Star Trek, so there are a million ways they could have done it legitimately, and a million more ways they could have explained it away with technobabble. The truth is, Data was never going to survive the movie because actor Brent Spiner didn't want him to.

  Spiner, who portrays Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation and its films, has publicly said he wanted to end the TNG films on a big emotional moment: namely, Data's sacrifice. There was also a practical component to the decision. Data is an android that never ages; Spiner is a human that obviously does. As he explained in 2011, "Look at me. I am a shockingly older gentleman. I don’t see that I could wear that makeup anymore. I think that would look really stupid."
• 

  (#7) The Dark Knight

  • Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Monique Curnen, Ron Dean, Cillian Murphy, Chin Han, Nestor Carbonell, Eric Roberts, Ritchie Coster, Anthony Michael Hall, Keith Szarabajka, Colin McFarlane, Joshua Harto, Melinda McGraw, Nathan Gamble

  To save the reputation of fallen hero Harvey Dent, Batman claims responsibility for all the people the crazed district attorney wiped out in The Dark Knight (which could be four or five individuals, depending on who you ask).

  Batman's philosophy is that he is whatever Gotham City needs him to be, and in this case, apparently, he needs to take the fall for acts he didn't commit so the city can maintain a shred of hope. While this follows the film's theme of self-sacrifice, it hardly seems like the most practical solution. The Joker has been rampaging across the city spreading mayhem and chaos - so why not just blame him or his henchmen for the deeds? In the end, Harvey is just as much a pawn of the villain as anyone, so it's not a total lie. 
• 

  (#12) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

  • Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Sylvester Stallone, Pom Klementieff, Kurt Russell, Elizabeth Debicki, Tommy Flanagan, Chris Sullivan, Sean Gunn

  Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is a pretty decent sequel, considering how great its predecessor is. At the end of the film, Yondu gives up his protective shield to save Peter Quill from the cold, suffocating void of space. It's a surprisingly emotional moment in an otherwise comedic romp.

  The thing is, we've seen in the Guardians films that humanoids can survive in space for at least a minute or two. Quill himself did it to save Gamora in the first film. Now, it is established in the second film that Quill is half-Celestial, granting him more hardiness than the average person - but this backstory may not have been settled by the MCU writers when the first film was made.

  Volume 2 doesn't mention how long it took the Guardians to find Quill after he and Yondu escaped Ego. Maybe they found him right away or maybe it took a few hours. Either way, we're left with the hanging feeling that maybe not everything was done to save Yondu's life.
• 

  (#6) Predator

  • Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, Elpidia Carrillo, Bill Duke, Sonny Landham, Richard Chaves, R. G. Armstrong, Shane Black, Kevin Peter Hall

  Billy's sacrifice in Predator doesn't really make sense when you compare the cost versus the reward. There is no guarantee that Billy using himself as bait will buy enough time for the rest of his party to "get to the chopper" - so why does he stop in the middle of the jungle and doom himself without question? And given that the time between Billy's scream and the Predator's next attack is a matter of seconds, his sacrifice doesn't seem to amount to much.

  If Billy really wanted to act as bait or a distraction for the Predator, he could have put himself at the end of the pack and either kept running in the direction of the chopper for a potential escape, or run off in a tangential direction to try and draw it away from his party. All in all, a great moment, but it falls apart the second any thought is put into it.
• 

  (#11) Avengers: Endgame

  • Robert Downey, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Brie Larson, Paul Rudd, Don Cheadle, Karen Gillan, Danai Gurira, Bradley Cooper, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jon Favreau, Benedict Wong, Tessa Thompson, Josh Brolin, Tilda Swinton, Robert Redford, Dave Bautista, Chadwick Boseman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Winston Duke, Tom Holland, Michelle Pfeiffer, Rene Russo, Letitia Wright, Zoe Saldana, Elizabeth Olsen, Frank Grillo, Sebastian Stan, Evangeline Lilly, Stan Lee

  Let's get one thing straight: Natasha Romanoff is a hero. Without her sacrifice, the endgame of Endgame would not have been possible. However, the situation could have been handled better.

  Black Widow and Hawkeye have one of the most important relationships in the MCU, but it's undercut by their pointless tussle on the cliffs of Vormir. Each tries to give their life for the Soul Stone, but neither will allow the other to go over the edge. What could have been an emotional scene ends up becoming a farce as they trade blows instead of mature dialogue. Natasha knows that Clint's family will return once the Snap is undone, so to borrow one of her lines from Avengers: Age of Ultron, it makes sense for her to be the one to perish since she has no family waiting for her. In her mind, there's never any question which of them should take the plunge.

  Unfortunately, the way the scene plays out, it feels more like Natasha is sacrificing herself because she wants to feel useful. That undermines the integrity of her character, who is shown in both Endgame and the previous MCU films to consistently prioritize the good of the many before the few.

New Random Displays    Display All By Ranking