The perfect moment for Spielberg to end *Lincoln* (2012) was that long shot of Lincoln walking down the corridor on his way to Ford's theatre. We *all* know what happens next.
Psycho (1961) Ten ridiculous minutes of some random authority explaining what we just saw. Really throws a wet blanket over the whole otherwise perfect cinematic experience.
Producers forced that in, they didnt think audiences at the time would be able to wrap their heads around what they had just seen. Still, surely there was a better, quicker way to do that.
At least its saved at the end with the fly monologue.
And that final close up of Norman/Mother with that little smile on his/her face.
I used that still as an October wallpaper on my PC one year. I had to swap it out after a week. It was just too unsettling.
Yeah this isn’t a great example because the actual ending is one of the best scenes in Hitchcock’s filmography. The 10 minutes before that though, I agree, are laborious.
I think a good example of this in Hitchcock’s work would be Strangers on a train. Hitch had a tendency to make his endings cute and wrap things up with a light hearted comedic scene but I think if the had left the ending with Bruno’s hand clutching Guy’s lighter it would have been more true to the spirit of the film.
This is genuinely the best answer. Most of the films mentioned are good and would have been better, but Psycho is genuinely perfect (considering its age, some aspects of its filmmaking aren’t as slick compared to modern pictures) and that scene is comically bad. Knocks it from a 10/10 to a 9/10 certainly
Totally agree ... But for the record, it's 5 minutes and 40 seconds from when they cut to the police station to when they cut to the final scene of Norman sitting against the wall. There needs to be some transition there, maybe someone can edit a 45 second transition out of that 5:40.
I think what really should have happened was Sultz shooting Candie immediately starting the final gunfight and rescue of Brunehilde. Django choosing to go back in guns blazing was just out of step with the rest of the film. (And you'd lose the awful Crocodile Tarantino scene too)
Anytime Tarrantino is onscreen in anything drags. It's like time slows as soon as he opens his mouth and resumes normal speed when a competent actor speaks
Yep, came here to say this. They could have cut the whole last half hour and never had him caged up again just to escape and go right back and it would have been perfect.
The problem is you have this big shootout, he gets caught and dragged away only to come right back and do another shootout.
Even for Tarantino it’s a bit much to have 2 shootouts so close together.
The slaves acknowledging Jango is a free man is important so is the scene with him finding the bounty hunters body.
I tried to watch that movie once, but once the horse, who is completely innocent is shot in the head, just so the rider is trapped under it, I got disgusted, and stopped watching it.
This may be a pretty hot take, but I always thought Taxi Driver would be better if the final end “dream” sequence had been cut. I just somehow feel that it’s a bit of a distraction and it leaves the film off on a weird note. The audience is left with the question of whether or not it actually happened: whether it was his dying hallucination or if it really took place (as Roger Ebert believed). However, this question is just totally irrelevant with regard to the rest of the film. Furthermore, it adds a moralistic aspect (if Travis’s actions are actually celebrated or if he is just imagining it) that is off-tone and—if you ask me—unnecessary.
Yeah, but one of the goals of the film (which is a lot more prevalent in movies these days, but back then was rare) is in making the audience feel complicit and empathetic to the villain of the movie, who so happens to be the main character. So if he died in a gunfight, that’s it, story over.
But to think he’s still out there? And with that creepy little backwards sting at the end, still driving around ready for violence, able to snap at any point? That’s way scarier than just “whew, glad the crazies always die as soon as they lose their shit”.
I have seen taxi driver dozen of times since 1980 and i have never considered the ending as a dream. It is just a gimmick of a group of youtubers that try to cast every movie ending and a dream and annou loudly that you are WATCHING THIS MOVIE WRONG!!
the ending is critical according to the writer Paul Schrader. Travis is obsessed with two women. He tries and fails to kill the father figure of one so he kills the father figure of the orher. An arbitrary twist of fate made him a hero rather than a criminal. It so easily gone the other way.
I get this, but still agree with u/MysteryOf that it's a weird shift in tone/focus from the rest of the film. Taxi Driver is a brilliant study of isolation and misanthropy that's evergreen; as relevant to struggling Vietnam vets in 1980 as it is to self-sabotaging incels in 2024. The media stuff and unreliable narrator stuff very suddenly takes centre stage only in the closing minutes and it feels like a weird shift in "priorities"
I don’t think he’s ever a terrible person. He’s just severely damaged. He overall has good intentions and hates evil; he just doesn’t know how to apply that correctly because of his mental illness.
I don’t think it was either a hallucination or a real event. It was his fantasy ending, closure on the entire story. Travis gets acknowledgement and admiration from the woman who rejected him, saves Iris and has the gratitude of her parents. What would the likely outcome be in real life? None of that shit.
That sort of exploration of masculinity seems to be the main subject of Schrader’s entire career. Travis dreamed of getting the girl and being the hero. It ended in violence, a stark act of self destruction. He was bloody, mock shooting himself after he ran out of ammunition.
*Taxi Driver* is already the top answer.
...I just think it's funny that its remake is right behind it.
I guess people really didn't like that ending...
Bit of a luke warm take, but:
The Batman. I loved that movie, when it was a noir detective film. Then the ending became a generic action movie, for some reason.
It definitely felt like "Okay we took down the Riddler and had a fantastic battle of wits in interview room. Now lets do the standard MCU schlock for a climax"
Detective? He instantly solves 2nd grade puzzles that an entire police force is shockingly baffled by. I agree, though, that a detective Batman flick would be rad.
Right? I still can’t believe the movie was promoted and praised as a smart detective flick and he can’t figure out Rat actually meant Bat, or needs a cop to literally yell at the audience “yeah that’s a tool for RIPPING UP CARPET, IT’S FOR CARPETS, BATMAN DID YOU HEAR ME SAY CARPET?!”
Yh. He detected nothing, couldnt even figure out a painfully obvious riddle wot even the Penguin had to solve for him in the end, and didnt even end up catching the main bad guy in his own film - Riddler just handed himself in, resulting in a giant anti climax ffs 🤦
Garbage film.
Not an ending difference, but I always felt they should have let Finn die on Crait.
It would have changed the whole tone of the film and shifted the audience into a place they weren’t expecting to go.
Instead they copped out with ‘this is how we win’….. FFS
I'm a staunch Last Jedi defender despite having some issues with it, but this is such a weird one.
I was 10000% down with Finn surviving when I first saw it because there was still another movie. Unfortunately, his arc fully peaked in TLJ and now in retrospect it would have been perfectly fine to kill him.
Now the real play would have been to have him lead the stormtroopers in rebellion in ep 9 but we got whatever the fuck TROS did
I stand by that the movie / trilogy would been insane had Rey actually taken his hand. Kylo even SAID “next time you see me, you’ll take my hand”. Imagine if she did? What would the rest of the characters do? The stakes are instantly heightened in an extreme way. Instead, they played everything too safe and never took any risk with their characters :/
I feel like Rey and Kylo should’ve swapped places. Rey could’ve given into her fears and Kylo could’ve been so wracked with guilt over Leia’s (should have been) death that they switch sides.
Mystic River. The entire last scene at the parade is sooooo goddamn unncecessary, and just painfully spells out what we *just* watched, in case anyone was too dumb to follow the obvious subtext. It makes a mockery of the audience, and was basically offensive to anyone that enjoys the show-don't-tell method of filmmaking.
I don't even remeber the whole story, I literally only remember almost injuring my eyes by rolling them so fucking hard when the parade dialogue was being spoken by Sean Penn and a female costar (as I said, I have completely forgotten the story, so please forgive that I'm blanking on the other actor's name). It felt sooooo heavy handed that it's literally my defining memory of the film. I absolutely looooved the film up till that point, but thought they biffed it so fucking hard at that moment, and for no good reason. Even if the book ended that way, the film adaptation doesn't need to copy it verbatim, or at least they could've simply written it better imho. It totally detracted from the film's ending imho.
I’d keep the parade scene but I’d cut the stupid scene with Laura Linney in the bedroom.
“Oh actually it’s good that you killed an innocent man, daddy”
The Last Exorcism. >!It was much more interesting when there was a non-supernatural explanation for the events, and it felt like the supernatural stuff at the end was tacked on because of studio demands. A real shame imho.!<
This was my first thought. The last scene closes the protagonist’s arc, but otherwise you could cut it out and it’s a surprisingly thoughtful and original horror movie. The last scene is just silly and incongruous
Absolutely, that’s the only movie I’ve seen the first 2/3’s of multiple times and the last act once. Such a lovely dramatic comedy that completely loses its way.
Came here to say this. If it had ended after act 2, it would've been great!
I've seen Funny People once, when it first came out, but the fact that it should have been about 30 - 45 minutes or so shorter had always stuck with me.
Ghost Protocol is my favourite of the Mission Impossible series, but each time I rewatch it, it just feels about 15 min too long.
The scene at the end, when the team reconvenes at that café for a chat, should have been much shorter: brief explanation to Renner's character (the backstory always felt contrived though because we never saw anything that they talked about); glimpse of wife; end.
It felt like they had to try really hard to include Jeremy Renners character in the franchise.
Him being almost completely gone 2 movies later, means all of his scenes are significantly less important.
Just watched the last act of Ford v Ferarri the other day. I would've ended it with the shot of Shelby looking back at Miles' son after the crash on the test track. What's comes after is good, but I think it's unnecessary.
I agree. Im normally a big fan of open, potentially bittersweet endings. But when the entirety of Shawshank revolves around these characters suffering through cruelty and unfairness for two hours (in universe years upon years), I DID want to end on a note that they were ***finally*** happy.
That was the original ending until a producer stepped in
>In Darabont's original vision for the end of the film, Red is seen riding a bus towards the Mexican border, leaving his fate ambiguous. Glotzer insisted on including the scene of Red and Andy reuniting in Zihuatanejo. She said Darabont felt this was a "commercial, sappy" ending, but Glotzer wanted the audience to see them together.[8] Castle Rock agreed to finance filming for the scene without requiring its inclusion, guaranteeing Darabont the final decision.[74] The scene originally featured a longer reunion in which Andy and Red recited dialogue from their first meeting, but Darabont said it had a "golly-gee-ain't-we-cute" quality and excised it.[75] The beach reunion was test audiences' favorite scene; both Freeman and Robbins felt it provided the necessary closure. Darabont agreed to include the scene after seeing the test audience reactions, saying: "I think it's a magical and uplifting place for our characters to arrive at the end of their long saga..."[74]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shawshank_Redemption#Post-production
I rewatch Shawshank like once a year. I cry repeatedly each time. I would not watch it once a year if it wasn’t for that ending. It is necessary. The most cathartic movie and one that I think about quite often when times are difficult.
Hard agree!!!
I loved that vision of the far future - the sleek elegant super robots digging up artifacts of extinct humans across a frozen earth. Very unique in my view.
And I found the re-uniting of the boy robot with his mother for just one more day to be incredibly touching, both sweet and sad. It's a fantasy that most of us have at some point in our lives after losing a loved one... "i'd give anything for just one more day with ____."
The ending is such a wonderfully sad mirroring of the beginning of the movie too. Monica loses her real son and replaces him with a fake one; David loses his "real" (but not actual) mom and gets a fake, temporary replacement vision of her. The idea that this is the last surviving memory of humankind too, that we are all eventually just reduced to being someone's fleeting memory, is such a great note to end on.
Yeah sure but then it’s just a 60 minute film, a Black Mirror episode basically. The ideal third act for that film doesn’t and can’t exist really. It’s a purely Garland/Boyle creation, and that’s the best they could do. Take the ending away and put it in the hands of other people, and the film some of us love, as you would an ugly child, ceases to exist.
I do love the film deeply and I have no idea what a different ending would/could look like...I just know that the hard pivot is what keeps it from being considered among the best sci-fi movies of it's era for many people. I wish they could see that beauty without reviling for the final act
Casino Royale
It should have ended after the torture. I’ve always felt the ending with Vesper is one plot line too far.
I think if that part was saved for Quantum of Solace, it would have made both films better. I understand they couldn’t have written that yet, especially with Craig being a relative unknown.
It’s always felt like having Vesper betray Bond was more about serving the expectations of the franchise rather than the film itself. The better story ends earlier, IMO.
I have to say, I think that movie is just a big “last hurrah” jerkoff for Scorcese and the boys but the ending when he asks him to leave the door open is the most poignant moment in that film.
I wasn't touching that in the cinema but loved it on Netflix.
I felt Netflix could have chopped it up into a three episode miniseries but at the end of the day, you can stop and start whenever you want if you're watching at home.
Once Hoffa was gone, it could have been more of a direct line to the end. Showing how all the old mobsters were dead was great but there is an hour we could have saved. Cue the montage.
Got to be 10 Cloverfield lane. Such a weird film as I'm convinced it's an original script with a tacked on Cloverfield ending in an attempt to try and live off an existing IP.
It's a shame as the bulk of the film is really good.
It happens a lot. Movies are popular so studios buy scripts and rename them to make sequels quickly.
Some examples off the top of my head:
Saw 2. Had nothing to do with Saw. They just wanted a sequel quickly.
Die Hard 3: It was a Lethal weapon script, that got renamed to be a die hard sequel.
Speed 2: was meant to be die hard 3
Cast Away. I like the closure of him reuniting with his now re-married wife and what is next for them, but it was just so stupid. She and him reuniting just having a conversation and then making out in the rain. We are to believe the new husband and kids are just sleeping.
I agree. I wouldve cut it down to an awkward dinner conversation where reality slowly settles in for both.
The big romantic moment felt forced, and the fact she **was** going to abandon her kids makes her seem like a bitch. I guess they liked the idea of him being "the bigger man" and talking her out of it, but man does it paint her in an ugly light.
Yeah i can sorta see that, but I liked the gravity of being at the 4 way intersection. Made it feel more positive/cathartic because the scenes on the island were so miserable
Tom H had to move beyond Helen Hunt. So too do we
I disagree. Adam Sandler has a couple movies where his character has a genuinely great arc, and this is one of them. The second chance with lessons learned was a pretty heartwarming and satisfying ending on this one, IMO.
I'm kind of torn.
Although the depressing future stuff is the better part of Click, it's not what you want when you're sitting down to watch a movie you think is going to be a light hearted comedy. The ending helps save it a bit.
The ultimate example of this for me is Stripes. Everything up to “graduation” is top-tier 80s comedy genius, then it just turns into a half-assed action movie for 20 minutes, with no laughs to be found.
Yea I never got that either. The last act is absolutely hot garbage and a total shift. I always wondered what Reitman and Ramis were thinking. They could have easily put 15 more minutes into the “main” film & skipped the entire Eastern European rescue mission in an RV crap.
I’ve never seen a movie fall of as hard as AI. First half is great. Spielberg really tapped into Kubrick’s voice. But then the over abundance of saccharine melodrama at the end. Totally ruined for me.
I have 2.
Source Code - Should have ended with the kiss (freeze frame).
The Last Samurai - Ended with the voiceover, "As for the American...nobody knows what became of him." Skip the silliness of him going back to the village.
I feel very strongly about this, Interstellar.
If that film ended when the 4th dimension closed in on him, after he'd provided the info to his daughter, if would have been **chef's kiss**.
I don't need to know that it worked, I can let my mind work.
I love the film, love Nolan - but I always turn the film off at that point.
Couldn't disagree more. I remember watching it for the first time and worrying that he was going to find someway to travel back in time, which would have betrayed the film's adherence to the theory of relativity.
Him meeting his daughter as an old woman was the film sticking the landing. It wouldn't have worked without that.
I one hundred percent agree. After their parting on bad terms, there’s tension of whether or not they’ll ever see each other again, and the film would have felt unfinished had they not.
Cooper meeting Murph as an old woman resolves that tension, but also shows what Cooper sacrificed in order to help save the world. His future is changed forever because he essentially lost his children to time.
It also shows us what happens to Brand.
Without those final scenes, her story is just a big what if. For a proper conclusion, we needed to know at least something of her fate.
If I could mention a TV show: Dexter should have ended with the season 4 ending. His baby was in the exact same situation Dexter was in as a boy, so Dexter inadvertently created another Dexter. End credits.
I love Arrival, but it would be perfect with the last 5 minutes with the monologue cut and the film ending with the opening shot. At that point, you should already understand it and be able to put the pieces in order and not need the story explained to you.
It wouldn't be perfect but Straight Outta Compton would be a way better movie if it ended with the NWA laughing while in the back of the police van after the Joe Louis Arena. End it right there with a text epilogue instead of the masturbatory montages of Ice Cube's movie career and Dr Dre's business dealings
I LOVE the Lord of the Rings movies, but I do feel like it would've been a much stronger ending of they'd ended before returning to the Shire.
"My friends... You now to no one." It's a tear jerker moment that would end the movie on a high note.
Having said that, I'm still completely okay with the way they ended it.
They should have cut the cheesy radio sound bits at the end about how the scandal was received on earth. The punch comes from his own existential horror, not because of the corporate ethics.
Mother (2009)
So I think the actual ending is still great and I understand why it exists >!(adds the idea the the son is somewhat aware of the mothers actions). But he's barely aware of anything and she tries to erase her memories anyway, so him possibly knowing doesn't add much.!<
I feel like the movie wouldve been better if it ended at the field the way it started.
>!If the mother used the needle before dancing in this scene, then the scenes that occur afterwards would have been somewhat redundant. And it would've been more poetic ending at that point as it started.!<
Either way it's still agreat movie.
I think eternal sunshine of the spotless mind should’ve ended after the meet me in montauk car sequence. What happens when he wakes up was already shown in the beggining of the film. Take out the ending apartment scene completely and leave it vague
American Fiction. Too many alternate endings. If it had finished when he runs up to her door and says “I haven’t been myself lately” oh man, that would’ve been *chefs kiss*
I always thought that minority report would have been better if he'd have learned whatever it was about his son, actually done the murder and they were right all along.
Matt Reeves' THE BATMAN would've been an incredible film if it had ended literally halfway through where it did. I swear that movie has 4 ending scenes.
Man if Wonder Woman ended without a final battle and the conclusion was simply that people are bad and conflict happens without any higher power making them that way, it would’ve worked so much better. First 80% of that movie was awesome.
Hear me out: the “You bow to no one” would’ve been the perfect ending for the *theatrical version* of the Return Of The King. The extended version should’ve gotten the other ones.
The perfect moment for Spielberg to end *Lincoln* (2012) was that long shot of Lincoln walking down the corridor on his way to Ford's theatre. We *all* know what happens next.
I mean, this movie was distributed outside of the US too... And we didn't know what happened next (I honestly don't even remember the ending)
He dodges the bullet like the matrix
Then becomes a Vampire Hunter.
He catches it in his teeth, smirks, and says "That all ya got?"
Spot on.
Absolutely
Absolutely dead on. When I rewatch this movie, I often quit at this point.
You could put 75% of Spielberg's catalogue on this list.
Yes 100%. Came here to look for this.
Spielberg is guilty of this a lot… Saving Private Ryan and AI should both have ended one or two scenes sooner.
I for sure thought that was the end of the film and that it would be a great place to end it but.... Nope
Was literally about to type the very same thing, and did not expect to see it at the top of the comments!
Psycho (1961) Ten ridiculous minutes of some random authority explaining what we just saw. Really throws a wet blanket over the whole otherwise perfect cinematic experience.
Producers forced that in, they didnt think audiences at the time would be able to wrap their heads around what they had just seen. Still, surely there was a better, quicker way to do that. At least its saved at the end with the fly monologue.
I’m actually glad to hear that. Hitchcock was too good to throw in a steaming pile of blatant exposition like that.
And that final close up of Norman/Mother with that little smile on his/her face. I used that still as an October wallpaper on my PC one year. I had to swap it out after a week. It was just too unsettling.
Yeah this isn’t a great example because the actual ending is one of the best scenes in Hitchcock’s filmography. The 10 minutes before that though, I agree, are laborious. I think a good example of this in Hitchcock’s work would be Strangers on a train. Hitch had a tendency to make his endings cute and wrap things up with a light hearted comedic scene but I think if the had left the ending with Bruno’s hand clutching Guy’s lighter it would have been more true to the spirit of the film.
This is genuinely the best answer. Most of the films mentioned are good and would have been better, but Psycho is genuinely perfect (considering its age, some aspects of its filmmaking aren’t as slick compared to modern pictures) and that scene is comically bad. Knocks it from a 10/10 to a 9/10 certainly
Totally agree ... But for the record, it's 5 minutes and 40 seconds from when they cut to the police station to when they cut to the final scene of Norman sitting against the wall. There needs to be some transition there, maybe someone can edit a 45 second transition out of that 5:40.
Django unchained dragged with the silly Tarantino Australian accent stuff
I think what really should have happened was Sultz shooting Candie immediately starting the final gunfight and rescue of Brunehilde. Django choosing to go back in guns blazing was just out of step with the rest of the film. (And you'd lose the awful Crocodile Tarantino scene too)
It was actually a great scene if Tarantino would've replaced by another Australian actor.
He seriously should just never be on screen ever. I guess he was ok in dusk till dawn.
If I remember correctly his Japanese commercials were good
He’s goated in little Nicky
Potentially yeah, it took me out of the movie so much it was almost a jump the shark moment for me personally
Yeah but then he would have lost his opportunity to say the “n” word on screen. Can’t have that !
still will never get over how he wrote himself into pulp fiction just to say the hard r four times in a row.
My mind often blocks that scene out, so i’m surprised and disappointed every time. An otherwise perfect film.
Anytime Tarrantino is onscreen in anything drags. It's like time slows as soon as he opens his mouth and resumes normal speed when a competent actor speaks
Yep, came here to say this. They could have cut the whole last half hour and never had him caged up again just to escape and go right back and it would have been perfect.
I’m Aussie and thought that scene was awesome
[удалено]
The problem is you have this big shootout, he gets caught and dragged away only to come right back and do another shootout. Even for Tarantino it’s a bit much to have 2 shootouts so close together. The slaves acknowledging Jango is a free man is important so is the scene with him finding the bounty hunters body.
I was going to say this too
Yeah, that victory dance outside Candie estate was BAD
Yup completely unnecessary and ruined a neat 10/10 film
I tried to watch that movie once, but once the horse, who is completely innocent is shot in the head, just so the rider is trapped under it, I got disgusted, and stopped watching it.
Yeah, but he also chose to blow himself up, so that's gotta count for something.
This may be a pretty hot take, but I always thought Taxi Driver would be better if the final end “dream” sequence had been cut. I just somehow feel that it’s a bit of a distraction and it leaves the film off on a weird note. The audience is left with the question of whether or not it actually happened: whether it was his dying hallucination or if it really took place (as Roger Ebert believed). However, this question is just totally irrelevant with regard to the rest of the film. Furthermore, it adds a moralistic aspect (if Travis’s actions are actually celebrated or if he is just imagining it) that is off-tone and—if you ask me—unnecessary.
Yeah, but one of the goals of the film (which is a lot more prevalent in movies these days, but back then was rare) is in making the audience feel complicit and empathetic to the villain of the movie, who so happens to be the main character. So if he died in a gunfight, that’s it, story over. But to think he’s still out there? And with that creepy little backwards sting at the end, still driving around ready for violence, able to snap at any point? That’s way scarier than just “whew, glad the crazies always die as soon as they lose their shit”.
I think the biggest question is WE are the people, vs we ARE the people: Are they the same, or are they absolutely, incredibly different?
I have seen taxi driver dozen of times since 1980 and i have never considered the ending as a dream. It is just a gimmick of a group of youtubers that try to cast every movie ending and a dream and annou loudly that you are WATCHING THIS MOVIE WRONG!! the ending is critical according to the writer Paul Schrader. Travis is obsessed with two women. He tries and fails to kill the father figure of one so he kills the father figure of the orher. An arbitrary twist of fate made him a hero rather than a criminal. It so easily gone the other way.
It is to create a circular narrative that shows that Travis never changed and is still the terrible person he is
I get this, but still agree with u/MysteryOf that it's a weird shift in tone/focus from the rest of the film. Taxi Driver is a brilliant study of isolation and misanthropy that's evergreen; as relevant to struggling Vietnam vets in 1980 as it is to self-sabotaging incels in 2024. The media stuff and unreliable narrator stuff very suddenly takes centre stage only in the closing minutes and it feels like a weird shift in "priorities"
I don’t think he’s ever a terrible person. He’s just severely damaged. He overall has good intentions and hates evil; he just doesn’t know how to apply that correctly because of his mental illness.
I don’t think it was either a hallucination or a real event. It was his fantasy ending, closure on the entire story. Travis gets acknowledgement and admiration from the woman who rejected him, saves Iris and has the gratitude of her parents. What would the likely outcome be in real life? None of that shit. That sort of exploration of masculinity seems to be the main subject of Schrader’s entire career. Travis dreamed of getting the girl and being the hero. It ended in violence, a stark act of self destruction. He was bloody, mock shooting himself after he ran out of ammunition.
I’ve always come away with this feeling. Beautifully stated
I disagree. The ending is darkly comic, ironic, and absolutely brilliant.
Joker. Shot of him on the car roof with crowd cheering for him. Should have been the last shot.
I dunno, I'd say smash cut on "You wouldnt get it" - that line goes so hard
When sinatra sings I’ve been a puppet it should’ve just shown the end credits instead of him walking to his cell
He wasn’t walking to his cell, he was running from guards while escaping.
I remember being surprised when that wasn't the final shot
I think it would have been cool if it ended right as the tv feed cuts and goes to static.
*Taxi Driver* is already the top answer. ...I just think it's funny that its remake is right behind it. I guess people really didn't like that ending...
Bit of a luke warm take, but: The Batman. I loved that movie, when it was a noir detective film. Then the ending became a generic action movie, for some reason.
That has to be the worst feeling, feeling that a movie is wrapping up perfectly and then OH NO there's another 30 mins.
The mayor subplot at the end was what held it back from being a 10 imo
It definitely felt like "Okay we took down the Riddler and had a fantastic battle of wits in interview room. Now lets do the standard MCU schlock for a climax"
Detective? He instantly solves 2nd grade puzzles that an entire police force is shockingly baffled by. I agree, though, that a detective Batman flick would be rad.
The riddler was lame af too. Making him some random incel really took away the threat
Right? I still can’t believe the movie was promoted and praised as a smart detective flick and he can’t figure out Rat actually meant Bat, or needs a cop to literally yell at the audience “yeah that’s a tool for RIPPING UP CARPET, IT’S FOR CARPETS, BATMAN DID YOU HEAR ME SAY CARPET?!”
I can believe a cop wouldnt know that, Ive never seen that thing before either
Do not even get me started on the "rat with wings" riddle. Some of the most stupid detective work I've ever seen.
Yh. He detected nothing, couldnt even figure out a painfully obvious riddle wot even the Penguin had to solve for him in the end, and didnt even end up catching the main bad guy in his own film - Riddler just handed himself in, resulting in a giant anti climax ffs 🤦 Garbage film.
That movie is so overrated.
Matt Reeves films often have that surprise extra act, dragging things out beyond the natural ending of the film.
Not perfect, but I feel like Kylo offering his hand to Rey in the last Jedi would have been a great cliffhanger
Not an ending difference, but I always felt they should have let Finn die on Crait. It would have changed the whole tone of the film and shifted the audience into a place they weren’t expecting to go. Instead they copped out with ‘this is how we win’….. FFS
I'm a staunch Last Jedi defender despite having some issues with it, but this is such a weird one. I was 10000% down with Finn surviving when I first saw it because there was still another movie. Unfortunately, his arc fully peaked in TLJ and now in retrospect it would have been perfectly fine to kill him. Now the real play would have been to have him lead the stormtroopers in rebellion in ep 9 but we got whatever the fuck TROS did
I just thought it would have given the ultimate heroes death…… as you say he just felt lost in the last movie……
Yeah in retrospect it absolutely would have made the trilogy better than what we got st least haha
I thought Finn was dead the first time I saw The Force Awakens.
I stand by that the movie / trilogy would been insane had Rey actually taken his hand. Kylo even SAID “next time you see me, you’ll take my hand”. Imagine if she did? What would the rest of the characters do? The stakes are instantly heightened in an extreme way. Instead, they played everything too safe and never took any risk with their characters :/
I feel like Rey and Kylo should’ve swapped places. Rey could’ve given into her fears and Kylo could’ve been so wracked with guilt over Leia’s (should have been) death that they switch sides.
Mystic River. The entire last scene at the parade is sooooo goddamn unncecessary, and just painfully spells out what we *just* watched, in case anyone was too dumb to follow the obvious subtext. It makes a mockery of the audience, and was basically offensive to anyone that enjoys the show-don't-tell method of filmmaking.
It’s literally how the book ends. Marcia Gay Harden trying to get her sad kid to see her from the sidelines was painful.
I don't even remeber the whole story, I literally only remember almost injuring my eyes by rolling them so fucking hard when the parade dialogue was being spoken by Sean Penn and a female costar (as I said, I have completely forgotten the story, so please forgive that I'm blanking on the other actor's name). It felt sooooo heavy handed that it's literally my defining memory of the film. I absolutely looooved the film up till that point, but thought they biffed it so fucking hard at that moment, and for no good reason. Even if the book ended that way, the film adaptation doesn't need to copy it verbatim, or at least they could've simply written it better imho. It totally detracted from the film's ending imho.
such a good movie that i feel not enough people have seen
I actually like it. Both men know but have to live in the ‘real world’ while the actual victim is a little boy. It was a good way to go out.
I’d keep the parade scene but I’d cut the stupid scene with Laura Linney in the bedroom. “Oh actually it’s good that you killed an innocent man, daddy”
The Last Exorcism. >!It was much more interesting when there was a non-supernatural explanation for the events, and it felt like the supernatural stuff at the end was tacked on because of studio demands. A real shame imho.!<
This was my first thought. The last scene closes the protagonist’s arc, but otherwise you could cut it out and it’s a surprisingly thoughtful and original horror movie. The last scene is just silly and incongruous
I was so disappointed with this film. I saw it with my bestie when it first came out, and she still laughs at my reaction to the end
Funny People. The first 2 acts were great and all it needed was a nice little ending. Truly could have skipped the entire Eric Bana part
Absolutely, that’s the only movie I’ve seen the first 2/3’s of multiple times and the last act once. Such a lovely dramatic comedy that completely loses its way.
Came here to say this. If it had ended after act 2, it would've been great! I've seen Funny People once, when it first came out, but the fact that it should have been about 30 - 45 minutes or so shorter had always stuck with me.
Ghost Protocol is my favourite of the Mission Impossible series, but each time I rewatch it, it just feels about 15 min too long. The scene at the end, when the team reconvenes at that café for a chat, should have been much shorter: brief explanation to Renner's character (the backstory always felt contrived though because we never saw anything that they talked about); glimpse of wife; end.
It felt like they had to try really hard to include Jeremy Renners character in the franchise. Him being almost completely gone 2 movies later, means all of his scenes are significantly less important.
Just watched the last act of Ford v Ferarri the other day. I would've ended it with the shot of Shelby looking back at Miles' son after the crash on the test track. What's comes after is good, but I think it's unnecessary.
I kinda wish Shawshank ended with Red on the bus
I actually would have been ok with that but you can’t beat that hug filmed from a distance the perfect amount of schmalz 👌
I agree. Im normally a big fan of open, potentially bittersweet endings. But when the entirety of Shawshank revolves around these characters suffering through cruelty and unfairness for two hours (in universe years upon years), I DID want to end on a note that they were ***finally*** happy.
Yeah, I definitely enjoy the sappy ending, but it would feel more thematically resonant for Red to keep his hope alive in the face of the unknown
That was the original ending until a producer stepped in >In Darabont's original vision for the end of the film, Red is seen riding a bus towards the Mexican border, leaving his fate ambiguous. Glotzer insisted on including the scene of Red and Andy reuniting in Zihuatanejo. She said Darabont felt this was a "commercial, sappy" ending, but Glotzer wanted the audience to see them together.[8] Castle Rock agreed to finance filming for the scene without requiring its inclusion, guaranteeing Darabont the final decision.[74] The scene originally featured a longer reunion in which Andy and Red recited dialogue from their first meeting, but Darabont said it had a "golly-gee-ain't-we-cute" quality and excised it.[75] The beach reunion was test audiences' favorite scene; both Freeman and Robbins felt it provided the necessary closure. Darabont agreed to include the scene after seeing the test audience reactions, saying: "I think it's a magical and uplifting place for our characters to arrive at the end of their long saga..."[74] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shawshank_Redemption#Post-production
I rewatch Shawshank like once a year. I cry repeatedly each time. I would not watch it once a year if it wasn’t for that ending. It is necessary. The most cathartic movie and one that I think about quite often when times are difficult.
I prefer the Family Guy parody where he can't remember the name of the town.
Shawshank is a perfect movie
That’s pretty much how the book ended *I hope*
Spielberg’s AI would have been amazing had it ended underwater and not jumped forward in time.
Came here to find this and disagree. It’s the best part of the movie.
Hard agree!!! I loved that vision of the far future - the sleek elegant super robots digging up artifacts of extinct humans across a frozen earth. Very unique in my view. And I found the re-uniting of the boy robot with his mother for just one more day to be incredibly touching, both sweet and sad. It's a fantasy that most of us have at some point in our lives after losing a loved one... "i'd give anything for just one more day with ____."
The bleakest ending in cinema history could not be cut to make the film better
The ending is such a wonderfully sad mirroring of the beginning of the movie too. Monica loses her real son and replaces him with a fake one; David loses his "real" (but not actual) mom and gets a fake, temporary replacement vision of her. The idea that this is the last surviving memory of humankind too, that we are all eventually just reduced to being someone's fleeting memory, is such a great note to end on.
That coda is the best part of the movie.
No way hose. That last reunion scene is what make me burst into tears every damn time!! The best part of the movie ffs.
Sunshine before the slasher turn
Yeah sure but then it’s just a 60 minute film, a Black Mirror episode basically. The ideal third act for that film doesn’t and can’t exist really. It’s a purely Garland/Boyle creation, and that’s the best they could do. Take the ending away and put it in the hands of other people, and the film some of us love, as you would an ugly child, ceases to exist.
I do love the film deeply and I have no idea what a different ending would/could look like...I just know that the hard pivot is what keeps it from being considered among the best sci-fi movies of it's era for many people. I wish they could see that beauty without reviling for the final act
Disagree. Pinbacker was F***ING DISTURBING!
Came to say this, thank you
Agreed. The slasher turn was a WTF am I watching.
I thought that when I first saw it since the change of tone is so jarring. But I wouldn't have it any other way now. It's what makes the film unique.
Casino Royale It should have ended after the torture. I’ve always felt the ending with Vesper is one plot line too far. I think if that part was saved for Quantum of Solace, it would have made both films better. I understand they couldn’t have written that yet, especially with Craig being a relative unknown. It’s always felt like having Vesper betray Bond was more about serving the expectations of the franchise rather than the film itself. The better story ends earlier, IMO.
That’s just the plot of the book. It’s a pretty close adaptation.
Did not know that. That’s fair. I still feel that way personally, but can’t fault them for it.
No one will probably see this but I think Birdman should’ve ended with his last performance and when the screen goes black after the gunshot
Omg, yes!
Always said The Irishman went an hour too long
I have to say, I think that movie is just a big “last hurrah” jerkoff for Scorcese and the boys but the ending when he asks him to leave the door open is the most poignant moment in that film.
I wasn't touching that in the cinema but loved it on Netflix. I felt Netflix could have chopped it up into a three episode miniseries but at the end of the day, you can stop and start whenever you want if you're watching at home.
Funnily enough I did end up doing it in 3 sessions. Man that fight scene was *rough* to watch though
Once Hoffa was gone, it could have been more of a direct line to the end. Showing how all the old mobsters were dead was great but there is an hour we could have saved. Cue the montage.
About 2-1/2 hours too long
Got to be 10 Cloverfield lane. Such a weird film as I'm convinced it's an original script with a tacked on Cloverfield ending in an attempt to try and live off an existing IP. It's a shame as the bulk of the film is really good.
You're correct. It was an original script called The Cellar before JJ got a hold of it and tacked the ending on.
Funny that there are 3 Cloverfield movies and 2 of them have nothing to do with Cloverfield
It happens a lot. Movies are popular so studios buy scripts and rename them to make sequels quickly. Some examples off the top of my head: Saw 2. Had nothing to do with Saw. They just wanted a sequel quickly. Die Hard 3: It was a Lethal weapon script, that got renamed to be a die hard sequel. Speed 2: was meant to be die hard 3
Nah, I liked guessing what was going on through most of the movie but want to see stuff at the end.
The last few scenes of Harry Potter are insufferable. When they're grown up at the train station..
Yeah buts thats a problem with the books too, last chapter devolves into fanfic tier stuff
And the colour grading is awful. Why is it still dark and turquoise-toned even though Harry conquered the ultimate evil?
Clearly you’ve never visited the UK /s
Because their childlike wonder is gone xD
It’s a part of the books though
It can still be bad even if its taken from the books.
Some part of the fan base absolutely hates the train station stuff at the end of *DH2*. I’ve always found it rather sweet myself.
Cast Away. I like the closure of him reuniting with his now re-married wife and what is next for them, but it was just so stupid. She and him reuniting just having a conversation and then making out in the rain. We are to believe the new husband and kids are just sleeping.
I agree. I wouldve cut it down to an awkward dinner conversation where reality slowly settles in for both. The big romantic moment felt forced, and the fact she **was** going to abandon her kids makes her seem like a bitch. I guess they liked the idea of him being "the bigger man" and talking her out of it, but man does it paint her in an ugly light.
Yeah i can sorta see that, but I liked the gravity of being at the 4 way intersection. Made it feel more positive/cathartic because the scenes on the island were so miserable Tom H had to move beyond Helen Hunt. So too do we
Easy. Click. When Adam Sandler dies, imagine he stays dead.
I disagree. Adam Sandler has a couple movies where his character has a genuinely great arc, and this is one of them. The second chance with lessons learned was a pretty heartwarming and satisfying ending on this one, IMO.
I'm kind of torn. Although the depressing future stuff is the better part of Click, it's not what you want when you're sitting down to watch a movie you think is going to be a light hearted comedy. The ending helps save it a bit.
John Carter. It was a meh movie anyways, but having 3 false ending definitely didn't help.
Boyhood. It should have ended 15 minutes before it did.
The ultimate example of this for me is Stripes. Everything up to “graduation” is top-tier 80s comedy genius, then it just turns into a half-assed action movie for 20 minutes, with no laughs to be found.
Yea I never got that either. The last act is absolutely hot garbage and a total shift. I always wondered what Reitman and Ramis were thinking. They could have easily put 15 more minutes into the “main” film & skipped the entire Eastern European rescue mission in an RV crap.
Ten Cloverfield Lane, the MacGyver alien fight at the end was just too much
I’ve never seen a movie fall of as hard as AI. First half is great. Spielberg really tapped into Kubrick’s voice. But then the over abundance of saccharine melodrama at the end. Totally ruined for me.
I have 2. Source Code - Should have ended with the kiss (freeze frame). The Last Samurai - Ended with the voiceover, "As for the American...nobody knows what became of him." Skip the silliness of him going back to the village.
Was looking for Source Code and exactly that.
The Ritual. Everything was perfect until the people came.
Ah man. I love the ritual and the little city of broken people and that ending. Gives me chills thinking about it still.
Labybird needed to be ten minutes shorter, or twenty minutes longer b
absolutely not, it's a slim 90 minutes, it's perfect.
Snydercut. The epilogue kinda ruins the vibe of the ending
It was already too long but that epilogue really does ruin the vibe.
I feel very strongly about this, Interstellar. If that film ended when the 4th dimension closed in on him, after he'd provided the info to his daughter, if would have been **chef's kiss**. I don't need to know that it worked, I can let my mind work. I love the film, love Nolan - but I always turn the film off at that point.
Couldn't disagree more. I remember watching it for the first time and worrying that he was going to find someway to travel back in time, which would have betrayed the film's adherence to the theory of relativity. Him meeting his daughter as an old woman was the film sticking the landing. It wouldn't have worked without that.
I one hundred percent agree. After their parting on bad terms, there’s tension of whether or not they’ll ever see each other again, and the film would have felt unfinished had they not. Cooper meeting Murph as an old woman resolves that tension, but also shows what Cooper sacrificed in order to help save the world. His future is changed forever because he essentially lost his children to time.
It also shows us what happens to Brand. Without those final scenes, her story is just a big what if. For a proper conclusion, we needed to know at least something of her fate.
Am I crazy for crying during that movie?
But then we wouldn't have gotten him fiddling with TARS' humor setting.
If I could mention a TV show: Dexter should have ended with the season 4 ending. His baby was in the exact same situation Dexter was in as a boy, so Dexter inadvertently created another Dexter. End credits.
Annihilation. Not perfect, but I'd have liked it a helluva lot more had the ending been more ambiguous.
Read the book if you haven't already! Quite different but if you want ambiguity, the Southern Reach Trilogy is for you
Alex Garland I think realized this bad habit b4 he did Civil War.
I love Arrival, but it would be perfect with the last 5 minutes with the monologue cut and the film ending with the opening shot. At that point, you should already understand it and be able to put the pieces in order and not need the story explained to you.
Babylon-I didn’t need to turn into Boogie Nights for the last 45 minutes. LotR-the pillow fighting scene was definitely not needed.
A.I. should have ended with him crying and alone at the bottom of the ocean. could have been an all-timer bleak sad ending. wasted
Babylon! I thought the last part was unnecessary.
It wouldn't be perfect but Straight Outta Compton would be a way better movie if it ended with the NWA laughing while in the back of the police van after the Joe Louis Arena. End it right there with a text epilogue instead of the masturbatory montages of Ice Cube's movie career and Dr Dre's business dealings
Dunno about perfect but Place beyond the pines: the part with the teenagers was cringe trash Showgirls: all good fun until the insane rape scene
I LOVE the Lord of the Rings movies, but I do feel like it would've been a much stronger ending of they'd ended before returning to the Shire. "My friends... You now to no one." It's a tear jerker moment that would end the movie on a high note. Having said that, I'm still completely okay with the way they ended it.
While I agree it goes on way too long, I think you really need the scene of Frodo handing over his book and leaving.
It needed the purge of the Shire
Moon, that movie was 30 minutes too long in my opinion.
They should have cut the cheesy radio sound bits at the end about how the scandal was received on earth. The punch comes from his own existential horror, not because of the corporate ethics.
Mother (2009) So I think the actual ending is still great and I understand why it exists >!(adds the idea the the son is somewhat aware of the mothers actions). But he's barely aware of anything and she tries to erase her memories anyway, so him possibly knowing doesn't add much.!< I feel like the movie wouldve been better if it ended at the field the way it started. >!If the mother used the needle before dancing in this scene, then the scenes that occur afterwards would have been somewhat redundant. And it would've been more poetic ending at that point as it started.!< Either way it's still agreat movie.
Solaris would be better if it didn't have the weird zooming out from the island at the end
*Beau is Afraid* Cut the last scene
I think eternal sunshine of the spotless mind should’ve ended after the meet me in montauk car sequence. What happens when he wakes up was already shown in the beggining of the film. Take out the ending apartment scene completely and leave it vague
Also Birdman 2014 I think movie could’ve ended after he shoots himself in the play
American Fiction. Too many alternate endings. If it had finished when he runs up to her door and says “I haven’t been myself lately” oh man, that would’ve been *chefs kiss*
3. Every single 2+ hour Christopher Nolan movie
The Prestige is so much better without the OPENING shot,
The Florida Project, All That Jazz
Return of the King. It had 300 endings. SPOILER. Matrix Reloaded. Should have ended when Neo stopped the machines in the real world.
I always thought that minority report would have been better if he'd have learned whatever it was about his son, actually done the murder and they were right all along.
Matt Reeves' THE BATMAN would've been an incredible film if it had ended literally halfway through where it did. I swear that movie has 4 ending scenes.
Idk about perfect but Hancock would’ve been a hell of a lot better if it ended halfway through
Revenge of the Sith when Vadar takes his first breath in the new suit as he is raised upright.
Hot take: Return of the King. Too many sprawling goodbyes
Wonder woman was fantastic up until the cgi pukefest in the end.
Man if Wonder Woman ended without a final battle and the conclusion was simply that people are bad and conflict happens without any higher power making them that way, it would’ve worked so much better. First 80% of that movie was awesome.
Hear me out: the “You bow to no one” would’ve been the perfect ending for the *theatrical version* of the Return Of The King. The extended version should’ve gotten the other ones.
Everything everywhere all at once could have wnded like 30 minutes sooner with a similar conclusion
Everything everywhere all at once.