Sometimes it’s just too easy to ruin a great movie since all it really takes is to botch the ending. some people might want to disagree about how this can happen and whether or not it does since they’ll convince themselves that the whole movie isn’t dependent on one scene, and they’re right to do so since one scene isn’t the whole movie. But at the same time, it’s a bit difficult to think that a poor ending isn’t going to be noticed by viewers that have been enjoying the movie for over an hour. It’s kind of like being doused with a bucket of cold water after exiting a sauna, the sudden shock of it is bound to leave people wondering what the hell just happened and why especially when they were so comfortable with what they had at that moment. But a bad ending for some reason feels as though a writer or a director simply gave up the ghost at the last second and figured that it was better to just finish things up and call it a wrap instead of coming up with a way to truly cap off a great movie. As a writer, this is a frustrating truth when reading a novel or watching a movie, and it’s irritating to see some of the greatest stories capped off with some of the worst endings.
Here are some of the worst endings to movies that were otherwise great.
5. City of Angels
For so much of the movie, Nicolas Cage’s character has to deal with the frustration of wanting to be with a human woman but being unable to do so since she’s human and he’s an angel and it’s just not the norm. But when he does finally give up his life as a heavenly individual and decides to do it for her, she ends up dying not too long after. Seriously? This is definitely a play on the idea that getting what you want doesn’t mean it’s going to last forever, but this was a giant slap in the face to a lot of viewers that were hoping to see a triumphant love story that would end on a happy note, not with a gut-wrenching tragedy that forced Cage to finally come to terms with the mortality he’d selected.
4. Law Abiding Citizen
This might sound kind of rough but it does feel as though Clyde should have had his revenge, even if it would have alienated a lot of people. The effect would have shaken up the status quo just a little since it would have been a clear message: put your house in order and get things done the way they should be. Too many people are divided on how law enforcement and the law itself should go about punishing those that are in the wrong that people are a bit fed up with seeing those that have committed egregious crimes to go free due to a lack of evidence or some other, less explainable reason.
3. Rambo: First Blood
Understandably, Sylvester Stallone didn’t want to make Rambo into some kill-happy individual since it might have had people calling for his head. But in the book, First Blood, it’s still easy enough to sympathize with him since he just wanted to get something to eat and possibly rest before moving on. But the ending might have still been better had it come down to Rambo and Teasle firing away at each other within the town since the way it turns out doesn’t make as much sense considering that the bulk of the force that was arrayed against Rambo took their sweet time getting back to town.
2. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
It’s very likely that nothing has changed, but it does feel as though Grindelwald convincing Credence that he was a Dumbledore is flying in the face of a lot of Harry Potter lore that has already been firmly established. There is probably a way to explain it and one would imagine that this has been done a few times over by now, but at the same time, it does feel as though the filmmaker is playing fast and loose with the world that’s already been established and might have to answer for that eventually. Plus, would Grindelwald even stand a chance against Credence at this point in sheer force?
1. It: Chapter Two
The issue that plagued the book didn’t quite make it into the movies, but it was replaced by another issue that was just as bad. Instead of being an interdimensional spider of some sort, the creature is an entity that can take any shape and is unable to be banished, but it can certainly be ridiculed. Think of it, a creature that’s existed for so long had so many millennia to adapt to the world around it, can be defeated by having its ego crushed. Was anyone else wondering what Stephen King was thinking just then?
The ending is important after all.
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