Have you ever been enjoying a movie until the filmmakers decided to throw in a random, lazy, or just plain stupid ending that made you want to scream “YOU BLEW IT!” at the screen? Well, I have. This is my list of otherwise solid films that were brought down by some seriously bad endings.
10. Source Code
Hold up, fangirls, save your comments. I like this movie. For the first 85 minutes, you could even say that I loved it. It’s just that this movie would have ended on an absolutely perfect note if it had wrapped up five minutes earlier than it did. Jake Gyllenhaal kissing Michelle Monaghan while their world fades into oblivion was a fantastic, chill inducing ending. Unfortunately, the film continues beyond its natural conclusion and offers a half-hearted explanation as to why Gyllenhaal is still alive beyond the 8 minutes that the source code device allows him to be. Source Code is no doubt a good movie, but it just barely missed greatness.
9. Unknown
This first post-Taken Liam Neeson action flick has an intriguing premise. Neeson wakes up from a coma, only to find out that someone has taken his identity. No one recognizes him. Not even his far-too-young for him wife January Jones. He has been replaced by another man who claims to be him and everyone is buying it. Sadly, this terrific premise and Neeson’s solid acting efforts are tossed away when the movie decides to be a Jason Bourne rip-off in the end. Too bad.
8. The Forgotten
Suddenly… aliens.
7. The Devil’s Advocate
Al Pacino as The Devil is one of the most inspired bits of casting that I’ve ever seen. For the first two hours of The Devil’s Advocate, the film made great use of his performance by backing him up with a very solid and unique narrative about a lawyer (Keanu Reeves) who works for The Evil One himself. Unfortunately, the writers ultimately write themselves into a corner in the climax and just when all hope seems lost, Keanu Reeves’ character commits suicide which somehow allows him to time travel back before he got involved with Mr. Zeebub. It’s not explained how or why this happened and it left me and a lot of other people scratching our heads.
6. Next
Others may argue that the Nicolas Cage movie Next was bad throughout and not just at the end. Personally, I was digging it. Seeing Nicolas Cage as a man who can see two minutes into the future at any time was fun enough thanks to Cage’s weirdly sincere performance and some fun (if ridiculous) action scenes. The ending lost me though as it turns out that nothing we had witnessed in the entire second half of the film actually happened. It was all in Cage’s head during a particularly long look at the future.
5. Nonstop
This is the second Liam Neeson film to appear on this list (interestingly enough both Unknown and this film were directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. I would also say that their third collaboration together Run All Night is let down by its ending albeit not badly enough to make this list). Once again this movie has a solid setup that is wasted by a terrible ending. Neeson plays an Air Marshall who receives threatening texts from an unknown passenger aboard his plane. Soon, people start dying and it’s up to him to find out who the killer is. Is it Julianne Moore? Is it Random Muslim Guy? Is it actually Neeson and we’ve come to trust a man who is a secret murderer? Actually it turns out that the killers are a couple of people who we had never really seen before the big reveal at the end. Now that’s rather anticlimactic. Add in a ridiculous plane crash sequence filled with awful CGI and you have one disappointing finale.
4. Regression
This one is available for home viewing this week, so I though I’d write about it in case you were tempted to see it. Ethan Hawke plays an unbeliever cop who is charged with investigating Satanic cult practices. At the center of these rituals is rape victim Emma Watson whom Hawke must convince to speak out against those who abused her. Soon Hawke begins to question everything he knows as he begins to have frightening visions and becomes convinced that he is being stalked by Devil worshipers.
So what’s the ending? Well, Hawke’s fears were unfounded, there were no Satanists, and Watson made everything up. Uh… scary?
3. I Am Legend
Despite some absolutely terrible CGI vampires, I Am Legend was a terrifically entertaining sci-fi piece for most of its running time thanks to its excellent premise and one of Will Smith’s best performances. Unfortunately, the movie introduces a completely random religious angle in the climax which is clearly only there because no one knew how to end this thing. It turns out that God Himself sent a lady and her kid to Smith at the time of the big vampire v. Smith showdown and they are the key to saving the human race. Say whatever you want about the ending of Signs, but at least that film had already established spiritual themes and Mel Gibson’s crisis of faith BEFORE the final act. This “look at the butterfly, Daddy” ending is complete nonsense.
2. Star Trek Into Darkness
I consider Star Trek Into Darkness to be the very worst film in the Star Trek series which is strange to me considering that for the majority of the running time, I found it to be passably entertaining. Then, in the most despicably lazy act of fan service I’ve ever seen, JJ Abrams remade an iconic scene from The Wrath of Khan (the best Star Trek movie) reversing the roles of Kirk and Spock. How’s that for an exciting climax? Don’t you love it when hack writers rip off movie scenes that you’ve already seen before right down to regurgitating the exact same dialogue?
Then there’s Zachary Quinto’s “KHAN!” scream. Just pitiful.
1. The Game
If you were to ask me what my pick was for the single worst ending to any movie I’ve ever seen, I would unequivocally say David Fincher’s The Game. So many terrible things happened to Michael Douglas in this film. His entire life’s savings disappear, his house becomes absolutely trashed by vandals, and he is drugged and shipped off to Mexico with any way to get back home. The ending in which it turns out that all of this was a birthday prank started by his brother Sean Penn is absolutely idiotic. The fact that his response isn’t something like “I hate you, Sean Penn! After I sue your pants off, I want you out of my life!” but happiness and relief is even more stupid. It’s weird that such a terrible movie was made by someone as talented as Fincher, but at least over the years he’s confessed that he too finds the ending of The Game to be stupid.
So, I turn the conversation to you! Was I wrong about any of these? Are there any others that deserve to be on a list like this? Sound off below!