As someone who has dabbled in the world of creative writing, I have to say: endings are hard….
I mean like, really, really hard.
You can create the greatest story with amazing characters and all the best intentions to change the world of storytelling as we know it. But, if you can’t deliver a satisfying ending, all that hard work will be for nothing and more importantly, your audience is going to be bummed.
Which brings me to today’s installment of The List – good movies with bad endings, and once you see the list you’ll understand why I didn’t refer to them as ‘great’.
But before we get started, I want to be clear that I don’t think these movies are all bad. In fact, a couple of them are very near and dear to me.
But unfortunately they’ve got endings which never lived up to their promising beginnings, and in a few cases, had an ending so crappy it almost managed to spoil the whole movie.
So let’s begin, but be warned, there are going to be spoilers, so read carefully…
Friends and family have heard my rant about some of the less than admirable elements to Tarantino’s ode to samurai’s and gunslingers. But part of the thrill of writing these lists is I get to air my grievances to a whole new audience.
And while I have a few complaints about the second installment the biggest complaint is the ending.
Namely, that in the final moments between The Bride and her nemesis Bill, instead of an action packed showdown between equals, we are treated to a lecture on Superman and a weepy chat in the garden before an all too brief Five-Point-Palm Exploding-Heart-Technique.
2. Grease
There are very few women in my generation who are not intimately familiar with the musical wonder that is Grease (is the word..is the word. Sorry).
But to this day I have no idea why at the end of what is a perfectly respectable tale of a beautiful goodie-goodie and a hood with a heart of gold, our young lovers jump into a car which proceeds to fly off into the clouds (easily a top five contender of the biggest WTF endings in cinema history).
It even prompted my 8 year old self to demand a parental explanation of why Grease Lightning could fly – I was nothing if not a practical kid.
3. War of The Worlds
There is a certain willingness to suspend disbelief when you sit down to watch a story about alien invasion.
But sometimes a director and writer take advantage of the willingness of your audience to pay no attention to logic, which is exactly what happened in Steven Spielberg’s 2005 adaptation of H.G Wells’ novel.
I can forgive plenty of gaps in reality on the big screen but after being treated to scenes of societal breakdown and alien armageddon, Spielberg’s determination to have a happy ending meant I had to swallow the possibility that a delightful Brownstone in Boston and its inhabitants escape without a scratch.
And for me, that was just too much for even the most forgiving moviegoer.
4. Matrix Revolutions
Say what you will about The Wachowski’s sci-fi trilogy, but they created something special with the first film back in 1999, and for that, fans of cyberpunk and anime aesthetics will be forever grateful.
But no doubt about it, they had plenty to make up for after the philosophical gobbledygook and bloated CGI extravaganza that was Matrix Reloaded.
Unfortunately for audiences, the final instalment was their chance to make it right and they failed…miserably. Instead of a return to form, we got cheesy dialogue packed with even more gobbledygook and a Jesus pose that made us all want to forget that the last two movies had ever happened.
And to this day, I can’t see The Architect without envisioning Will Ferrell.
5. High Tension
Now this is a good example of the heart not always agreeing with the head.
So no matter how much I may love this movie, I can’t ignore the obvious.
Alexandre Aja’s 2003 horror about a young woman terrorized by a murderous trucker has some of the most harrowing and terrifying moments that I’ve ever seen on the big screen and for that I love the film.
But unfortunately it also has a plot twist with a gap in logic you could drive a truck through…which is how it earned the final spot on the list.
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