10 classic movie endings that make no sense
Arguably, nothing makes a movie more memorable than a powerful ending. Whether a filmmaker swipes the metaphorical rug from beneath your feet with a nifty twist or simply wraps things up with satisfying panache, there are several different ways a film can leave you suitably nourished. But what about those other less considerate movies that glue you to your seat through 89 minutes of cinema before ruining it all at the last minute?
We’ve already discussed the ten stupidest movie twists of all time, so we’re going to steer away from idiotic twists where we can for this forthcoming list of film endings that simply make no sense whatsoever. Unfortunately, for a handful of films, however, their final twist was so unforgivably poor that we feel compelled to add them to both lists, forcing them to pay for hours of cinematic torture.
Looking specifically into the films that failed to add up even during the scriptwriting stage, our list hits on some notorious cinematic duds, including J.J. Abrams’ painfully bad conclusion to the Star Wars Skywalker saga. Continuing the story of Princess Leia, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker, Abrams and Disney failed to bottle the magic of the original films, releasing a morally vacant piece of blockbuster media that lacked any kind of heart.
Take a look at our thoughts on the awful Star Wars flick, as well as nine other shocking movie endings, below.
10 movie endings that make no sense:
10. Remember Me (Allen Coulter, 2010)
We start our list with a movie ending that, rather than making no sense at all, is completely and utterly at odds with the rest of the movie. On the surface, the 2010 romantic comedy Remember Me, with Robert Pattinson and Emilie de Ravin, seems like any other young adult weepy until the final twist reveals that Pattinson’s heartthrob protagonist is bizarrely killed at the end of the movie during 9/11.
Nothing throughout the movie sets you up for such a random, unfulfilling conclusion, with the unwarranted finale leaving a bitter, confusing and slightly insulted taste in the mouth of each and every audience member after writer Will Fetters used the disaster as a trivial plot device.
9. Bird Box (Susanne Bier, 2018)
Prompting a rather stupid social media trend upon its release, Netflix’s Bird Box had a similarly idiotic conclusion to its sci-fi tale. Starring Sandra Bullock, the film told the story of a mother and her two children who were trying to survive in a world where an ominous unseen presence was driving people to suicide. Travelling alongside a number of lucky survivors, the group attempted to thrive in a world in which it was barely safe even to open their eyes.
After reaching safety, a sanctuary formed by blind people in the middle of the woods, the film concluded with overwhelming optimism, even though nothing at all had changed. The invisible monster was still lurking in the atmosphere, and the characters are no closer to finding out what it is or how to stop it in the future.
8. The Sixth Sense (M. Night Shyamalan, 1999)
The twist ending of M. Night Shyamalan’s iconic 1999 movie The Sixth Sense is recognised as one of the most iconic movie conclusions of all time, slapping the audience across the face with a shocking revelation. The secret itself is that Bruce Willis’ child psychologist, Malcolm Crowe, who was brought in to help a boy who sees ghosts, is himself a spectre wandering the afterlife in search of ethereal answers.
The problem with this ‘ingenious’ twist is that although the young boy could see dead people, her mother, Anna (Olivia Williams), definitely couldn’t, meaning that there are several scenes where she just had conversations with empty rooms considering that Crowe was a ghost.
7. American Psycho (Mary Harron, 2000)
At the turn of the millennium, Christian Bale gave a career-defining performance as the unhinged metrosexual businessman Patrick Bateman in Mary Harron’s American Psycho. The film adaption of Bret Easton Ellis’ novel of the same name follows Bateman through his daily routine, which involves deft manscaping, listening to Genesis CDs and murdering innocent people. But does he ever kill any of his supposed victims?
Throughout the film, we see Bateman wielding an axe and a chainsaw to gruesome, bloody ends and, eventually, partaking in a gunfight with the police. However, as the film comes to its conclusion, it’s suggested that the killings could have been a figment of Bateman’s wild imagination. Ostensibly, we’re not supposed to know what really happened. This certainly adds artistic merit, but it’s mildly irritating all the same.
6. Tenet (Christopher Nolan, 2020)
Anyone well versed in Christoper Nolan’s filmography will know that the British director enjoys a few crossed wires. It takes a few run-throughs of his 2010 blockbuster Inception to figure out exactly what the hell is going on. So, what happens when you cross this particular filmmaker with the intrinsically mind-boggling concept of time travel? The answer is Tenet.
Released in 2020, Nolan’s Tenet divided cinema-goers; some commended the gripping, winding plot and immaculate cinematography, while others encountered insatiable confusion and frustration. In the film’s closing chapters, the Protagonist, portrayed by John David Washington, is revealed to be the founder of the secret organisation, but there’s no real explanation for how the time loop adds up. Instead of filtering the muddy water, Nolan leaves the viewer to speculate.
5. Saw (James Wan, 2004)
The terrifying final tune that plays over the end of James Wan’s seminal horror movie Saw can be instantly conjured in the mind of anyone who has had the fortune of watching his neat little crime thriller. Still, the ending is memorable for more reasons than just this. Delivering a final twist that hits like a gut punch, the conclusion to Saw makes a slither of sense, but the more you think about it, the stupider it gets.
Introduced to two poor victims at the start of the movie who are locked in a bathroom, tied to the wall with a heavy chain, it looks like there’s no way out for the pair. But, in the dying moments of the movie, a third body who was lying on the floor ‘dead’ arises, showing himself to be the villainous ringmaster of the hideous torture. Still, the twist forces us to believe that the killer lay still on the floor for several hours, whilst the two lead characters didn’t care to check his state.
4. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (J.J. Abrams, 2019)
Even George Lucas, the franchise’s creator, has admitted that Star Wars might have overstayed its welcome and regrets selling the rights to Disney. Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker arrived in 2019 and has hit a barrage of criticism for its nonsensical plotline. Crucially, it was inconsistent with the events of predating episodes.
The film’s most mind-boggling moment came at the end when events are followed by little explanation. Rey and Kylo Ren somehow form a Force Dyad, then Lando rallies the entire galaxy against the First Order, guiding them through the near-impossible route to Exegol. To top it all off, Kylo brings Rey back to life with the force. The conclusion felt contrived and all too convenient.
3. Planet Of The Apes (Tim Burton, 2001)
Franklin J. Schaffner was held in high regard for his groundbreaking 1968 original Planet of the Apes. The movie was loosely based on the 1963 French novel La Planète des Singes by Pierre Boulle and ended dramatically with the twist that the ‘planet’ was Earth all along. In 2001, Tim Burton attempted to top this climax in his Planet of the Apes remake.
As the remake comes to an end, Captain Leo Davidson travels back in time to discover that the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. now features a statue of chimpanzee military commander General Thade from the future. The twist pointlessly teases that apes might have replaced human society in the past, leaving much doubt and speculation, mostly relating to the laws of time travel.
2. Now You See Me (Louis Leterrier, 2013)
Notorious in the world of contemporary pop-culture silliness, Louis Leterrier’s film about a group of master magicians who pull off a stunning bank heist is utter hilarity from start to finish, but for all the wrong reasons. Whilst the film isn’t all that awful, with decent performances from Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Mark Ruffalo, Isla Fisher, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine, there are several moments of pure nonsense, with the twist ending topping things off with a pathetic flourish.
It turns out that the FBI agent who has been trying to find evidence for the magician’s crimes is actually in on their secret and never wanted to catch them in the act. In hindsight, it makes the whole film both redundant and entirely dull.
1. High Tension (Alexandre Aja, 2003)
Who better to explain why Alexandre Aja’s nonsensical horror film tops our list than the great late American film critic Roger Ebert? Speaking about the ending of the 2003 film, Ebert stated that the twist is “not possible, given our current understanding of the laws of physics,” with the French slasher flick offering no clear answer as to what exactly happened in the film that followed the story of two girls who find themselves victim to a brutal serial killer.
The plot is simple and rather cliche, but the twist is so complicated it defies basic logic, revealing that the killer is one of the main characters themselves. Making half the film total nonsense, we’re not sure what was going through the heads of screenwriters Aja and Grégory Levasseur when they were penning this rubbish.
