WARNING!!! DUE TO THE NATURE OF THIS PARTICULAR LIST, A MAJOR SPOILER WARNING IS IN EFFECT. IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW HOW THESE MOVIES END, CLOSE THIS PAGE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Every story that has ever been told throughout history has three distinct parts: A beginning, a middle, and an end. As with all things in life, everything eventually has to come to an end. It’s how we choose to end things that can make all the difference in the world. When it comes to story-telling, ending a story is as important, if not more so, than beginning the story. There are a couple of reasons for that. If you end a story with something compelling and satisfying, then that story will be remembered. Even if the rest of the story has problems, if you end the story the right way, that is what people will remember most. It doesn’t matter if its a video-game, fictional novel, or a movie. The ending is a very critical part of a story. If it’s not handled right, the ending can ruin whatever that story was trying to go for in terms of entertainment and messaging. In the world of movies, it is necessary to get endings right. They don’t have to be happy endings, but they have to be satisfying and in line with the story that’s being told. So, for this list, I’m going over the endings that I feel are excellent or outright garbage. Let’s do this.
The Best: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
When Star Trek VI was released, it had been 25 years since the franchise began. While The Next Generation series was at its prime at this point, the original crew of the USS Enterprise was not getting any younger, so it was decided that they needed one final movie as a send-off for Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Sulu, U’hura, Scotty, and Chekhov. The allegory of the film to the collapse of the Soviet Union was not lost on audiences and critics, as the film would see the Klingon Empire begin to collapse after a disaster on their main energy production facility. Not only would The Undiscovered Country reconcile Kirk’s hatred of Klingons(for the death of his only son), but it would also see the end of an era of hostility between Starfleet and the Klingons. This is about as perfect a send-off as you can get for the original crew. One of the last lines that Kirk says when asked where they should go: “Second star to the right, and straight on ’til morning.” It’s an obvious Peter Pan reference, but it works, and the film ends with one final Captain’s Log detailing the last cruise of the Enterprise under Kirk’s command. The credits roll with the original crew literally signing off. It was a great ending to a 25-year journey with the original crew.
The Worst: The Matrix Revolutions
You know this one had to be on here. Truthfully, I enjoyed this movie. It’s visually spectacular and action-packed. But the problem is the narrative flow is all sorts of fucked. This was the Wachowskis trying to force philosophy into movies that really didn’t need it. While it worked for the original film, the original movie was balanced out by interesting characters, unique story, and outstanding action. It was a brilliant movie. The sequels were nowhere near as good, because when the Wachowskis started focusing on all that prophecy mumbo-jumbo, they forgot what made the original film stand out. Revolutions ends with both Neo and Trinity dying in very anti-climactic ways. The ending to this movie is such a jumbled mess. Even the final battle between Smith and Neo ended with a whimper. While the film-makers claim that the ending of the film is up to the interpretation of the audience, all it really revealed was that the Wachowskis had no clue how to end Neo’s story, so they threw everything against the wall hoping that something would stick. Watching the machines cart Neo’s body away was so heavily symbolic that it’s comical. What a mess. Hopefully Resurrections can explain this mess, but I’m not expecting anything.
The Best: Furious 7
The Fast and the Furious movies have never been high art. They’ve always been adrenaline-fueled thrill rides. Furious 7 hit an unfortunate snag when Paul Walker was killed in a tragic car accident while the movie was being filmed, so Paul never got to finish his scenes. Because of that tragedy, the film-makers put the film on hiatus for about a year while they changed the story around and tried to figure out how to end Brian’s story that was both respectful and entertaining. Furious 7 is my favorite of the franchise not just in terms of action and thrills, but in how the movie ended. It ended with the crew on a beach with Brian and his family, then a montage follows and we see Brian driving off into the sunset. Not only was the ending incredibly respectful of the actor and character, it was emotionally powerful. In fact, I’m getting a little choked up writing this, because the franchise and the world would never be the same without Paul Walker, and the last two movies have proven that. But the ending to Furious 7 was amazing, and is one of my favorite endings to any movie.
The Worst: Star Wars – The Rise of Skywalker
This one hurts. It really does. I’m a huge fan of Star Wars. I have been since I can remember. I understand that capping a trilogy is a hard thing to do, with the third film in a trilogy being the final film. But The Rise of Skywalker wasn’t just the final film in a trilogy, it was the end of an entire saga that spanned 40 years. To quote Angry Joe: “They fucked it up.” Now, it goes without saying that The Last Jedi was divisive as a Star Wars movie, but I absolutely appreciated what Rian Johnson was trying to go for. He was trying to go against the expectations of what audiences wanted, and for the most part, he succeeded. But because of the fan backlash, Disney lost their balls, and threw nearly everything that The Last Jedi was doing out the window. Rian Johnson wanted the character of Rey to be a total nobody, and that would’ve worked, but nope. Disney wanted her to come from somebody, and that somebody was Emperor Palpatine or Darth Sidious if you’re so inclined. That was one of MANY bad decisions that robbed this final entry of any emotional or narrative impact. And honestly, when Rey adopts the name of Skywalker as the movie closes, eyes were rolling. Also, the film NEVER explained how Palpatine returned. That was waved away when Poe said: “Somehow, Palpatine returned.” If you’re going to pull that shit, you need to explain to the audience why and how he came back. I enjoyed this movie as an action flick, but it completely fails as a Star Wars movie, and it nearly ruins the epic Skywalker saga. For a lot of people, the story ended with The Return of the Jedi, and rightfully so.
The Best: Saw
I generally don’t like twist endings. To me, the twist ending is a lazy way out of bad writing. You can definitely see this with a large chunk of M. Night Shyamalan’s work. However, as I have stated earlier, if it’s in tone with what the film is trying to accomplish, then it will be something for audiences to remember. Saw has one of the best twist endings I’ve ever seen. Yet, it doesn’t completely come out of nowhere. The first Saw film was more of a psychological thriller rather than the gore-fest horror movie that the franchise would become. It mostly takes place in a single location with two characters chained to opposite ends of what appears to be an abandoned restroom. There’s a third and lifeless body on the floor. What ensues is a cat-and-mouse game as the two character try to escape their situation, despite the answers literally being in the same room. At the same time, there’s a detective story going on involving a “Jigsaw” serial killer. The ending has the third body moving only for the audience and Leigh Wannell’s character to realize that this was the Jigsaw killer all along. You didn’t see it coming, yet it makes perfect sense. THIS is how you do a twist ending correctly.
The Worst: Independence Day Resurgence
Unless you know that your movie’s going to be successful, you don’t end a movie on a cliffhanger, unless you’re shooting movies back-to-back. Independence Day Resurgence is a perfect example why you don’t do that. It’s an alright action movie, but whatever good will that the 1996 movie put out was trashed by this one. To be fair to Roland Emmerich, this wasn’t the sequel that he wanted to make. Will Smith pulled out because of scheduling conflicts, but I get the distinct impression that he didn’t like the script. As a result, re-writes were done and the results speak for themselves. It’s a copy and paste movie with a much larger ship, but the film ends when an alien sphere gives Brent Spiner’s character information about interstellar travel and a planet of refugees. The movie sets up for a sequel that we’re never going to get. Honestly, this movie never should’ve happened in the first place. The original movie from 1996 was awesome the way it was and it ended just fine. One and done. This one was a decade too late. LAME!
The Best: Final Destination 5
I know I said I usually don’t like twist endings, so ending this post on a movie that has a twist ending is pretty ironic. It has to be said, though. The original film began with the explosion of Flight 180 en route to France, but a few passengers got off because one kid had a premonition about the plane exploding, setting off a chain of events that would eventually end with the deaths of everybody who got off the flight. It’s a really awesome set-up for a horror movie and it works. Even the sequels all have had something to offer, but it’s the fifth entry that is my personal favorite. See, at the beginning of Final Destination 5, everybody assumed that it took place in 2011. Well, two of the survivors of this movie board a plane to France when they witness a bunch of kids being yanked off the flight. The camera then reveals the ticket of the main character: Flight 180 in the year 2000, when the original film came out and when that plane exploded in the movie. Ending the film on the explosion of Flight 180 brings the entire franchise full circle in the best way possible. The best thing is, there were signs throughout the movie that this was going to happen, but most people, myself included, didn’t pick up on them. For example? The complete lack of smartphones and certain technologies. These signs were hidden in plain sight. This was one of the smartest entries in the franchise, and I loved every minute of it. Yeah, it’s a bleak ending, but it’s entirely in line with what Final Destination is about.
Well, those were some of my favorite and least favorite endings. I hope you enjoyed this list as much as I did making it.