Best Movies With The Worst Endings - Page 3

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Originally Posted by Art Decade 

One of the best westerns of the past 40 years, I'd rank this almost as high as Open Range or Jeremiah Johnson. It's an INCREDIBLE film...until it's jaw-droppingly stupid final 10 minutes when it nosedives into "magic realism" & turns into the clumsiest, ham-handed metaphor for "brother against brother" you'll ever see. Such a shame.

I never considered it anything close to great, but yeah, the ending really lets what could have been a solid little film down.  Good call.

One more point regarding Drag Me To Hell that seems to get washed over with the image of poor Alison Lohman suffering for an eternity is that it opens with a fucking child being dragged to hell and very few people ever seem to question the unfairness there. While I don't necessarily agree with all of Raimi's views regarding the female protagonist, he seems to stay true to the message he's driving home. Given his vision, the casting was spot-on as well.

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Originally Posted by avoideverything 

For me, The Grey really went out with a whimper.  For a film that was willing to show some pretty brutal realities, it's ending really copped out.  I get the themes and I accept the ending but if there were literally 5 seconds added to it, continuing the narrative, I would have been sold.  It felt like it was going there and then chickened out.

The ending was perfect for the story that we were being told.  Ottway makes the decision to live without fear, in the moment.  Ottway also chooses to fight and therefore chooses to live, which is all that really matters.  Continuing the narrative would've made zero thematic sense. 

I always give directors props for having the balls to end their stories at the appropriate climax as opposed to pandering to the audience.  Great examples would be No Country for Old Men, There Will be Blood, Children of Men and The Sopranos. 

More I think about it, the better I like L.A. Confidential's ending compared to the book. It's more morally ambiguous than where the book ends with Exley promising Bud that he'll take down Dudley one day, which I think is a little trite, to be honest. The hero choosing fame, power and promotion over getting justice done is a lot more interesting to me. I think the book itself is better, but the movie has the better ending that's both satisfying as a stand-alone movie (How exactly would they do White Jazz with Dudley dead? Re-written as a prequel?) and very nicely noir.

I also think Out of Sight has a better ending too. The book doesn't have the epilogue and I thought that was way more satisfying than the book's ending. (Basically the movie right before the epilogue.) Hell, even Leonard likes it better.

I love Seraphim Falls, especially the ending. I know it turned off a lot of people but for some reason it gelled with me.

I dislike Children Of Men's ending not because it is abrupt but because

So for a film so rigidly structured, how does having irradiated Jason Vorhees appear (jumping ships even!) as some kind of indestructible supermonster fit at all with what the film sets up in the first two thirds? Nothing mystical, metaphysical, or supernatural is even hinted at, and then Captain Sunscreen shows up and starts offing people. I agree, having the threat come from inside the crew would've been great--except that's not what happens. Crispy Fried Captain is just as external a threat as them losing oxygen or losing power, even more so. It's a tonal shift that has good thematic intent, but in the end it just doesn't fit.

And it's funny you should say that having inanimate/philosophical threats would make the film more Mission to Mars, since this film throws a rod at a last-minute introduction of something fantastical...which is exactly what Mission to Mars does.

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Originally Posted by John Matrix 

Speaking of movies featuring Jamie Foxx that had bad endings, Law Abiding Citizen needs to mentioned.

I can see why it doesn't fit this particular topic, but that's immediately what jumped to mind for me as well. Probably #1 on my "movie most fucked by its own ending" list.

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Originally Posted by RCA 


I don't get when people rag on the end of Sunshine. The "burnt" guy makes perfect sense if you are paying attention, and those saying "it was so great before they introduced a bad guy". He is introduced TWICE earlier in the movie in footage showing him losing his grip(you know it is the same character right?). He is the one who stopped Icarus from completing it's mission and why the second crew is sent in the first place. The sun is shown as having a powerful psychological affect on those exposed to greater intensity, and Pinbacker is the end result of what the captain and the psychologist are experiencing. He sees the sun as a God and forgoes science to protect what he feels are the Sun's true intentions. Much like religious extremists he will do anything to protect his blind irrationality, even going so far to kill both crews. His motivations are what influence the second mission, and his character is the "secret" driving force of the movie.
I don't really get what movie people were watching that they say the first part is great, but then it falls apart. It's actually quite rigidly structured. Maybe they just weren't paying attention?
I love the ending and the movie definitely makes you think about the Sun in a different way(our bodies are made up entirely of elements that exist in the sun, for example).
Just curious, does anyone have an ending that would've genuinely been better? Would you remove the second ship(why even have the second crew then, or even a movie about it?)
Danny Boyle knows that engaging and entertaining the audience is a top priority. Having a threat come INSIDE the ship and threaten the crew is the natural progression.of the tension that he is building. Would you rather there were some more system failures and a rote philosophical ending that would most likely be more Mission to Mars than 2001?

Mostly I agree.  The film somehow did make me look at the sun differently, even though it was telling me stuff and showing me images I already "knew" in some sense.  Which is pretty potent work.

I agree that the build up to 'solar madness' is good and the themes work generally.  But the problem is it's mostly in hindsight you notice this.  The accusations that it turns into a slasher movie at the end are pretty accurate.  There's some weird and gruesome dispatching going on that doesn't feel like it belongs there.  I don't hate it.  It just feels wrong somehow.

My preferred version is more of a cabin fever take on it.  Where they rescue Pinbacker and he tries to sabotage the mission and fails/is stopped, but he plants the seed (or fertilizes it if you like) and wins a couple over to his 'cult' in the process.  Then you get the internal decay, conflict, final bomb desperation etc.  It might be about half an hour longer this way.  But space travel ain't no afternoon jaunt.

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Originally Posted by Schwartz 

It's been a few years since I watched Sunshine, but you could probably rejigger the script so that the psychologist (I think?) who was becoming obsessed with the sun goes completely mental and becomes the threat that the Senor Sunkist represents for the last act.  Which would actually be an internal threat, and would allow the process of going mad, which is innately a very dramatic process, to be better dramatized.

Exactly. I love SUNSHINE, I even don't mind the 3rd act that much, but that would have been a much more natural progression. It didn't even need to be that different, they could have discovered that Pinbacker sabotaged his crew's mission, which would in turn have planted a similar idea in the psychiatrist's mind. That also would have made the "sun as god" stuff feel less sudden, since we would have been following his line of thinking rather than having it thrusted upon us by an external source.

I always took his decision to stay behind as being driven by his realization that what happened to Icarus I was the logical conclusion of his obsession when he saw the ash bodies. Icarus I's failure was that their shrink (if they even had one) was never granted that moment of self-awareness.

And I never thought the 'sun as god' thing was thrust too suddenly, when Searle talks about turning down the polarization to barely tolerable levels his language borders on describing it as a religious experience, and Kaneda is kind of a convert himself.
 

The "Sun as God" thing is kind of interesting but the idea wasn't explored enough, so the "mad astronaut" came off as a poorly considered slasher cliche. It's like watching The Wages Of Fear and seeing a Edward G. Robinson-esque gangster subplot come into it.

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Originally Posted by RCA 


I don't get when people rag on the end of Sunshine. The "burnt" guy makes perfect sense if you are paying attention, and those saying "it was so great before they introduced a bad guy". He is introduced TWICE earlier in the movie in footage showing him losing his grip(you know it is the same character right?). He is the one who stopped Icarus from completing it's mission and why the second crew is sent in the first place. The sun is shown as having a powerful psychological affect on those exposed to greater intensity, and Pinbacker is the end result of what the captain and the psychologist are experiencing. He sees the sun as a God and forgoes science to protect what he feels are the Sun's true intentions. Much like religious extremists he will do anything to protect his blind irrationality, even going so far to kill both crews. His motivations are what influence the second mission, and his character is the "secret" driving force of the movie.
I don't really get what movie people were watching that they say the first part is great, but then it falls apart. It's actually quite rigidly structured. Maybe they just weren't paying attention?
I love the ending and the movie definitely makes you think about the Sun in a different way(our bodies are made up entirely of elements that exist in the sun, for example).
Just curious, does anyone have an ending that would've genuinely been better? Would you remove the second ship(why even have the second crew then, or even a movie about it?)
Danny Boyle knows that engaging and entertaining the audience is a top priority. Having a threat come INSIDE the ship and threaten the crew is the natural progression.of the tension that he is building. Would you rather there were some more system failures and a rote philosophical ending that would most likely be more Mission to Mars than 2001?

really great explanation of the end, I did get that, but thought that it was too jarring...and felt like it took away from the film.  I think the movie might of worked better if the inexorable draw of the sun room started killing the crew, and there was open debate and conflict over completeing the mission. The burnt guy running around shanking folks just seemed out of tone with what preceeded it. I think discovering the second crew all burnt in the sun room...and finding a recording from pinbacker explaining things would of been more interesting and powerful.

You could see Boyle forshadowing the choice of the first crew with the psychologist, I really enjoyed that.....in the end I guess I just wanted more thought...less chase.

And less erratic editing that completely called attention to itself well beyond what seemed to be intended.

Still, I love Sunshine.

X-Men: First Class doesn't have a BAD ending, but after the Cuban Missile Crisis ends, we move *way* too fast to the denoument. Although the final reveal of Magneto's outfit with his theme music booming nearly makes up for it in sheer cheesy awesomeness.

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Originally Posted by Chris Spider 

X-Men: First Class doesn't have a BAD ending, but after the Cuban Missile Crisis ends, we move *way* too fast to the denoument. Although the final reveal of Magneto's outfit with his theme music booming nearly makes up for it in sheer cheesy awesomeness.

Doesn't help that it looks like he's wearing pajamas.

See, but I love that. Fassbender has the perfect smirk on his face, the music is damn near operatic, and it does resemble what will be Magneto's outfit in later films.

Kind of a derail, but I just want to add that the soundtrack to Sunshine is one of my favorite soundtracks of all time.  The Underworld / John Murphy duo is fucking sublime.

Coincidentally, I'm actually watching Sunshine right now (roommate's idea) and a thought occured.

The main problem in the film (Pinbacker) stems from them deviating from their original course to access Icarus 1 and it's payload.  Why not just continue on their journey to the sun, then on the return trip, if their bomb doesn't work, change course and then try and pilot Icarus 1 and its bomb.  Nitpicky, but I think it might be feasible.

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Originally Posted by Chris Spider 

See, but I love that. Fassbender has the perfect smirk on his face, the music is damn near operatic, and it does resemble what will be Magneto's outfit in later films.

And that helmet is so much cooler and stylish than Singer's dull films. ( I used to like them a lot, mainly because they were among the first Marvel movies to be good, but now after the Spider-Man movies and the Marvel Studios movies, especially The Avengers, I find they're a chore to get through. I still like certain aspects like the acting, especially Stewart, McKellen and Jackman and Nightcrawler in X2 is a blast. Almost everything else? Blech.)

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Originally Posted by avoideverything 

For me, The Grey really went out with a whimper.  For a film that was willing to show some pretty brutal realities, it's ending really copped out.  I get the themes and I accept the ending but if there were literally 5 seconds added to it, continuing the narrative, I would have been sold.  It felt like it was going there and then chickened out.

 

 

Originally Posted by poindexter 
 

 

The ending was perfect for the story that we were being told.  Ottway makes the decision to live without fear, in the moment.  Ottway also chooses to fight and therefore chooses to live, which is all that really matters.  Continuing the narrative would've made zero thematic sense. 

 

I always give directors props for having the balls to end their stories at the appropriate climax as opposed to pandering to the audience.  Great examples would be No Country for Old Men, There Will be Blood, Children of Men and The Sopranos. 

Wow... Sorry for the tardiness.  I agree with everything you wrote however the ending comes down to the editing.  An extra 5 more seconds hell, even 2 would have brought it all home.  We already knew Ottaway would make his decision - we saw it at the beginning when he had the shotgun in his mouth.  For me it was a matter of too little too early.  Bearing in mind The Grey's post credit scene (Which I wish didn't exist as it really spells things out), just a little, tiny, insignificant bit more would have wrapped things up so nicely.

Training Day is 3/4's of possibly the best cop movie since To Live and Die in LA until Ethan Hawke gives up his gun at the poker table and the entire ghetto turns on Denzel. It just seemed trite and cheapens a truly great movie.

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Originally Posted by Cameron Hughes 

More I think about it, the better I like L.A. Confidential's ending compared to the book. It's more morally ambiguous than where the book ends with Exley promising Bud that he'll take down Dudley one day, which I think is a little trite, to be honest. The hero choosing fame, power and promotion over getting justice done is a lot more interesting to me. I think the book itself is better, but the movie has the better ending that's both satisfying as a stand-alone movie (How exactly would they do White Jazz with Dudley dead? Re-written as a prequel?) and very nicely noir.

 

I also think Out of Sight has a better ending too. The book doesn't have the epilogue and I thought that was way more satisfying than the book's ending. (Basically the movie right before the epilogue.) Hell, even Leonard likes it better.

Late to the party on this, but I just finished re-reading Ellroy's L.A. quartet. Still extremely impressed by the adaptation of L.A. Confidential.  Its a dense, meandering book that takes place over years, and was successfully streamlined extremely well to film.  Bravo to Helgeland and Curtis Hanson.  Yeah, they took their liberties - killing Dudley and having Buzz Meeks appear at all is not something I particularly liked, but both Stenz being at the Nite Owl and "Rollo Tomasi" are great.  But I gotta say, I still dislike Bud surviving at all, in both the book and the film.  Granted, he was all sorts of fucked up in the end, but still, I feel that the character earned a noble, heroic death in both formats.  And I do agree that with Cameron that Exley choosing opportunity over justice, as he did in the book, is more interesting than killing Dudley. 

Eh, The Big Nowhere is still my favorite, I think.  If only for Buzz Meeks, the flawed, anti-hero.