Great films ruined by a horrible ending?

liah

I was watching A.I. a couple nights ago. I loved that film; it's brilliantly artistically shot, decent cast, interesting/cute plot. Haley (no idea how his name is spelled) Joel Osmond was a fantastic little actor. Just really well done..

..Til the goddamn ending.

It should have ended when

he was sitting at the bottom of the sea asking the Blue Angel to make him a real boy. It just felt like the end. The coming of the aliens COMPLETELY ruined it for me. I showed it to a mate of mine minus the last half hour or so (at least, anything after him praying to the blue angel/freezing) and he thought it was fantastic, and I genuinely think his opinion would've been ruined if he'd seen the actual full ending. It's too "happy, perfect ending." It had potential to be a seriously quality film, but imo, it was ruined by that.

Any other quality films you can think of that were just ruined for you because of the ending..?

Karl Hungus

liah wrote: »

It should have ended when

he was sitting at the bottom of the sea asking the Blue Angel to make him a real boy. It just felt like the end. The coming of the aliens COMPLETELY ruined it for me. I showed it to a mate of mine minus the last half hour or so (at least, anything after him praying to the blue angel/freezing) and he thought it was fantastic, and I genuinely think his opinion would've been ruined if he'd seen the actual full ending. It's too "happy, perfect ending." It had potential to be a seriously quality film, but imo, it was ruined by that.

I don't disagree, but just as an FYI,

They were highly advanced robots, not aliens at the end.

niallon

Back to an argument I've put forward a few times at this stage, Jurassic Park3. Maybe not the best in the series but it was a cracking good action flick until the cop out ending.

Also The Number 23 and Stranger Than Fiction. Both films had oppurtunities for abstract endings but chose the conventional route instead!

Mr.Nice Guy

I didn't mind the ending to AI, though I found the film lacking something overall. Heart maybe. Perhaps that's why they went with the ending.

Anyway an ending from a great film that really displeased me was the ending to Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

You have the climactic ending, the crowning of Aragorn, that's all fair enough...but then we have to see the Hobbits having a chat about what went on, we see Sam and kis kids...Zzzzz. Who needs to see this? Talk about a flat finale.

It's a bit like if at the end of Die Hard, as John McClane and his wife hobbled off into the cold night, we got to see them chatting on the drive home and maybe having a cup of coffee before they went to bed. Honestly who cares?

John 187

Always hated the ending on "Near Dark" it made no sense and just what we needed another happy ending.

ztoical

Ransom not a great film but could have been so much better if it had ended about 15 mins before it did -when Gibson pays the cop who was really the kidnapper the ransom that should have been the end but no we have to have the happy hollywood ending so Gibson figures it out, big chase, catch the bad guy then end yawn.

triple-M

war of the worlds and the day after tomorrow i feel had potential to become 5 star films just the endings were a bit sudden same with T3

Kiith

The only one that comes to mind for me is Signs. I really enjoyed it up until the Alien reveal at the end. Just seemed totally out of place. Also, both Event Horizon and Sunshine suffered from terrible endings imo. Both start out really well, but ended terribly (Event Horizon more so then Sunshine).

DarkJager

Freddy Vs Jason

Freddy without a doubt should have won that fight

1huge1

Massive fan of Apocalypse Now, probably my all time favourite film but the ending was a real anti climax.

Galvasean

niallon wrote: »

Back to an argument I've put forward a few times at this stage, Jurassic Park3. Maybe not the best in the series but it was a cracking good action flick until the cop out ending.

While I will disagree with you to the death about the merits of JP/// I will happily agree taht the ending sucked (like the rest of the film).

It was meant to be a sort of homage to Lord of the Flies, however failed in that a similar thing happened in LotF with a damn good reason as opposed to, "Aw heck, how do we finish this?"

John 187 wrote: »

Always hated the ending on "Near Dark" it made no sense and just what we needed another happy ending.

Same. thought the film was excellent but the whole

blood transfusion curing vampirism

bit threw me off.

Kiith wrote: »

The only one that comes to mind for me is Signs.

Yeah,

you really have to question the intelligence of a hyper advanced alien race who have mastered interstellar travel, but despite being so allergic to water that coming into contact with it kills them, decide to invade a planet made 80% of water where water frequently falls from the sky without so much as packing a rain jackey.

Other than that it was a quality film.

ZOLTAN28

I enjoyed SIGNS until the last ten minutes or so (can't do a spoiler thing so I won't spell it out) - completely ruined the movie for me.

loveissucide

Monty Python and The Holy Grail
The Adjuster
American Psycho(although the book's ending is a bloody mess too)
They're the three that come to mind.

ceegee

hurt locker. Hated the last few scenes of it.

bluto63

loveissucide wrote: »

Monty Python and The Holy Grail

I can't imagine a better ending to a film. Ever. So unexpected and makes your stomach hurt from laughing.

Happy Monday

ceegee wrote: »

hurt locker. Hated the last few scenes of it.

Man - how could you say that - those last few seconds were all about what made him feel alive - what he was good at - what he could excel at - it defined him.

Galvasean

loveissucide wrote: »

American Psycho

*cries*

loveissuicide wrote:

(although the book's ending is a bloody mess too)

*double cries*

ziedth

Happy Monday wrote: »

Man - how could you say that - those last few seconds were all about what made him feel alive - what he was good at - what he could excel at - it defined him.

I wouls be inclined to agree, i liked the ending too.

joxerdaly

Really enjoyed "the butterfly effect" with Aston Kutcher in the lead. Rented it out on DVD a few years back .

Turns out he blacks out when he travels through time but messes up everyone lives when he tries to alter the past so he travels back to when he was in the womb and kills himself by holding his cord.

Watched it on TV3 about a year ago and they had an alternative ending which was released in America.

He manages to go back and put everything right and meets his girlfriend again who he shouldn't know but they live happily ever after.

What a pile of crap!!!

zAbbo

Shawshank Redemption

Should be cut when Red is travelling on bus. The meetup at the end is terrible.

Maximilian

loveissucide wrote: »

Monty Python and The Holy Grail

Somebody wasn't really in tune with the spirit of the film. Besides, it's historically accurate.

irish_goat

The Passion of the Christ, totally unrealistic ending, dunno how we were expected to believe that.

krudler

irish_goat wrote: »

The Passion of the Christ, totally unrealistic ending, dunno how we were expected to believe that.

The hero coming back from the dead is so cliched, ET and Neo did it much better:D

Driver 8

Off hand, I thought Changing Lanes went from a decent three star film to sentimental rubbish in the last 20 mins or so.

*Waits patiently for someone to say No Country for Old Men...*

artvandulet

Dodgeball.

The original ending...

had the team loose and an the credits just roll with them all sad and rejected

but the test audiences didnt like that so they

tagged on the bit were it turns out the match wasn't over and they continue on and win

Its on the DVD extras, would have been a perfect ending.


Hmmm, suppose thats not realy either a great film or horrible ending but anyway...

Busi_Girl08

Animal Farm.

In the book, it ends with the pigs playing poker with the humans, and other animals looking from pig to man, and couldn't see any difference.

Then the CIA got the rights to it, and had all the animals fight back against the pigs, and throwing them down, just to give the audience that "happy", "bad guy gets his comeuppance" ending.

Orwell must have been spinning in his grave

rizzla

Haven't seen Layer Cake in awhile but remember it had a really crappy ending, just done to "shock" people I guess. Wouldn't really class it as a great film though.

BQQ

liah wrote: »

I was watching A.I. a couple nights ago. I loved that film; it's brilliantly artistically shot, decent cast, interesting/cute plot. Haley (no idea how his name is spelled) Joel Osmond was a fantastic little actor. Just really well done..

..Til the goddamn ending.

It should have ended when

he was sitting at the bottom of the sea asking the Blue Angel to make him a real boy. It just felt like the end. The coming of the aliens COMPLETELY ruined it for me. I showed it to a mate of mine minus the last half hour or so (at least, anything after him praying to the blue angel/freezing) and he thought it was fantastic, and I genuinely think his opinion would've been ruined if he'd seen the actual full ending. It's too "happy, perfect ending." It had potential to be a seriously quality film, but imo, it was ruined by that.

Any other quality films you can think of that were just ruined for you because of the ending..?

When i saw the title of this thread this movie instantly sprung to mind. I agree totally that it should have ended there and it probably would have if Stanley Kubrick hadn't kicked the bucket leaving Spielberg in charge

On a more uplifting note here's a ropey enough movie that is redeemed by a good ending - 'Planes trains and automobiles'.

artvandulet

BQQ wrote: »

On a more uplifting note here's a ropey enough movie that is redeemed by a good ending - 'Planes trains and automobiles'.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles is a classic. Nothing ropey about it.

Otis Driftwood

I wouldnt really consider a movie that had a crap ending to be a great movie though.Its a bit contradictory,no?

Photi

No Country For Old Men.

And I'm aware of all the arguments to the contrary, that the film was about Tommy Lee Jones' character, that it was about his inability to deal with and protect people from such a person as Chigurh yet I defy anyone to deny that they felt cheated at the denouement having invested so much in Llewellyn's story arc.

civis_liberalis

Apologies if this was mentioned before but...

the ending of I Am Legend

was ****e.

I thought it was a terrible anti-climax that he didn't survive.

purple_hatstand

There was a thread similar to this a few weeks ago where I opined on my disgust at the omission of “The Scouring of the Shire” from the end of the LOTR trilogy suffice not to repeat it again here…

……but, anyway, two which really annoy me are somewhat related. In both ‘28 Days Later’ and ‘I Am Legend’, excellent first and second reels are completely compromised by lacklustre endings which stem from the main characters encountering others who haven’t, thus far, been in the story.

It must be possible to write a convincing tale in which someone wakes up to an empty Earth? But with a convincing ending also - maybe an existentialist piece concerning the loneliness of life and the aloneness of death? I’m on the case…

faceman

civis_liberalis wrote: »

Apologies if this was mentioned before but...

the ending of I Am Legend

was ****e.

I thought it was a terrible anti-climax that he didn't survive.

The film was awful in full. You should read the book, its a classic.

Driver 8

You're supposed to feel cheated about Llewellyn's arc, it's exactly how his wife feels.

Any and all accusations against No Country can be traced directly back to the book, as has been said before.

Still think it's one of the best films of the last ten years

TirNaNog.

The never ending story had such a bad ending to a fantastic film...

purple_hatstand

faceman wrote: »

The film was awful in full. You should read the book, its a classic.

In spite of the ending, I think the film ('I Am Legend') has some excellent sequences - I agree that the book is far superior to all the filmed versions. True of much Sci-Fi, tbh.

purple_hatstand

Driver 8 wrote: »

You're supposed to feel cheated about Llewellyn's arc, it's exactly how his wife feels.

Any and all accusations against No Country can be traced directly back to the book, as has been said before.

Still think it's one of the best films of the last ten years

I agree on the last point but many adaptations of novels have strayed far from their source. The choices the Coen brothers made with regards to NCFOM are/were their own and I, for one, am grateful they held to the courage of their convictions and it's fantastic to see that there are some directors/producers who are able to make the pictures they want within the american system.

Whether people like the ending or not, is none of their (the Coens) business (in a way) - they told a story they wanted to tell in the way they wanted to tell it.

The Coen brothers are not just about 'The Big Lebowski' and 'Fargo' - how many people who don't like the ending to NCFOM really like 'Barton Fink', for example?

Mr.Nice Guy

BQQ wrote: »

When i saw the title of this thread this movie instantly sprung to mind. I agree totally that it should have ended there and it probably would have if Stanley Kubrick hadn't kicked the bucket leaving Spielberg in charge

Wasn't the last part of the film Kubrick's vision of things?

Driver 8

All of it was Kubrick's more or less according to what I've read.

dresden8

Originally Posted by civis_liberalis
Apologies if this was mentioned before but...

the ending of I Am Legend Spoiler: was ****e.

I thought it was a terrible anti-climax that he didn't survive.

faceman wrote: »

The film was awful in full. You should read the book, its a classic.

Omega Man is a much better film. The blaxploitation thing in it is a bit dated though.

krudler

28 Days Later I'd agree with too, the first hour is fantastic, but once they meet the soldiers it completely falls apart, squaddies who want to rape a young girl because they havent had sex for a while? these guys are supposed to be able to go through wars without getting any!

Otis Driftwood

krudler wrote: »

28 Days Later I'd agree with too, the first hour is fantastic, but once they meet the soldiers it completely falls apart, squaddies who want to rape a young girl because they havent had sex for a while? these guys are supposed to be able to go through wars without getting any!

I think that was more to do with the apparent crumbling of society as opposed to them not getting any loving.As far as they knew the world was coming to an end and the basest human behaviours came to the fore as a result.

eamon234

civis_liberalis wrote: »

Apologies if this was mentioned before but...

the ending of I Am Legend

was ****e.

I thought it was a terrible anti-climax that he didn't survive.

There is an alternate ending on the DVD where he survives - don't know if it works as well really.

Kiith

zAbbo wrote: »

Shawshank Redemption

Should be cut when Red is travelling on bus. The meetup at the end is terrible.

And miss out on the best grin of all time from Morgan Freeman? No bloody way.

Shawshank ended perfectly.

][cEMAN**

Gotta agree on the Shawshank ending needing the bit at the end (for me at least). It's one of my favourite films of all time, but if it had ended on the bus with the voiceover, I would have walked away feeling unfulfilled. It's a complete feel good movie, but without the feel good ending, it would have just felt like i'd been stroking for 2hrs without climax.

In the same way, if you weren't going to give people the ending, why bother giving people the explination of the escape? For those who wanted it to end on the bus, it could just as easily have ended with the cell scene where the warden gets pissed off. Red could have spent the rest of the film wondering how he did it, and hoping he'll see his friend again some day.

F4Fake

My nomination here would be Switchblade Romance (a.k.a. High Tension). Great horror movie, and probably the best slasher film of the last 20 years... up until the ending. The ending which spits in the face of all that came before it with some stupid

split-personality twist whereby the principal protagonist is actually somehow the killer, despite the fact that it doesn't make a shred of sense.

Photi

RE: Shawshank.

The main overriding theme of the film is that of hope.

It's what keeps Andy going throughout his entire sentence in the prison and is something he continually preaches the benefit of to Red.

An ending with Red setting off in a bus to the Mexican border with only the hope of seeing his friend and shaking his hand would have been a fitting finale.

ceegee

Happy Monday wrote: »

Man - how could you say that - those last few seconds were all about what made him feel alive - what he was good at - what he could excel at - it defined him.

I just thought that

the scene where hes back home and talking to his kid was a bit cringeworthy, as was the final shot of him back on duty. For some reason they struck me as not fitting in with the rest of the movie . Not entirely sure why, just got a sense itd been tagged on at a late stage - I could be entirely wrong

Personally I would have ended it

after the suicide bomber with the padlocks explodes. I dont need to see his family,

the character is, as you say, defined by his job.

Leave it with him dying/surviving the blast.

WesternNight

In fairness, it wasn't that great a movie, but Knowing.. Jesus H. Christ. Terrible ending.

faceman

WesternNight wrote: »

In fairness, it wasn't that great a movie, but Knowing.. Jesus H. Christ. Terrible ending.

I dont know what was worse, the ending, or the 89 minutes that led up to it! :mad: