I know that there are plenty of Pandas here who simply adore movies just like me. So here’s a question for you, folks: what matters more in a film—the journey or the destination? Does a film have to have a decent ending in order to be good? And does a bad, cliched, and tone-deaf ending necessarily ruin what was otherwise a perfectly decent flick?
Well, these people over on Reddit certainly think so. In a viral thread created by Minecraftplayer48, these redditors shared how, in their opinion, some film endings went disastrously wrong and spoiled the entire experience. How bad can things really be? We’re about to find out.
Potentially huuuuge spoilers up ahead, dear Pandas, so read on at your own risk. (Or just, you know, shut your eyes really hard and scroll down blindly as far as you need to go.) Remember to upvote the opinions that you agree with and let us know why you think so in the comments.
I reached out to writer and Bram Stoker Award-winning editor Doug Murano from South Dakota to get his take on what it takes to create a good story and how to craft a great ending. “As strange as it may sound, writing and piloting an airplane share an important similarity: taking off and landing are the parts that are most fraught with peril. These are times of transition and uncertainty. Most competent writers can write a solid middle, but hooking the reader (taking off) and delivering a satisfying ending (landing) often separate the competent from the good and the good from the great,” he told Bored Panda. You find the rest of my interview with writer and editor Murano below.
#1
Signs.
You’re telling me that this alien species that is vulnerable to water was trying to invade a planet that is 70% water?
Image source: -eDgAR-
#2
Lucy. I hate that movie.
It’s a really good concept and movie until the very. It tells the story about a girl that is kidnapped and used as a drug mule for this new drug, but the bag inside her leaks and she gets overdosed. This doesn’t kill her though, she’s now able to use more than 10% of her brain (which I know is complete bullsh*t cuz we use 100% of our brain but not at the same time) and gets superpowers. Then for some reason she needs to take more of the drug to reach complete usage of her brain and, when she does, she becomes a flash drive. A FLASH DRIVE. SHE BECOMES A FLASH DRIVE
Image source: ToothlessCapybara
#3
City Of Angels, where Meg Ryan (human) dies in a bike accident right after Nicolas Cage (angel) decides to give up immortality to be with her
Image source: martej
#4
I gotta go with the flying car in Grease
Image source: server_busy
#5
Indiana Jones and crystal skull. Big bloody spaceship just coming out the ground like that. That whole film was a farce actually.
Image source: chrisl182
#6
Superman (1978), he reverses time by flying backwards around the earth.
Image source: [deleted]
#7
I Am Legend.
Stupid test audience approved happy ending
Image source: MarkF6
#8
Ready player one
the guy is the gameworld every day all day long because his life sucks and that’s understandable
the movie ends with him getting the company, and one of the rules he implements is that the gameworld gets shut of 1 or 2 days every week… AFTER HE GOT A GIRLFRIEND! what an unbelievable ass that guy is, he was literally online every single day when his life was [miserable], but now that he has a girlfriend he shuts it off so people can ”enjoy life” you didn’t seem to enjoy it in your abuse household earlier in the movie…
Image source: cursed_deity
#9
Spielberg version of War of the Worlds, somehow Robbie is still alive and waiting for them in Boston. Not only did the circumstances make his survival virtually impossible, but his character was so annoying that the twist of him being alive just destroyed all my previous satisfaction in him being deceased
Image source: MrBirdHorner
#10
Downsizing. Great concept that could’ve been done without the forced love story.
Image source: jalepenogrlll
#11
Hancock. Loved the premise and seeing Hancock start as this sarcastic, alcoholic, and bitter hero who’s hated by everyone and then turn into an actual hero who people look up to and respect is touching. The PR angle for a superhero movie was interesting and unique. But then all of that is ruined by the lovers twist. I’m fine with either the superhero PR angle or the tragic lovers angle, but they’re way too different and the latter is introduced too suddenly. Hancock really feels like two separate movies stitched together
Image source: thwipsandquips
#12
The Aladdin remake. I was beyond disappointed to not see a battle between Jafar as a snake and Aladdin. Nobody asked for the giant nameless parrot to chase them through the city. No one. Give me a snake battle
Image source: SumGoodJuJu
#13
Frozen II. I don’t think it was nice of Elsa to miss her sister’s coronation! She wasn’t even doing anything important
Image source: beefa232
#14
The Circle…seemed to be a film warning of the dangers of sharing too much online, only to do A COMPLETE 180 on the message at the end!
Image source: leonmacdonaldrules
#15
The Breakfast Club.
The premise of the whole film is, “teenagers can be judgy and awful to each other, but everyone is fighting their own battles so we should try to be nicer to each other”
Then they give the weird quirky girl a makeover to look more like the normal girl, people partner up in order of attractiveness and the nerdy dude is left on his own…
Image source: AgDirt
#16
Batman v Superman was pretty weak. Hyped up a big fight throughout the movie which was fizzled out to some other bs.
Image source: notreallysrs
#17
Toy Story 4, almost as if Woody had a complete personality shift
Image source: YoshiGamer6400
#18
Passengers. It could have been an amazing sci-fi movie where Jennifer Lawrence was forced to make the same decision Chris Pratt’s Marvel character Star-Lord did. Instead they went for a happily ever after
Image source: Lpreddit
#19
My Sisters Keeper. Especially since I read the book. I very nearly threw my remote at the TV I was so pissed
Image source: HighPrairieCarsales
#20
The ending of the horror movie 1408 where he dies. The version I saw was way creepier where he lived and they were going through the box of stuff and found the tape recording he had used while in the hotel room and they heard his daughter on the tape. That was a damn good ending
Image source: ninjasmurf09
#21
The Village
Turns out it’s just a bunch folks that can’t handle living in the real world. Also, what happens if a jet airplane were to fly over a supposed farming village from the 1700s?
Image source: unclejohnnydanger
#22
The very last moment of The Crimes of Grindelwald. Hey let’s upheave tons of established lore in the last 30 seconds! The [hell] was that?!
Image source: silvermoonchan
#23
Allegiant. I was actually tempted to break my (rented) DVD in half. Literally everything after like the first 10 minutes was completely made up by Hollywood. The book ending is completely different and so much better.
Why does everything have to have a happy ending hollywood? WHY?!?! Can’t we just have a good story with a fitting ending?
Image source: geekygirl25
#24
Click. A fantastic movie about how life can pass you by if you let it and the consequences of your actions. If they ended it in the hospital as he was dying, it would have been a fantastic, insightful movie. But no, let’s let him rewind and live happily ever after.
Image source: Thefarrquad
#25
“500 Days of Summer. Ooh, he met ‘Autumn.’ How quirkyyyyy. Lame.”
Image source: goodjokeanyway
#26
A Simple Favor. It was all mysterious with some good twists, then she just gets hit by a car and the moms group is like, ‘Don’t mess with moms’ or some sh*t? The ending felt like it was meant for a different movie
Image source: LazerTRex
#27
I hate the ending of a classic 1940s film called Gentleman’s Agreement. Gregory Peck plays a journalist who pretends to be Jewish in order to write an article about antisemitism. His girlfriend knows about the ruse and as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that she’s a closet antisemite. They argue about this but in the end he stays with her.
Image source: BSB8728
#28
Bridge to Terabithia broke me as a child. No one can watch that movie/read the book more than once. I went into the theater as an 8-year-old expecting a fun fantasy movie and that is not what I got.
Image source: nightowlette99
#29
Justice League, Superman gets resurrected and immediately beats the sh*t out of Steppenwolf. The conflict was just gone, the heroes had no difficulty after he came in
Image source: LordKingThing
#30
Zootopia. The teeth for all the animals had been spot on (appropriate and detailed morphology for each taxon) but the final bit where they have Flash open his mouth revealed they gave him additional and inappropriate teeth for a sloth. As a slothologist and mammalogist, this was a huge letdown and betrayal.
Image source: dococnus
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