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Pointless Throwaway Action Movie Characters

post #1 of 55
9/20/04 at 10:47pm
Thread Starter 
You know, those characters with no purpose to the story whatsoever and get killed off usually only minutes after their introduction (which often gives the impression that they're going to be a major character).

I'll start with:
-The Russian defectant in Rambo III
-Vanessa L. Williams' journalist friend in Eraser
-Vanessa L. Williams' boyfriend in Eraser
-Grant Heslov's character who first sees the footage in Enemy Of The State
-Gabriel Byrne in Enemy Of The State
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post #2 of 55
9/20/04 at 10:55pm
This discussion begins and ends with that Steve McQueen-looking Rebel guy at the beginning of "Star Wars". When I first saw the film, his couple of close-ups convinced me that he would be the main hero. Then he is instantly blown away by the first stormtrooper out the gate.
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post #3 of 55
9/20/04 at 10:57pm
Dennis Miller in The Net.
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post #4 of 55
9/20/04 at 11:16pm
"Give me the idol" guy from Indiana Jones.
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post #5 of 55
9/21/04 at 12:29am
Thread Starter 
Sapito has some purpose. A more likely candidate would be the shady-looking guy with the revolver who runs off and turns up 5 minutes later with 5,000 poison darts sticking out of his back.

I'm also adding the creepy and annoying talking doll from The 6th Day and John Turturro, John Leguziamo, and practically every other supporting character in Collateral Damage.
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post #6 of 55
9/21/04 at 12:53am
Al Leong in Lethal Weapon--he shows up, looks bad ass, gets his backstory told, you think he's gonna be some cool late-in-the-game über henchman introduction...but gets strangled by Gibson in the next scene. Opportunity missed.
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post #7 of 55
9/21/04 at 2:14am
Thread Starter 
Quentin Tarantino in Desperado. Basically the only reason his character was put in the movie was so Quentin could act on screen and try out a piss joke he had come up with recently.
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post #8 of 55
9/21/04 at 3:10am
How about the expert swordsman from Raiders who shows his significant skills and is promptly shot?
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post #9 of 55
9/23/04 at 8:27am
Captan needer in ESB?
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post #10 of 55
9/23/04 at 6:46pm
Thread Starter 
Needa, Captain Needa.

Ahem. Sorry.

While we're on the subject of Star Wars, I guess we could throw Admiral Ozzel, Dack Ralter (Luke's Gunner), and the new Queen of Naboo in Episode II on the pile.
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post #11 of 55
9/23/04 at 8:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tcjsavannah
"Give me the idol" guy from Indiana Jones.
That's Doc Ock to you, pal.
How about all of the badasses from Predator? Especially Billy.
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post #12 of 55
9/23/04 at 10:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stormin
Needa, Captain Needa.

Ahem. Sorry.

While we're on the subject of Star Wars, I guess we could throw Admiral Ozzel, Dack Ralter (Luke's Gunner), and the new Queen of Naboo in Episode II on the pile.
While we're at it, Jek Porkins.

God, I miss seventh grade.
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post #13 of 55
9/23/04 at 10:48pm
The guy originaly with Serena (who gets bitten by the zombie in Jim's house) in 28 Days Later.
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post #14 of 55
9/23/04 at 11:02pm
Vivica A. Fox in Kill Bill. I expected her to be in it so much more, and then BOOM! She dies 5 minutes into the movie. I wouldn't exactly call her a throwaway character because we knew her purpose, but it sure was a shock.
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post #15 of 55
9/24/04 at 12:02am
No...yeah I kind of agree, but even more so...Budd. Obvious reasons.
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post #16 of 55
9/24/04 at 1:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by RegVelJohnson
No...yeah I kind of agree, but even more so...Budd. Obvious reasons.
Budd was around 3/5ths of the film so I dunno about that.

Guy in Mortal Kombat that's killed by Goro, Boba Fett in RotJ, GO GO in KB vol.1 [that was good though]

Darth Maul pretty much

and let us not forget

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post #17 of 55
9/24/04 at 1:26am
Darth Maul and the twins...definitely.

I was just saying Budd because he was built up and on and on and on and then, wham. The Bride doesn't even have a showdown with him, let alone make the kill. I saw it coming and I still like the scene but it left me thinking of all the other grindhouse type face offs they could have had.
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post #18 of 55
9/24/04 at 2:58am
Michael Parks in From Dusk Till Dawn.




Now top that.
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post #19 of 55
9/24/04 at 5:44am
Thread Starter 
The German dragonslayer team from Dragonheart. Complete waste of badass characters.
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post #20 of 55
9/24/04 at 7:33am
i cant remember his name but the african guy in Highlander that talks about the last time they got drunk - only to be killed in the next act.
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post #21 of 55
9/24/04 at 8:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by RegVelJohnson
Darth Maul and the twins...definitely.
I'll agree with you about the twins, because they were in fact there for no reason whatsoever except to look cool. Maul on the other hand I'll have to disagree with. Severely lacking in screentime, to be sure, but definitely not a completely pointless character.

His character was there for some pretty specific reasons, to kill Qui-Gon, to make it possible for Obi-Wan to become a Jedi Knight, and last but not least to make the Jedi aware that the Sith had returned.

As for other Star Wars villians, there is one that should be mentioned here. While he is a good character, played by a beloved actor, his character ultimately has no real role to play in the film. That character is Grand Moff Tarkin. I mean seriously, all he really does in the film of any importance is order the destruction of Alderaan, surely this could've happened without him in the picture, couldn't it?
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post #22 of 55
9/24/04 at 9:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spacktard
i cant remember his name but the african guy in Highlander that talks about the last time they got drunk - only to be killed in the next act.
Wasn't that Castigere? And I agree.. I think he was my favorite immortal, even more than MacLeod. He had charisma.
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post #23 of 55
9/24/04 at 9:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Farce
As for other Star Wars villians, there is one that should be mentioned here. While he is a good character, played by a beloved actor, his character ultimately has no real role to play in the film. That character is Grand Moff Tarkin. I mean seriously, all he really does in the film of any importance is order the destruction of Alderaan, surely this could've happened without him in the picture, couldn't it?
Tarkin was there to nail home the point of the Empire's reliance for technology. He's incredibly overconfident, right down to the 'Evacuate? In our moment of triumph?' line, and his devotion to technology allows the Dark Side to show itself and become more powerful in ESB and ROTJ. Vader doesn't care about the Death Star, and doesn't believe in the superiority of technology, so it wouldn't have made sense for him to command it.
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post #24 of 55
9/24/04 at 9:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles B
Tarkin was there to nail home the point of the Empire's reliance for technology.
I think it was more Admiral Motti who nailed that point home, but I do see your point. Nevertheless, I think the film would've been just as functional without the character in it, that's all I'm sayin'.
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post #25 of 55
9/28/04 at 12:47pm
I'd have to say Budd too..And Steven fuckin' Segal in Executive Decision.. he didn't judo chop one person, or bend anyone's arm backwards, or anything! what a crock! Honestly, what was his point in that movie?
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post #26 of 55
9/29/04 at 7:41am
Tom Petty in The Postman

"didnt you used to be famous?" - very apt line.
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post #27 of 55
9/30/04 at 1:19pm
Ric Olie. Man, when we first started seeing shots of him I thought he'd be some badass pilot, like the Han of the movie, or at the very least Wedge. Didn't they fucking put him on the Mountain Dew cans?
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post #28 of 55
9/30/04 at 5:25pm
Thread Starter 
The gay guy in the Jackal. Ooh, and Jack Black, too, though it was enjoyable watching him get his arm blown off.
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post #29 of 55
9/30/04 at 5:31pm
THE JACKAL was a pointless throwaway movie.
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post #30 of 55
10/1/04 at 5:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by HypnoToad
Ric Olie. Man, when we first started seeing shots of him I thought he'd be some badass pilot, like the Han of the movie, or at the very least Wedge. Didn't they fucking put him on the Mountain Dew cans?
Who DIDN'T they put on the mountain Dew Cans...........

God bless you hypnotoad, Mountain Dew as guage of character importance, excellent.

Ric Olie seems to have been killed about 1 minute after the end of Episode I he's nowhere in in Episode II, maybe he got captured by some aliens who incased him in carbonite and then condemmned him to the $2.99 sale bin.

Poor Ric Olie.........

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Farce
I'll agree with you about the twins
Hey that was me
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post #31 of 55
10/2/04 at 5:09am
Thread Starter 
The cowardly fencing teacher in Yojimbo.
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post #32 of 55
10/2/04 at 5:50am
The king:

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post #33 of 55
10/2/04 at 6:27am
Every B.P.R.D. agent who isn't Hellboy, Liz, john, or Abe.

"I'll just fire up the ole flamethroYEAAAAAAAAAAAARGGGGGHHHH!"

Two guys in Batman....

Guy with the swords who got kicked in the face and guy who jumped down only to fall through the floor, man that guy must've felt stupid on the way down.

and the guy at the opening SWAT scene in Dawn of the Dead who gets shot right when the door opens.
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post #34 of 55
10/2/04 at 9:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Darth_Chocula
Every B.P.R.D. agent who isn't Hellboy, Liz, john, or Abe.

"I'll just fire up the ole flamethroYEAAAAAAAAAAAARGGGGGHHHH!"

Two guys in Batman....

Guy with the swords who got kicked in the face and guy who jumped down only to fall through the floor, man that guy must've felt stupid on the way down.

and the guy at the opening SWAT scene in Dawn of the Dead who gets shot right when the door opens.
Don't you have to be an actual character in the film in order to be a pointless character?

I don't think extras and small background characters really count.
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post #35 of 55
10/2/04 at 9:43am
Most of the characters in DAWN OF THE DEAD 04 were throwaway.
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post #36 of 55
10/4/04 at 5:32pm
Thread Starter 
Both of Danny Nucci's good guy characters in Eraser (Deputy Monroe) and The Rock (Shephard, the guy who hangs upside down from the ladder when he gets shot), both of whom are so nice you know they're gonna get capped in no time flat.

And while on the subject of The Rock, Michael fuckin' Biehn. He was such a badass as the Navy Seals commander in that movie and they wasted his potential. He so should have lived and helped Connery and Cage, at least for a while longer.

Joey Pants and Delroy Lindo in Congo. These two had more character than 99% of all of the other speaking roles in the movie put together.

Adam Baldwin in The Patriot. His Tory character feels like its' been assfucked by a bastardish subplot-snipping editor.

And last but not least, the cigar-smoking guerrilla in the end slaughter of Commando. That guy is hiding behind the corner in the mansion coolly smoking a cigar while he cradles a machine gun, and the camera lingers on him for a moment, giving us reason to believe him and Arnie are gonna have a cool fight or at least he's gonna have a cool death. But no, he pretty much gets mowed down in .5 seconds like everyone else. Makes you wonder why they even bothered adding him. Probably to reinforce the theme Col. John Matrix is indestructible.
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post #37 of 55
10/5/04 at 3:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Farce
Don't you have to be an actual character in the film in order to be a pointless character?

I don't think extras and small background characters really count.
Well they set-up about two of those three guys, and then two get eaten and Abe, HB and that fake hair guy are the only ones left, then HB yells man down on the walkie talkie...........but to Abe? He's pinned down by the creatures, I bet this'll be resolved in the deleted scenes.......but you'r sorta right they aren't really important........

I concur with Lil'Otik
CAST OF AVP.

those humans..........the two Predators..............jesus.
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post #38 of 55
10/21/04 at 1:36pm
Argyle is the king of throwaway action movie characters.
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post #39 of 55
10/21/04 at 5:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by AgentShaolin
How about all of the badasses from Predator? Especially Billy.
What? All those characters were important, and all died in ways that served the story.
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post #40 of 55
10/21/04 at 7:33pm
Thread Starter 
Agreed. A lot of these guys are getting a little too overzealous when they're naming these characters.

We're talking about useless characters that serve no purpose whatsoever, and seem to appear and disappear within only a few scenes.
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post #41 of 55
10/22/04 at 2:33am
Anyone remember Lone Wolf McQuade? Don't laugh, you know you've seen it. Leon Isaac Kennedy, or whatever his name is. In that movie a grand total of like five minutes and serves no purpose other than to function as, well, Leon Isaac Kennedy, I guess to sell the movie to his Penitentiary fans. He disappears for huge chunks and then only shows up for gun fighting at the end.
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post #42 of 55
10/22/04 at 10:35am
Two-thirds into The Muppet Movie, Charles Dern brings in a scary looking mercenary to take out Kermit. He says he loves "killin' frogs" and fires this cool looking pitchfork gun at a target to show how bad-ass he is. He next appears at the climatic showdown only to run away like a bitch as soon as Animal's gigantic head bursts through the roof of a house.

That guy needs his own spin-off.
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post #43 of 55
10/23/04 at 2:10am
Thread Starter 
The Australian guy in Enter The Dragon.

Samir the old Asian interrogator from True Lies.
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post #44 of 55
10/23/04 at 5:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by BobClark
Two-thirds into The Muppet Movie, Charles Dern brings in a scary looking mercenary to take out Kermit. He says he loves "killin' frogs" and fires this cool looking pitchfork gun at a target to show how bad-ass he is. He next appears at the climatic showdown only to run away like a bitch as soon as Animal's gigantic head bursts through the roof of a house.

That guy needs his own spin-off.
Agreed. You could show how his entire bounty-hunting career was ruined because he ran away from a 40-foot tall puppet. Then, he decided to get revenge on the Muppets, and build his career back up, by taking out all of the Muppets one at a time, like the Bride. The movie ends, however, when Lew Zealand suddenly shoots to 40-feet, and the guy wets himself and runs off a cliff.

The End.
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post #45 of 55
10/24/04 at 1:06am
Thread Starter 
Lew Zealand is no laughing matter. The guy doesn't need to be 40 feet tall to be a badass, he's got boomerang fish and rolls of paper towels.
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post #46 of 55
10/24/04 at 10:11pm
Okay. Beau.
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post #47 of 55
11/19/04 at 5:07pm
Michael Wincott in Aliens:Resurrection.
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post #48 of 55
11/19/04 at 10:17pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by theroyle
Michael Wincott in Aliens:Resurrection.
He was the coolest character introduced in the film, too. What a fucking waste.
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post #49 of 55
11/24/04 at 5:23am
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post #50 of 55
11/24/04 at 6:57am
Thread Starter 
Uno, Deus, and Tres in Ghosts Of Mars. My God, how did Rodney A. Grant go from a lead role in Dances With Wolves to three lines in a low-budget piece of crap action movie?
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