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best movie plot twists....

post #1 of 64
4/4/10 at 11:41am
Thread Starter 
if this has been done i apologize...but i was watching sleepaway camp the other day and that is a really fucked up way to end that flick...but i love it nonethelesss...which got me to thinking...what movies have the best endings/plot twist that youve seen...also spoiler it up if you have to...i wanna hear your answers...
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post #2 of 64
4/4/10 at 12:47pm
"The Usual Suspects" was pretty good. Unfortunately I already knew Spacey's voice by the time I watched the film and I guessed the ending in the first 5 minutes.

The most recent I can remember really enjoying was "The Prestige". I still think it is better than it's competitor "The Illusionist".

And my favorite twist of all time...

Darth Vader: If you only knew the power of the Dark Side. Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father.
Luke: He told me enough! He told me you killed him!
Darth Vader: No. I am your father.
Luke: No. No. That's not true. That's impossible!
Darth Vader: Search your feelings, you know it to be true!
Luke: No! No!
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post #3 of 64
4/4/10 at 1:08pm
A possibly futile request- can people actually explain and discuss why they like (or don't) the particular twist? Otherwise this gets real boring real fast.
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post #4 of 64
4/4/10 at 1:10pm
[QUOTE=TaylorF;2884147]"The Usual Suspects" was pretty good. Unfortunately I already knew Spacey's voice by the time I watched the film and I guessed the ending in the first 5 minutes.

Are you thinking of Seven?
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post #5 of 64
4/4/10 at 1:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by SneakyPete View Post
Are you thinking of Seven?
No. It's been over 5 years since I've seen it, but doesn't "The Usual Suspects" open with the boat scene and you hear Spacey talk but don't see him. I just remember looking over to my friend and saying, "That was Spacey".
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post #6 of 64
4/4/10 at 2:00pm
I have another request: please don't let this thread turn into everyone bragging about how smart they were in figuring out certain twist endings. We get it, you're a genius.
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post #7 of 64
4/4/10 at 2:09pm
Bunny Lake is imaginary
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post #8 of 64
4/4/10 at 2:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by TaylorF View Post
No. It's been over 5 years since I've seen it, but doesn't "The Usual Suspects" open with the boat scene and you hear Spacey talk but don't see him. I just remember looking over to my friend and saying, "That was Spacey".
We never hear Keyser Soze speak, so there's no way of knowing he was Spacey. In one scene, a character (Spacey, I think) is telling the cop the legend of Keyser Soze and they use another actor to portray him. There was no reason at the time to believe it wasn't the actor in the shot.

Even if you recognize an actor's voice and that actor turns out to be the bad guy doesn't mean you figured out the plot.
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post #9 of 64
4/4/10 at 2:27pm
Darabont's version of THE MIST
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post #10 of 64
4/4/10 at 4:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by SneakyPete View Post
We never hear Keyser Soze speak, so there's no way of knowing he was Spacey. In one scene, a character (Spacey, I think) is telling the cop the legend of Keyser Soze and they use another actor to portray him. There was no reason at the time to believe it wasn't the actor in the shot.

Even if you recognize an actor's voice and that actor turns out to be the bad guy doesn't mean you figured out the plot.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Dickson
I have another request: please don't let this thread turn into everyone bragging about how smart they were in figuring out certain twist endings. We get it, you're a genius.
You are all right. I didn't mean for the first post to be an "oh I am so smart I figured out something". Now re-reading I see how that came across. And Sneaky you're right as well, I didn't figure out the whole plot. Sorry about that all. I guess I should go back and watch the movie again.

But regardless of all that, I still like the twist in "The Usual Suspects".
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post #11 of 64
4/4/10 at 4:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by TaylorF View Post
You are all right. I didn't mean for the first post to be an "oh I am so smart I figured out something". Now re-reading I see how that came across. And Sneaky you're right as well, I didn't figure out the whole plot. Sorry about that all. I guess I should go back and watch the movie again.

But regardless of all that, I still like the twist in "The Usual Suspects".
But why? What in particular makes you like it? Not busting your balls, but i'm interested- is a good twist one that fools you, shifts the narrative, changes the themes?
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post #12 of 64
4/4/10 at 4:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by AdrianDyka View Post
But why? What in particular makes you like it? Not busting your balls, but i'm interested- is a good twist one that fools you, shifts the narrative, changes the themes?
Sure. I think it mostly has to do with the culmination of the plot in the monologue that Kint (Spacey) gives at the end. Which then transitions to a wonderfully shot piece showing the change in walking style. We finally realize that Kint is someone else entirely.
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post #13 of 64
4/4/10 at 7:26pm
Most of the biggest twist movies were spoiled for me (sixth sense, usual suspects, etc) but the Prestige was probably my favorite unspoiled twist. really made me stop and re-think the film.

Also I hated the Illusionist as the 'twist' you saw coming from a MIIILE away!
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post #14 of 64
4/4/10 at 7:43pm
Not so much a twist, but rather a great "psyche!" moment: the ending of Big Fan.
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post #15 of 64
4/4/10 at 7:45pm
The Prestige is one of the best ones in recent years. In that, I must concur with the Chewers who've already nominated the film to the list

For worst? Maybe BASIC?
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post #16 of 64
4/4/10 at 8:04pm
Gone, Baby Gone is a real good one. Maybe a little obvious, but for Affleck's character it brings a great moral question.
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post #17 of 64
4/4/10 at 8:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Walker View Post
Gone, Baby Gone is a real good one. Maybe a little obvious, but for Affleck's character it brings a great moral question.
Nice choice.
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post #18 of 64
4/5/10 at 1:10am
I remember totally marking out at the twist ending of "Identity." And it contains one of the greatest last lines of any movie.

"Whores don't get a second chance!"
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post #19 of 64
4/5/10 at 1:37am
This is probably more of a b-list twist, but I think the origin of where the reavers came from in Serenity/Firefly was pretty awesome and was one of many parts that made that movie legit.
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post #20 of 64
4/5/10 at 6:19am
People are just going to list things aren't they?
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post #21 of 64
4/5/10 at 7:00am
you must be new to the internet.

there are biscuits and tea in the Chewer Catch - All section
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post #22 of 64
4/5/10 at 8:25am
Oldboy.

Thank you. Close thread. I've yet to see another film where the twist is not only perfectly executed, but is able to so effortlessly activate that instant repulsion/disgust nerve in the audience. Everything about that turn of events is wrong.
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post #23 of 64
4/6/10 at 2:33am
Oldboy for president!
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post #24 of 64
4/6/10 at 2:39am
The first time I saw The Matrix in the cinema it had just been released and I had no idea 'what it is'.

Then Neo took the red pill.

Ho-lee-shit.

Mind. Blown.

I'll never forget that.
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post #25 of 64
4/6/10 at 3:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Rain Dog View Post
The first time I saw The Matrix in the cinema it had just been released and I had no idea 'what it is'.

Then Neo took the red pill.

Ho-lee-shit.

Mind. Blown.

I'll never forget that.
I miss this feeling. I miss it so bad.
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post #26 of 64
4/6/10 at 3:22am
Eli's (true) nature revealed in "Let the right one in"; couple people actually left the theater after that; another couple turned away during the bathroom reveal.
My date had to be fully explained about the twist afterwards....the look of horror/astonishment in her face was priceless.
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post #27 of 64
4/6/10 at 8:39am
The best twist endings should enrich the film as a whole rather than undermining everything that preceded them. That's why I'm not particularly fond of THE USUAL SUSPECTS. MEMENTO - now there's a twist that flips the film over on its head and makes it that much darker and more complex.
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post #28 of 64
4/6/10 at 9:01am
I agree with you on the Memento front. I went into that movie blind and was blown away by the twist.

My pick is Oceans 11, you know it's a heist movie but the reveal at the end of how they actually get the money out is priceless. Also Unbreakable, what’s great about that one is that Samuel L Jackson tells you the twist right at the beginning and because you are not looking for it, you miss it.
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post #29 of 64
4/6/10 at 9:12am
The sand spilling out of the tanker at the end of Road Warrior. There's a great duality there: on the one hand, the people in the compound were just as willing to use Max as he was to use them (it seems pretty obvious Max is surprised to find no fuel in the tanker); on the other, they were willing to die in order to perpetuate the illusion and give the others time to escape. The best and worst of humanity all in one.
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post #30 of 64
4/6/10 at 9:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Merriweather View Post
The best twist endings should enrich the film as a whole rather than undermining everything that preceded them.
Having more than one method of changing a film gives twist endings their special value and gives films more uniqueness than they might otherwise have.
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post #31 of 64
4/6/10 at 10:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by TaylorF View Post
Having more than one method of changing a film gives twist endings their special value and gives films more uniqueness than they might otherwise have.
Not really. Telling the audience that everything they've just watched was a lie is the grown-up movie version of "a wizard did it!". Maybe you can argue that USUAL SUSPECTS is not an example of this, but I think it'd be a flimsy theory.
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post #32 of 64
4/6/10 at 10:09am
A film saying "Your perceptions were wrong" is quite different from saying "Everything I just told you is a lie."
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post #33 of 64
4/6/10 at 10:46am
How does THE USUAL SUSPECTS do that, though? They've got a bunch of burned-up bodies on a boat and the rest is Verbal's story. I don't get what pleasure people derive from combing back over the film, looking for hints and clues as to what was real and what wasn't - literally everything could quite easily be an invention of Kint's, especially given the cues he takes from items in the room.
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post #34 of 64
4/6/10 at 10:51am
The pleasure comes in realizing how Verbal spun this story just by picking up tidbits from the bulletin board and his surroundings. And realizing that he was Keyser all along. It forces you to question what you thought you understood about the film. I didn't feel a rug being pulled out so much as a veil being lifted.
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post #35 of 64
4/6/10 at 10:59am
Yeah, but that's a once-off pleasure. There's no veil being lifted because there's nothing to see behind the veil. Soze spent a few hours bullshitting some cops in order to make his escape. As I said before, it undermines everything that comes before it. Aside from doing a tremendous acting job Soze hasn't constructed some awe-inspiring master screwjob - he's just strung the cops along enough to save his own ass.
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post #36 of 64
4/6/10 at 11:00am
I may take shit for it, but I rather liked the plot twist in the first 'Mission: Impossible' film. I honestly wasn't expecting them to make Jim Phelps the bad guy...that was a ballsy move, and it really turned the entire history of the show on its ear.
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post #37 of 64
4/6/10 at 11:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Merriweather View Post
Yeah, but that's a once-off pleasure. There's no veil being lifted because there's nothing to see behind the veil. Soze spent a few hours bullshitting some cops in order to make his escape. As I said before, it undermines everything that comes before it. Aside from doing a tremendous acting job Soze hasn't constructed some awe-inspiring master screwjob - he's just strung the cops along enough to save his own ass.
Well, there's the idea that the myth of Keyser Soze -- and by association, storytelling itself -- is more powerful than the reality. Soze doesn't actually have to do any of the things he's credited with doing. It's enough that people believe he's capable of those things. And the police have so bought in to the idea of the mythical Keyser that they can't notice the real one sitting right in front of them.
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post #38 of 64
4/6/10 at 11:06am
But again, that's something that you get from one viewing. It's one and done - watching it a second time it was so hollow because you know that the entire ninety minutes or so of plotting and heisting is all a complete fabrication. It's a well-constructed and tremendously acted film, but it's a total parlour trick.
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post #39 of 64
4/6/10 at 11:09am
It doesn't feel one and done to me the way The Sixth Sense does.
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post #40 of 64
4/6/10 at 11:11am
Hey, no argument there. SIXTH SENSE robs what little mystique it had left after the reveal by helpfully going back and showing us in excruciating detail that yes, Bruce Willis as totally a ghost all those times we saw him.
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post #41 of 64
4/6/10 at 11:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Merriweather View Post
But again, that's something that you get from one viewing. It's one and done - watching it a second time it was so hollow because you know that the entire ninety minutes or so of plotting and heisting is all a complete fabrication. It's a well-constructed and tremendously acted film, but it's a total parlour trick.
I don't disagree. Many "twist" films that I see are viewed once or twice. Once the twist is discovered, I would further argue that the film's intrigue is lessened. The things to look for are the details that explained the twist but were just glossed over in the first viewing.

In some ways, all twists undermine because all viewings following the first are tainted with knowledge of the outcome. My only argument with what you said is that the best twists should enrich the story, which is just opinion. Well maybe someone else feels the best twists are something they get a once-off pleasure from.
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post #42 of 64
4/6/10 at 11:58am
I agree on the revulsion aspect of the Oldboy twist. It's a revelation to the character and to the audience, which is nice.

My absolute LEAST favorite twist is from Vanilla Sky. It makes the movie completely unwatchable the second time around.

Though not a real "twist," the slow realization of the timing in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is excellent and makes repeat viewings more fun and still engaging.
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post #43 of 64
4/6/10 at 12:00pm
Yeah, VANILLA SKY is another one where it just completely obliterates any thematic resonance the film might be aiming for.
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post #44 of 64
4/6/10 at 12:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Merriweather View Post
How does THE USUAL SUSPECTS do that, though? They've got a bunch of burned-up bodies on a boat and the rest is Verbal's story. I don't get what pleasure people derive from combing back over the film, looking for hints and clues as to what was real and what wasn't - literally everything could quite easily be an invention of Kint's, especially given the cues he takes from items in the room.
To me, I still come back to and enjoy The Usual Suspects because whether you read them as total fabrications or versions of the "truth," those scenes are very well made and acted. As "non-submersible units" unto themselves, they're enjoyable to watch.

ETA: Also, a "format request"...

Since many of us want to participate in and read this thread (assuming it gets beyond listing), yet invariably will have not seen every single film listed, how about some sort of agreed upon format like: name the title of the film at the top of your post followed by a reasonable gap before the text begins describing the twist. Basically, just name the film so that someone's not skimming the actual twist/spoiler before they can see what film it's for.
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post #45 of 64
4/6/10 at 1:12pm
I've actually soured on The Usual Suspects over the last few years, but it depends on which interpretation you have. If you think the whole story was Soze bullshit, then the movie is kind of redundant. I f you think he's merely embellishing to save his own skin, but some of the story is true, then it's still only really a 'Gotcha' twist, which feel a bit cheap to me.

Vertigo has a great twist. It doesn't invalidate what came before, but it gives a new perspective on it that then feeds into the entire second half. It's a twist that is also key to some of the themes of the movie, of deception and manipulation. The twist is used to change the viewers perspective, and raises the tension and unease of what comes next.
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post #46 of 64
4/7/10 at 2:12pm
Thread Starter 
im surprised nobodys said fight club yet
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post #47 of 64
4/7/10 at 5:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Rain Dog View Post
The first time I saw The Matrix in the cinema it had just been released and I had no idea 'what it is'.

Then Neo took the red pill.

Ho-lee-shit.

Mind. Blown.

I'll never forget that.
Yup. Wish I could recapture that rush.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Merriweather View Post
But again, that's something that you get from one viewing. It's one and done - watching it a second time it was so hollow because you know that the entire ninety minutes or so of plotting and heisting is all a complete fabrication. It's a well-constructed and tremendously acted film, but it's a total parlour trick.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Merriweather View Post
Hey, no argument there. SIXTH SENSE robs what little mystique it had left after the reveal by helpfully going back and showing us in excruciating detail that yes, Bruce Willis as totally a ghost all those times we saw him.
Why should a film's "rewatchability" be a measure of it's effectiveness in these cases? Just curious.

This'll sound childish, but I like the villain reveal at the end of the live-action SCOOBY DOO movie.
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post #48 of 64
4/7/10 at 5:41pm
I'm counting Moon for this thread. Sure, the "twist" (and I'm not even sure you could necessarily call it that) is not a climactic game-changer, but rather a turn that informs how the rest of the film's plot is deployed, but it completely knocked me for a loop and hooked me the minute it played out. And it does change the tone of the film entirely.
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post #49 of 64
4/8/10 at 10:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by DARKMITE8 View Post
Why should a film's "rewatchability" be a measure of it's effectiveness in these cases? Just curious.
Because if it's set up to make the rest of the film meaningless outside of the big gotcha pay-off, it's less a film and more a parlour trick. I'm not interested in movies whose sole mission, above narrative and character and theme and all else, is to catch you off-guard with a surprise ending. I just don't think viewers should have their investment - be it time or buying into the story being told - wasted on a rug-pull, unless said rug-pull has more going for it than simple shock.
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post #50 of 64
4/8/10 at 10:35am
- Norman Bates' mother.

- And one I personally loved: When Colonel Ives turns up in Ravenous.
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