Movies Awesome movies ruined by the ending

[Spike's iconSpike]

I kind of love Identity.
The setting of that movie, the night at the motel in the rain. Freaking I love it.

EXCEPT.
I absolutely cannot stand the ending, it ruins everything for me. T_T
Every time I think of this movie I'm like "yes I love it must re-watch it again" but then certain scene from the ending with awful CG flashes into my mind and it's all over for me.

Spoiler: ending spoiled

I'm referring to a scene where the kid identity is shown walking in front of flames towards the camera after he blow up someone

Do you have movies you love up to a certain point?
Without spoiling endings share yours.

 

[Yousef]

Probably Baby Driver. Just felt like a lot of nothing for all its build-up.

 

[Eclipse14]

Easy Rider (1969).

 

[Spike's iconSpike]

Probably Baby Driver. Just felt like a lot of nothing for all its build-up.

I saw it, kinda boring to me.

Easy Rider (1969).

Why?

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

Two words: "My Girl" (1991).

It was a devastating ending to a movie that wasn't even threatening to go down that route.

 

[Eclipse14]

Why?

Simple; an out-of-nowhere Deus ex Machina right when things were looking to have a good resolution. In terms of film, it pretty much symbolized the end of the 60s counterculture era.

 

[Cu-Neo]

Easy answer:

 

[Bonkers225]

Alot of Korean gangster films, where it's 98% of the time a bad end for the MC.

Another Korean film, Trafficker. The MC loses, the woman he was trying to save gets her organs harvested, her dad's body gets harvested, the bad guy avoids jail time, and continues his trafficking/harvesting of human organs, and finds a new customer in the end. The end.

 

[ouyrtuy]

They Live (1988)

 

[Spike's iconSpike]

Alot of Korean gangster films, where it's 98% of the time a bad end for the MC.

Another Korean film, Trafficker. The MC loses, the woman he was trying to save gets her organs harvested, her dad's body gets harvested, the bad guy avoids jail time, and continues his trafficking/harvesting of human organs, and finds a new customer in the end. The end.

It's a running gag at home "if this was a Korean film they would all be dead by the end"

They Live (1988)

Why?

 

[Ian Naxieas]

Sadly, I have two answers for this.

This actually might have been one of my favorite movies of all time if it wasn't for the ending. It felt badly tacked on and apparently was from the sound of it. It was sorta forced into the Cloverfield universe by J.J. Abrams during production. "The spirit of it, the genre of it, the heart of it, the fear factor, the comedy factor, the weirdness factor, there were so many elements that felt like the DNA of this story were of the same place that Cloverfield was born out of" was his reasoning. Just, what? I haven't seen Cloverfield since it's release so I may be missing something, but that sounds like a desperate attempt to be all "No guys, I didn't almost ruin this awesome movie by forcing it into a franchise that was nothing like it." Fuckin' Abrams. I have thoughts about him. Regardless, still super worth a watch.

That brings us to Sunshine. I avoided the movie for the longest time because it had a really dumb premise, people go to the sun to throw a bomb into it to reignite it because it's dying. I was thinking something along the lines of Armageddon or The Core. I found out after seeing the film that the premise isn't quite as stupid as I thought, something in theoretical physics called a Q-ball is caught in the sun and sucking it dry and the bomb is meant to destroy it. This is never mentioned in the film, so unless you watch the commentary or look into the background of the film you will not find this out. Anyway, my boyfriend convinced me to watch it and I absolutely loved it for the most part. If you've seen the movie, you know the point where the entire film seems to make a genre change and it is not for the better. It's not the whole movie, so it's tolerable, but the movie probably would have ended up another all time favorite if not for it. Boo.

I honestly don't know which of the two pissed me off more. Probably 10 Cloverfield Lane because it happens in the last few minutes of the film and it's so utterly jarring from the tone of the rest of the movie. Then again, 10 Cloverfield Lane at least gives a satisfying conclusion to the main story before the dumb shit happens, while Sunshine has to deal with dumb shit happening throughout the end, but it still reached a good conclusion in the end. I guess I wouldn't say these movies were ruined by their endings, I super recommend watching both of them, just be prepared for a bit of disappointment.

 

[DanCalibur]

Nefarious, it could have ended in the electric chair scene and be one hell of a possession movie but nope, they had to ad a crappy preaching ending?

 

[sunofpearl89]

Allison from the Breakfast Club (1985) changing her look went against the message of the movie. A real downgrade, too. I love weird girls like her.

 

[Ian Naxieas]

Allison from the Breakfast Club (1985) changing her look went against the message of the movie. A real downgrade, too. I love weird girls like her.

Oof, I'd forgotten about that. She was really pretty before the makeover, she didn't need the change. And yeah, it really kinda spit on the message of the movie.

 

[ATenderLad]

@Ian Naxieas I remember the midnight release for 10 Cloverfield Lane, the crowd was loving it but that ending left everyone unsure how to feel, definitely soured the mood. A touch of ambiguity would have gone a long way.

On topic, I re-watched the John Wick movies with my siblings over the holidays, and I'd forgotten how much JW3 annoys me with the ending. I wouldn't say it ruins the movie; the series basically exists as a vehicle for cool action beats, but a couple boring betrayals in the final act undercut what drama it had.

 

[ouyrtuy]

It's a running gag at home "if this was a Korean film they would all be dead by the end"

Why?

Basically, I didn't like what happens to the main characters.

 

[ConanTheDestroyer]

The Game (1997) had a great scene to end the movie on but decided to continue for a few more minute just to present a plot twist that frankly I thought was quite lame.

 

[Trainer Red]

We actually watched this in theatres ( kinda regret that since it ended up on NetFlix like a month later !!) Basically yeah ... near the end of the movie we found ourselves asking 'What the heck is going on?! Why are so many things happening in like 3 minutes?!' Kinda felt like the movie imploded at the end ... ahh ... it's actually difficult to describe ... I'll just say that it should have been a miniseries with how it felt rushed ... but 85% of the movie was quite good though !

 

[Bakuma1997]

No Way Home, i am gonna drop a HUGE Hot take here, but i am getting a real burnout of Spiderman suffering just because, i get Spiderman is supposed to be a Martyr kind of hero, but ending with him having jack after a entire movie of great Fanservice and the best MCU Spidy movie (Across the Spiderverse FTW) it felt like a huge anti-copout

 

[Parasite_Steve]

Allison from the Breakfast Club (1985) changing her look went against the message of the movie. A real downgrade, too. I love weird girls like her.

I love the breakfast club but that makeover is just criminal.

First movie that usually comes to mind:
Smilla‘s sense of snow. Very strange and atmospheric film throughout, definitely worth watching at least once but damn that ending is something else.

 

[PhrawzT]

View attachment 16279That brings us to Sunshine. I avoided the movie for the longest time because it had a really dumb premise, people go to the sun to throw a bomb into it to reignite it because it's dying. I was thinking something along the lines of Armageddon or The Core. I found out after seeing the film that the premise isn't quite as stupid as I thought, something in theoretical physics called a Q-ball is caught in the sun and sucking it dry and the bomb is meant to destroy it. This is never mentioned in the film, so unless you watch the commentary or look into the background of the film you will not find this out. Anyway, my boyfriend convinced me to watch it and I absolutely loved it for the most part. If you've seen the movie, you know the point where the entire film seems to make a genre change and it is not for the better. It's not the whole movie, so it's tolerable, but the movie probably would have ended up another all time favorite if not for it. Boo.

I honestly don't know which of the two pissed me off more. Probably 10 Cloverfield Lane because it happens in the last few minutes of the film and it's so utterly jarring from the tone of the rest of the movie. Then again, 10 Cloverfield Lane at least gives a satisfying conclusion to the main story before the dumb shit happens, while Sunshine has to deal with dumb shit happening throughout the end, but it still reached a good conclusion in the end. I guess I wouldn't say these movies were ruined by their endings, I super recommend watching both of them, just be prepared for a bit of disappointment.

This was my immediate thought. I was willing to suspend disbelief at the premise as the acting was good and compelling. However it seemed like someone didn't like where it was going and just rewrote it with a tacked on slasher movie ending since they didn't know what else to do. It really screamed writer change, or idiotic studio interference because some producer felt it was too boring.

 

[Deleted member 884]

It's not really awesome, but it is a great example of bad ending even though it's not focused on the real protagonist:

We all know the karate kid is Johnny Lawrence, not that stupid boy who knew nothing about karate.
He ruined his career as an athlete, winning a competition in which he had nothing to do.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

We all know the karate kid is Johnny Lawrence, not that stupid boy who knew nothing about karate.
He ruined his career as an athlete, winning a competition in which he had nothing to do.

While I do like this point of view I don't see how just one lost championship would prevent him from working harder to win the next one.

Failure is a great teacher.

 

[Ian Naxieas]

This was my immediate thought. I was willing to suspend disbelief at the premise as the acting was good and compelling. However it seemed like someone didn't like where it was going and just rewrote it with a tacked on slasher movie ending since they didn't know what else to do. It really screamed writer change, or idiotic studio interference because some producer felt it was too boring.

I remember reading somewhere that it was intentional by the writer, Alex Garland, because he felt like the movie needed a change in pace or some excitement or something like that. I've just spent the last fucking hour trying to find that quote and I've had no luck. The slasher nonsense does seem intentionally done by Alex Garland from the little I could find. Here are two quotes I could find with links.

“The script does take some leaps at the end,” Boyle told the L.A. Times. “But if you can ground it in the first quarter, you can believe the stuff that happens in the end, when it all goes time-warping ballistic.”

Someone asked what he would say to the people who disliked “Sunshine,” noting that those who do often cite the third act. Garland replied, “Honestly, I have no problem with people disliking it for the third act. These things are all so subjective. Also, don’t know if this is relevant, but… I don’t really like the Marlon Brando stuff in ‘Apocalypse Now,’ but it’s still one of my favorite movies. Sometimes the flaws are part of why you choose to really like a film.”

There could be more going on behind the scenes, sure, but considering Garland also did change the tone and pace for his prior film, 28 Days Later, in the third act, I don't think it's a stretch to assume the same is true with Sunshine. Garland does seem to want to surprise audiences in some of his films, he did it much better in Ex Machina though. I felt the twists at the end painted the movie in an entirely different light when I rewatched it. There was the weird ending to Annihilation as well, but I felt that fit the tone of the film just fine.

Anyway, I'm rambling, as I tend to do. To conclude, you done fucked up, Garland. I don't think the movie would have been a box office hit even if the slasher aspect was removed, but I think it would be way more fondly remembered and maybe even considered one of the all-time great sci-fi films.

 

[trickybus]

The 2022 Batman, the one starring Robert Patterson. My best friend recommended it, so we watched it together one night. I honestly enjoyed the film and feel it has a strong start and middle, albeit with some odd choices here and there.

My problem with the third act is that the director was so focused on keeping certain characters alive, it removes all tension.

Spoiler

Gordon straight up has an anti-bullet aura, which is crazy for a public figure that works so closely with Batman. The mayoral candidate gets shot and dragged through flood waters but because she's inside Gordan's magical aura, she lives too. Hell, I don't even think any random Gothamites died either. It was all weirdly low stakes.