Loved the Film but….

I find the best way to view a film is with low expectations. This is a lesson I learnt in ’96 with the release of Independence Day. I was working in a cinema at the time and Independence Day was hyped to the hills. It played on all the big screens and totally overshadowed The Rock, which was released in the same year. For me, however, The Rock turned out to be the better movie. The action was frenetic and the interplay between Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage was very good. It remains one of my favourite over-the-top action films, whilst Independence Day was enjoyed more on a second viewing with my expectations lowered.

When I watched The Wrestler, I approached the film in my usual way and was pleasantly surprised how good it was. Rourke was excellent, and there was enough in the story to keep it interesting. The rekindling of and then demise of Rourke’s relationship with his onscreen daughter - which ultimately led to the wrestler’s acceptance of his true nature - was brilliantly acted. With all that said, I found the ending to be disappointing at best. From an artistic perspective, I can see how it works. From a personal perspective, I thought it left too many questions unanswered. For me, The Wrestler has been reluctantly assigned to the category of “loved the film; hated the ending”.

Are there any films you feel this way about?

The Matrix: Revolutions.

Personally I would have liked to see whether humanity ever freed itself from the machines, once and for all, instead of that stupid "truce".

Of course, that would have meant having a Matrix 4, with no Carrie and no Keanu...maybe it was best left the way it was.

I'm sure there are plenty, but the one that immediately comes to mind has been stuck in my head for over 2 decades yet is relatively trivial: The Karate Kid Part III. The "secret technique" introduced in this instalment to beat his opponent amounted to "confuse the hell out of him!" and was plain silly.

I'd hazard a guess that some folks (not me though) might nominate The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which would then beg the question "which ending?".

dyrewolfe wrote:The Matrix: Revolutions.

Personally I would have liked to see whether humanity ever freed itself from the machines, once and for all, instead of that stupid "truce".

Of course, that would have meant having a Matrix 4, with no Carrie and no Keanu...maybe it was best left the way it was.

I was kind of disappointed they made the Matrix sequels. I thought the first film worked well on its own. The sequels undermined Neo's omnipotence.

Blade Runner (original theatrical cut) would probably be nominated by its director.

In terms of expectations, it depends how you want the film to deliver. See for me in terms of how you wanted it to pan out from start, middle and finish.

Take Avatar. By far the worst finish to such a movie. The whole battle scene really ruined it for me.

LA Confidential is another film that for me the ending was a let down. The Dark Knight another film where the ending let the whole film down. Gran Torino is another film where the ending was dreadful. Titanic, Slumdog Millionaire, Con Air, No Country for Old Men are examples of films where the ending leaves a sense of un-fulfilment.

What you get with films sometimes is that the beginning and middle are so good that any ending is going to fall short of expectation. So much story can be crammed in to the beginning and middle that the ending lacks depth.

How did you expect the Titanic to end LK?

hampo171 wrote:How did you expect the Titanic to end LK?

Not with the stupid oh I found the necklace in my pocket and then flew to the ship just to tell the story! Or the whole there is a Titanic in heaven that doesn't sink!

I was slightly more disturbed by the Titanic 2 (not a high budget film obviously) even more disturbed to see some clown is going to actually build a new titanic.

Anyway the film I'm going to say is called Dead Heads, a comedy zombie flick in which two zombies have been injected with a chemical which keeps their brains at normal state. Such a soppy lovey dovey ending though

Well I remember the outpour of emotion when they wanted Titanic 2 so Jack didn't die!

There are so many indie films which have the most dreadful endings. The Mummy Returns with Imotep just giving up the ghost for love??? Plenty more hunnies out there. The Human Centipede was just pants. The American. Another. Sunshine another piece of lazy writing. The Last Samarui.

I think the Human Centipede was meant to be one of those films that was just completely disgusting and it fitted that perfectly, the fact they banned what followed it makes me wonder how much worse it got.

I love Rocky 4 but the end really cheeses me off, it's so bloody stupid.

The Russians are passionately behind Drago against the American but they suddenly change their minds later in the fight?

So if Drago was fighting in New York and did well would the American fans suddenly support Drago over Rocky?
Great film but shockingly poor ending for me. He should of beaten Drago with the crowd still hostile but he could of won them over with the speech at the end.
the end.