Worst Movie Endings
Eric Norcross: I don’t typically get disappointed by endings unless I’ve been disappointed by other areas of the story. It’s a part of a package and often if an ending doesn’t work, it’s because the movie that came before doesn’t work. Often times I find that many people just don’t know how to watch movies and read characters. Case in point: almost everyone I know who is not a screenwriter or director, absolutely hates the ending of American Beauty. They all wanted the “wife” to be the shooter, not the Nazi sympathizing neighbor. But the fact of the matter is that the wife, her core character, is completely incapable of pulling the trigger on her husband. Mentally, the only person in the entire movie that has any murderous inclination about him, is the one who actually did it. It’s actually a GREAT ending and a wonderful example of a writer who understands his story and his characters. Sorry I couldn’t be as negative as you wanted, I’m actually working really hard not to talk negatively about other people’s film work. Karma’s a fickle bitch after all.
Batman Begins
Caliber Winfield: Batman Begins – The whole film we’re building up Scarecrow as the main villain, who’s cool, & interesting. Then the ending comes, and all of a sudden he’s tazed in the face, and that’s it. Meanwhile, Qui-Gon Jinn parachutes into the film, says he’s the main bad guy, is incredibly bland & generic, and we’re suppose to care about him all of a sudden. It would be a pattern that would be indicative of the Nolan Batman films. Great movies, lame endings.
AI
Ruby Le Rouge: I respect Spielberg as a Director, but he should never have stepped within 10 feet of Kubrick’s script. The original story far darker and far grittier, Spielberg turned it into his own take, instead of honoring Kubrick’s material. The worst part was feeling the moment that the script should have ended, a far more bleak yet strong conclusion, and then having it continue with that travesty of a deus ex machina happy ending tacked on. He seems to buy into the inane belief that American’s can only handle happy endings.
The Life of David Gale
Derek Johns: A terrible movie ending normally leaves me feeling annoyed and cheated out of a couple of hours of my life. This ending however, left me in a state of barely repressed rage that I normally only reserve for Michael Bay. For those of you fortunate enough to have never watched this garbage, it’s an anti-death row movie that shamefully wastes the talents of Kevin Spacey, Kate Winslet and Laura Linney. Overall the film is convoluted, annoyingly pretentious and frankly doesn’t do either side of the death penalty argument any favors. The ending however, is what “elevates” the film from merely being a failed Oscar Bait drama into a full blown irredeemable piece of crap. On a side note, this film also received a dreaded (richly deserved) 0 star review from Roger Ebert.
Jesse Blume: I’m with Derek Johns on this one. “The Life of David Gale” has the single worst movie ending I’ve ever personally seen.
I hate this movie. I hate it for a hundred reasons. I’ve hated it ever since the last-second twist ending. I screamed aloud in anger and outrage at the unbelievably stupid resolution Alan Parker and Charles Randolph gave us. I hate the fact they thought that it was brilliant, that it would get them Oscars and awards and critical acclaim. I hate that they took the extremely serious issue of capital punishment and made this film. I hate the fact they took an admittedly interesting story premise, with all too many real life parallels and opportunities for inspiration, and came up with this, the most contrived and sickening ending possible. I hate the fact they made Spacey, Winslet, and Linney, some of the most talented actors of our time, look this bad. I hate the fact that this film shares subject matter with Dead Man Walking, a masterpiece and one of the finest “issue” films America has ever produced. I hate the fact that David Gale is more famous than Troy Davis.
In conclusion, I hate everything about this film and what it tries to be, and it’s all because of the ending. The ending defines the whole damn thing, and overshadows any miniscule merit that this picture could have had. May it to be damned to the deepest level of cinematic Hell!
The Village
Tamica Phipps: The freaking Village. I was so angry with that movie. My expectations were probably too high after watching previous M. Night movies but I was still angry. The whole time I was desperately hoping that the mysterious build up was leading somewhere better than what it did. I know many people liked the twist but it just pissed me off.
Parker
Bethany Lewis: Any action movie where the male and female lead arbitrarily end up romantically involved, even when it doesn’t make sense or add anything to the movie. And even when it doesn’t make sense, it still feels completely predictable when it inevitable happens. It really says something, even about the stronger female characters who hold their own in these movies, that they can’t seem to have a normal working relationship with a man without also looking for a potential husband in the process, or that the male leads see all their female work partners as sexual objects. I will choose specifically Parker (2013). While Jennifer Lopez didn’t land Jason Statham, she tried pretty hard because she seemed to believe that all her problems would be solved by a man and some money. In the end, she landed a wad of cash with the implication that her previously shitty life would completely change for the better, even though she hadn’t. What was refreshing about this movie was that Statham didn’t buy into the formula and ultimately rejected Lopez’s advances. It was still a terrible movie.
Planet of the Apes
Caleb Masters: One of the most baffling and head scratching endings impossible to resolve even after hours of thought has to be the end of the 2001 “Planet of the Apes” remake. I’ve seen great movies with bad endings and I’ve seen good movies with confusing endings, but I’ve never seen a movie that I still can’t come to terms with even 13 years later.
How did earth evolve into our civilization replaced with Apes? How did Mark Wahlberg leave the planet and arrive on the same rock? How did the Apes know to model their society after our own? How did Apes develop into a Democratic Republic with a Lincoln Memorial replaced by an Ape?
Geez my head hurts…..
The Devil Inside
Shawn S. Lealos: It is one thing to have a bad ending. It is another thing to NOT HAVE A FREAKING ENDING AT ALL. That is what happened to the poor saps who dished out their hard earned money to watch The Devil Inside. After going through a movie that was decent when it comes to low budget horror, audiences got to the end and the movie just abruptly ended with no resolution. Even worse, the fans were then asked to go home and visit a website to see what happened next. The filmmakers might have thought they were bring clever, but they were being lazy and manipulative. It was a stupid idea that the studios should have forced to be changed.
I can answer the Planet of the Apes ending for you. In the beginning of the film, you saw a storm of spacial rifts. Mark Whalberg, the chimp, and the station all traveled through the same rift, but at different times. When he left the planet at the end of the film he emerged from one rift in the storm only to enter another. All of the spacial rifts within the storm were gateways to parallel realities. He didn’t make it back to the same earth he originally came from, he travelled to a new one. All of the realities in the storm were different evolutions in the role of apes. Our reality, they couldn’t talk and were simple lab animals. The world Mark first went to, apes dominating the planet, but their society was primitive compared to the world he knew. The one at the end of the movie mirrored our world circa 2000. Another world may have been even more advanced…etc., etc.
That actually makes a lot of sense when compared to things like the classic DC Comics alternate Earths.
Thanks Shawn, I also thought it was interesting that things emerged from the rift at different times, and I believe it may have something to do with the objects mass. The chimp was the first to enter in the beginning of the film, also the least mass. Mark Wahlberg entered second, although his and the chimp’s ship were the same size, Mark was considerably lager. Then lastly, the space station eventually followed, and of course had the largest mass. Now even though the station went last, its size caused it to emerge from the rift in the apes reality yearrrrrrs before Mark’s ship did. Then after a few days (maybe a week) the chimps ship arrived just before the end of the film. I found the chronology of the film very interesting, and the whole thing extremely entertaining for the sci-fi fan who enjoys a good think with their popcorn.